Baby Back Experiment

[ryanhoelzer]

Doing an experiment today.

I bought a pack of baby backs at Sam's that came with 3 slabs.

I did one last night experimenting with using an electric element in the Char Broil offset. Turned out alright but I had trouble keeping it hot enough.

I'm going to start the rest of them in the offset and then move to the MES for ease of temp regulation and because I went through so much charcoal last week with a brisket.

I cut the 2 remaining slabs in half for 2 reasons, to experiment and make them fit in the MES 30.

I'm going to cook them 4 different ways, 3-3-1, 3-2-2, 2-3-1, and 2-2-1. I'm thinking the 1 will probably be longer with most if not all methods.

Started with a bed of Kingsford blue and then added Royal Oak lump after it got started. Shooting for around 230 to 240* then I'll probably drop to 220 in the MES.

Using a friend's rub, it's fairly spicy so doesn't take much.

 

[ryanhoelzer]

Here they are at 1 hr. I'm rotating them on the grate to hopefully compensate for any hot spots.

 

[dforbes]

looking good, keep the pictures comming

 

[mballi3011]

Now this such be an interesting experamint for sure. Now when I have done ribs I have done them with the 3-2-1 method and then went down with the times but give it a try and we will see what the outcome is.

 

[rdknb]

Let us know how it turns out, I tend to go 3/2 2,5 ,5 on mine, as seems family likes then almost falling off

 

[ryanhoelzer]

I've mostly heard 2-2-1 for baby backs so that's what I used as a starting point.

Here they are at 2 hrs.

I'm trying foil pans instead of just foiling, with a generous amount of apple juice.

And the first 2 into the MES at 230*

 

[ryanhoelzer]

And the other 2 at 3 hrs, before the foil.

 

[ryanhoelzer]

Here are the 2-2-1s after 4 hrs.

 

[ryanhoelzer]

I decided to pull each and taste at the even hour marks.

The 2-2-1s are good. Pretty tender but not falling off the bone yet.

Here are the 2-3-1s. Can you say separation?

And the 3-2-1s..

 

[ryanhoelzer]

Everything's turning out as expected so far. I've just never had results this good with the MES by itself. I've done 3-2-1 and they were OK but not great. All of these today are easily the best ribs I've ever made.

Here are the 3-2-1s on the left and the 2-3-1s on the right. The 2-3-1s are falling off the bone as expected and the 3-2-1s pull off easily.

These 3-3-1s may be laying on the rack next to the bones in another hour.

 

[ryanhoelzer]

And the last ones, the 3-3-1s at 7 hrs. Completely falling off the bone but still pretty moist. Overall the 2-2-1s could have used another half hour or so but all of the other ones were good depending on how you like them. I think I prefer the 2-3-1s..

 

[caveman]

Great looking ribs. Your experiment was very informative.

 

[roller]

Yes they do look good.

 

[bigslick]

I appreciate the time and effort you took to do this and document it!
They all look great and have me wanting ribs bad!
Informative and great q-view.

Thanks!
Godspeed,
bigslick

 

[chiligumbo]

Man they look great, i was thinking of doing something similar. Thanks for the info!!

 

[northern greenhorn]

Thanks for the info on your experiment, they all look great

 

[stircrazy]

they look great, but is that how much apple juice you normaly use? they would be boiling in that much

I thought it was just a splash.. hmm I'll have to try more I think.

Steve

 

[schmoke]

Thanks for taking the time to share this info. I learned a lot from it.

 

[9manfan]

That is a very informative post on ribs, they all look very good, but the 2-3-1 looks very appealing to me, nice pull back on the bones,I will definitely try that the next time I do ribs,very nice job,,,

 

[lu1847]

great job on the experiment, just goes to show there is no one way to do things, its all about personal preference. You never know what you will like best till ya try things several different ways. Nice job.