First spare ribs - mixed ideas - good results!

[wallypedal]

I have all of about 5 weeks experience smoking meat, and think I've read about every spare rib experience here on these forums and what Jeff has on his site, too. I wanted to do spares today, but had a deadline and got started late. Thus no q-views, sorry! Just got an ET-732 and anxious to try it out, also.

Prep:

• Started pellets in AMNPS tray, set MES30 for 225;
• Thawed out wrapped package slowly in the fridge. Inside the actual rib section there were several 'pieces', two of which had ribs in them. Trimmed out the section in to St. Louis style, removed membrane, mustard smeared, Jeff's rub. Cut the long rib section in two.  Have the hot stuff in the rub cut back to about 1/3  of standard.
• Set pellet tray inside, the started channel closest to chip box (I think that helps dry and pre-heat the pellets)

Cooking:

• Put meat on @12:15
• @ 1 hour I tweaked the temp down on MES30 to get 225 on ET-732. About 10 degrees high.
• Pulled the trimmings and chunks at 2 hours, wrapped in foil with nothing else and put back in the smoker.
• @ 3 hours - foiled the two long sections with brown sugar, a couple pats of butter, and a sprinkle of Jeff's rub, Ribs in the foil meat side down (as Jeff outlined in a recent newsletter) on top of the other added ingredients.
• @ 4 hours, took chunks from the foil, chopped up some to put in the beans, Ate some, chef's privilege! Not bad!
• started up the Weber gas grill
• @ 5 hours (3 smoking, 2 foiled) took everything out, shut down the MES30

I knew I was going to run short of time, needed to get done and delivered as promised to a homebound friend. I had time to think about all I've read and it seems the "1" part of 3+2+1 is primarily to get the softened exterior firmed back up some, as smoking and cooking is pretty well done by then. I recalled reading up on the reverse sear process in some other recipes, and decided to go with the grill instead of the one hour back in the smoker. Hopefully accomplishing pretty much the same thing.

• Put everything on the hot grill, maybe only a couple minutes each side and just long enough to get rid of the soggy look and add some sear marks
• Cut individual rib slices, put in pan covered with foil. Let rest 15 minutes and hauled to my friend's place. They weren't quite ready, so we put the ribs in their oven which was at a low heat keeping some other things warm. I salvaged the juice from foiling and although not needed, a little dripped on was another flavor treat. We ate them both ways.

These turned out fine, just a little tug to get off the bone, juicy and tender, and the flavor was outstanding! Got rave reviews.

Thanks to all the forum posters and info sources - I couldn't have pulled this off without your help. I'm usually not interested in short-cuts and adhere to the long and slow advice pretty closely. I'm wondering what anyone has done in similar circumstances, or what you suggest I might have done differently?  I just didn't want to gamble on cranking up the temp during the first stages.

Q- views next time!

Wallypedal

 

[Rafter H BBQ]

Sounds good, your gonna love that Mav... Q view next time or :police2: .... LOL

 

[pc farmer]

Sounds great. Pics not required but are liked.