Thanks for all the tips. I checked the thermometer seems low about 5 degrees i havent adjusted it yet but definitely will. The ribs packaging said back ribs. Honestly they were probably a horrible cut but i didnt want to use our own pork on my first go. Also i think i was having a lot of flare up and have now started wrapping the chips in aluminum foil and poking pin holes. Seems to work well while i decide what to do with my chip tray (definitely need something better). Today im smoking a rack of spare ribs and a 4 pound pork but from our hog. The pork but i dry rubbed and a guy from work told me to wrap it and use brown sugar honey and butter. I believe i saw on SMF to wrap at 165 and leave wrapped till 203? Then let cool wrapped in foil a towel and place in a cooler. The ribs are thick so im assuming at least 3-2-1. Im finishing the butt with a finishing sauce i saw here. Thanks for all the help so far this site is full of people ready to answer questions and throw tips around. I really appreciate it
5* is pretty close...if you do nothing with it, just make a mental note and add that to your target smoke chamber temp...no worries. Main thing is knowing how accurate it is, then you can move forward from there.
Ditch the chips. Well, you can use them, but here's what I do with my LPG smokers: use smaller amounts of chips and more chunks of varied sizes. The chips start smoking fast and heavy and before they're done your small chunks will take over with a lighter smoke. Then the bigger chunks will pick up rest. The size of your larger chunks should be based on your anticipated length of cooking time...larger pieces requiring 12-24 hours to finish cooking should have large chunks to bring the smoke for a longer time period. With this method you rarely need to mess with your smoke wood after you're up and running. The bigger chunks smoke very slowly, so they seem to last an eternity...chips go fast with a heavier smoke up front, so this falls right into how I like to hot smoke meats (and other things). Heavier smoke up front, then carry it through with a lighter, thin smoke.
You can wrap your pulled pork subjects, but I don't. I smoke to finished temps on open grates, which creates a killer bark. I rest on an elevated grate over a baking or roasting pan, covered with a towel. The towel allows the meat/bark to breathe instead of steaming from it's own evaporating juices, while still providing some insulation to allow it to cool more slowly than out in open air. This will preserve that great bark you created and keep it hard and crisp.
If you have back ribs 2-2-1 is a good baseline for moderate bark with a tender bite. For less bark 2-2.5-0.5 is a good starting point. If you like a harder, heavier bark on your ribs, with a less tender bite, go no foil. If you want to just set the bark very lightly you only need 15-20 minutes at the end. There are a lot of tricks you can play with ribs, as you probably can imagine. More time on open grates from the start gives more smoke and less tenderness in the bite, if you cut the foiled time down. Once you foil you soften the bark, so if you want the bark set you have to go back to open grates at the end. I have skipped the 3rd step a few times just for what if...very tender bite and chew with bones popping out while handling is the result.
Eric