newbie's first run in new smoker - boston butt, ribs and brats

[Jiffylush]

Got up early on saturday fired up my cuisinart vertical propane smoker and got to work.

Some lessons learned, and lots of great info on this site that I'm hoping to take advantage of this coming weekend.

I started with hickory but was worried it would be "too smokey" so I finished with apple in hopes it would be milder. I put apple juice in an aluminum pan on the bottom rack for additional moisture and hopefully a little flavor.

I made two boston butts 7-7.5 lbs, four racks of baby back ribs, and two packs of brats.

I put the rub on the butts the night before, then smoked them for a total of eight hours at 225. They were 170-175 IT, so I wrapped them and finished them in a 300 degree oven (hopefully this isn't blasphemy). When they hit 205 I wrapped them in a towel and stashed them in a small cooler for another 90 minutes.

I did 3-2-1 for the ribs and I think it was too much. Unwrapping and getting them coated in sauce and back into the smoker was a bit of a challenge as the thinner ones were falling apart. They tasted great but I think 2-2-1 or maybe 3-1-1 would have been better. Doing St Louis style ribs this weekend so I hope they will hold up for the full 3-2-1 treatment.

The brats were kind of an afterthought, had them in the smoker for 90 minutes or so, but they turned out great and were my daughter's favorite.

The kids and in-laws loved everything, the ribs and brats are gone and I had initially frozen about six pints of the pork but have already thawed out two of them because it's all we have been eating since.

This weekend - two more butts, four racks of st louis style ribs, and I think I'm going to do a pan of baked beans in there with it all.

 

[young j]

From what I can see in that picture it all looks great. I agree with you the 3-2-1 is too long, I ended up with fall apart ribs when I tried it out, it's too much time for the ribs to be in the foil. 3-1-1 would probably works but its always better to keep an eye on the internal temp since the time is just an estimate. Hope your next smoke comes out just as good

 

[gmc2003]

Looks good from my screen. 321, 221 are just processes to get you in the ballpark. Every piece of meat is a little different. You'll need to find out what works for you and your smoker. I think SmoknAl likes to cook his ribs to 190*. I don't own a thin enough probe or steady enough hands to be able to probe inbetween the bones. So I rely on the bend test. It works for me and my family. We also like FOTB ribs.

Point for sure.

Chris

P.S. Adding apple juice to the pan under the ribs won't add any additional flavor and is a waste of juice.

 

[Smoke23]

Everything looks great!

 

[SmokinAl]

It all looks good from here!
Al