Newbies first try at smoking ribs

[Burly567]

Sorry, didn't get any pics...

Anyway, the ribs came out great in spite of my issues.

First off, my smoker temps were all over the place. (I started smoking at 6am) I was shooting for somewhere around 245F. The only way that I could get anywhere near that was by opening the smoker drawer. That was all fine and dandy up until my Hickory chunks caught fire, skyrocketing my temp to Over 400F. While trying to put the flame out, I put the whole thing out. I managed to coax some life out of it and in a few minutes was happily smoking again fighting temps the entire time.

I never got a couple of places up to 195F, but close. Afterwards I dumped a whole mess of Sweet Bay Ray's onto tin foil and wrapped them. Well, while they were in a cooler, I got a call from my step mother telling me that my mother and her had stopped for lunch and was wondering if we could postpone my mothers birthday to another day. This was around 2pm. Needless to say, I was a bit peeved, but I took the ribs out of the cooler and put them in the fridge. We, along about 4pm my mother decided that she just had to have the ribs that I promised her, and that there would be 4 extra people were coming.

Out of the fridge comes to ribs. They were well cooled by then. I fired up the smoker and managed a temp of 250F for an hour to try and finish the cooking. At the same time I fired up the grill and put on a half dozen burgers.

All in all everyone love the ribs and the burgers. The ribs were hot and tender and the burgers (medium rare) were moist and they loved my secret burger seasoning.

It ended up being a very good meal and everyone went away fat and happy!!!!!!

 

[6GRILLZNTN]

No Pics? Heresy! All joking aside I'm glad the cook went well. Welcome from Middle TN!

 

[kruizer]

Well, now you know what a roller coaster ride is really like. Congrats on getting it all done.

 

[2008RN]

great job improvising and thinking on our feet.

 

[smokerjim]

ahhh the ups and downs of smoking,(if something can go wrong it will)but in the end the taste is well worth it.

 

[Burly567]

great job improvising and thinking on our feet.

ahhh the ups and downs of smoking,(if something can go wrong it will)but in the end the taste is well worth it.

I understand Murphy's Law!!

Looking back, it was a humorous day.

 

[SecondHandSmoker]

Well done!

And excellent job of overcoming those challenges.

 

[tallbm]

Sorry, didn't get any pics...

Anyway, the ribs came out great in spite of my issues.

First off, my smoker temps were all over the place. (I started smoking at 6am) I was shooting for somewhere around 245F. The only way that I could get anywhere near that was by opening the smoker drawer. That was all fine and dandy up until my Hickory chunks caught fire, skyrocketing my temp to Over 400F. While trying to put the flame out, I put the whole thing out. I managed to coax some life out of it and in a few minutes was happily smoking again fighting temps the entire time.

I never got a couple of places up to 195F, but close. Afterwards I dumped a whole mess of Sweet Bay Ray's onto tin foil and wrapped them. Well, while they were in a cooler, I got a call from my step mother telling me that my mother and her had stopped for lunch and was wondering if we could postpone my mothers birthday to another day. This was around 2pm. Needless to say, I was a bit peeved, but I took the ribs out of the cooler and put them in the fridge. We, along about 4pm my mother decided that she just had to have the ribs that I promised her, and that there would be 4 extra people were coming.

Out of the fridge comes to ribs. They were well cooled by then. I fired up the smoker and managed a temp of 250F for an hour to try and finish the cooking. At the same time I fired up the grill and put on a half dozen burgers.

All in all everyone love the ribs and the burgers. The ribs were hot and tender and the burgers (medium rare) were moist and they loved my secret burger seasoning.

It ended up being a very good meal and everyone went away fat and happy!!!!!!

I'm glad to hear it turned out well.
With pork ribs you are ok if the temp fluctuates. As long as you don't have a flame situation going on the ribs will be fine. If you find that hard to believe then simply consider this.
Ribs get grilled all the time at temps way hotter than smoker temps (350-425F) using indirect heat, and they come out great! Your smoker fluctuating won't hurt a thing as long as the ribs aren't catching flame.

Same thing goes for pork butt/shoulder and brisket. Those meats don't care so if your setup is having trouble holding a temp and is moving all over and you are cooking one of those meats then just let it settle where it wants and save the stress lol.
If your smoker never gets to settling down to where you can hold a lower temp then I suggest you stick to smoking meat that doesn't care or later look into a smoker that you can dial in and will hold a temp much better

 

[lancelot61]

Glad it worked out. Keep practicing and before you know it you'll keep practicing some more. But darn if allthe practice won't pay off. They'll come back for more and more. Happy you didn't give up!! Happy smoking!! Pictures next go round!

 

[SmokinAl]

Great story!
And a nice save!!
Al

 

[SmokinVOLfan]

Bet the ribs were great! Actually got me thinking its about time to do some more myself. You going to tease us and not share that secret burger seasoning?

 

[Burly567]

Bet the ribs were great! Actually got me thinking its about time to do some more myself. You going to tease us and not share that secret burger seasoning?

Yup! The ribs were great!!!

As for the secret burger seasoning, I took literary license. I use coarse ground black pepper, a dash of each onion and garlic powder, a good seasoned salt, hickory smoke salt. Season to taste and go lite on the seasoned salt. I like just plain old Kroeger Seasoned Salt because it's not overpowering.