First WSM Smoke: Pork Baby Back ribs (with pictures)

[MossEisley]

Decided to try out my WSM for the first time and settled on Pork ribs to pop the cherry.

Meat Prep: Rubbed them down with yellow mustard and applied a nice coating of the rub I came up with (salt, pepper, chili powder, cayenne, cumin, paprika, garlic powder) and then wrapped them in foil for ~16 hours or so:


Cook: Total cooking time was about 3.5 hours @~250F using Kingsford Blue and 2 chunks of apple wood. I filled the water pan up about 3/4 of the way through and monitored the temp with my Thermopro TP08. It started raining hard part of the way through so it was fun playing with the intake vents to stabilize temp.

2 hours in:


I then wrapped them in foil with brown sugar, honey, and some butter for 1 hour.

1 hour in foil:


I then unwrapped them and put some BBQ sauce on and then back on the smoker (made it myself, but sweet with a kick of heat) for about 1/2 an hour:


Overall the ribs came out bang on. They had a pleasant smoke flavour without being too strong. The meat pulled cleanly from the bone, but didn't just fall off. I think I'll tweak my rub a bit to dial back a touch on the salt and add some more heat to the rub and sauce. Next up is a pork shoulder!

 

[sauced]

Great job....nice looking ribs, I'd eat them anytime!!

 

[SmokinAl]

Wow!
For your first run with a new smoker, you really did a fine job!
Your ribs look fantastic!
Very nicely done & congrats on getting a spin on the carousel!!
Al

 

[phatbac]

Great looking Babies! looks like you really figured out ribs on the WSM!!

Happy Smoking,
phatbac (Aaron)

 

[Smoke23]

Congratulations on your WSM and on your very successful first smoke!

 

[MossEisley]

Thanks so much for the positive feedback. I have to say that the Thermopro made it really simple. I was really surprised with how big of a temp difference there was between the dome and the upper cooking grate. I had heard stories, but really thought they were overstated and boy they weren't.

 

[Geebs]

You can never trust those thermometers, they are junk. Here are a few things I did to mine to help a bit, I added a second grate to the charcoal area, essentially crossing them so that no small pieces fall through. I also dont use any water in my pan and instead just foil it for east cleaning. If you do a pork butt on there, throw a tray of baked beans under it for the first few hours to let it catch some of the drippings, people say these are some of the best beans they have ever had.

 

[MossEisley]

Ohh fantastic idea on the beans and I will 100% do that. Since the WSM is new I find that the water pan really helped with keeping the temp steady and at a slow climb. The further I break the thing in I may not need it, but for now it seems to be really helpful. I did wrap the underside of the pan 100%.

 

[crazymoon]

ME, Fine looking ribs !

 

[daricksta]

Decided to try out my WSM for the first time and settled on Pork ribs to pop the cherry.

Meat Prep: Rubbed them down with yellow mustard and applied a nice coating of the rub I came up with (salt, pepper, chili powder, cayenne, cumin, paprika, garlic powder) and then wrapped them in foil for ~16 hours or so:
View attachment 360876

Cook: Total cooking time was about 3.5 hours @~250F using Kingsford Blue and 2 chunks of apple wood. I filled the water pan up about 3/4 of the way through and monitored the temp with my Thermopro TP08. It started raining hard part of the way through so it was fun playing with the intake vents to stabilize temp.

2 hours in:
View attachment 360878

I then wrapped them in foil with brown sugar, honey, and some butter for 1 hour.

1 hour in foil:
View attachment 360879

I then unwrapped them and put some BBQ sauce on and then back on the smoker (made it myself, but sweet with a kick of heat) for about 1/2 an hour:
View attachment 360880

Overall the ribs came out bang on. They had a pleasant smoke flavour without being too strong. The meat pulled cleanly from the bone, but didn't just fall off. I think I'll tweak my rub a bit to dial back a touch on the salt and add some more heat to the rub and sauce. Next up is a pork shoulder!

I love seeing these photos but I hate not being able to eat those ribs! I bet you had a nice mix of sweet, heat, and smoke.

 

[jaxgatorz]

Great looking ribs !!!

 

[jbfromtennessee]

i did have one of my thermopro TP20 probes go bad after about four months and they replaced it, very accurate on both probes. saying a thermometer is junk may be over the top a little. To each his/her on but I don't cook or smoke anything without it. good luck..

 

[gmc2003]

Nice looking pull back on those ribs.

Point for sure.

Chris

 

[buckaholic84]

i did have one of my thermopro TP20 probes go bad after about four months and they replaced it, very accurate on both probes. saying a thermometer is junk may be over the top a little. To each his/her on but I don't cook or smoke anything without it. good luck..

I believe he was talking about the dome thermometer not the thermopro

 

[jbfromtennessee]

oh ok, then i agree. those are junk...

 

[Steve H]

Those ribs look great! I haven't tried that...yet

 

[MossEisley]

100% was talking about the dome thermometer. The ThermoPro is fantastic and I really couldn't ask for more at the price point.

 

[ghoster]

Great looking ribs.

 

[jbfromtennessee]

100% was talking about the dome thermometer. The ThermoPro is fantastic and I really couldn't ask for more at the price point.

sorry son, at my age reading comprehension is no longer my strong suite...

 

[mike5051]

Nice job on those ribs!

Mike