Not enough time for full 6-7 hour smoke on baby back ribs

[tltrade]

Planning four racks for dinner at 6:00 pm but can'tget home till noon to start.  How long can I smoke for great flavor before I switch to grill?  Will brine the ribs then use my first batch of "Jeff's Rub".  I think I could afford 4 hours in the electric MES.  I guess at most 45 - 60 minutes on grill should finish.  I plan to use the pork butt cooler concept to get ribs to eating place.  Side note.  This Thanksgiving tried the wrap in foil and wrap in towels and put in cooler on turkeys.  Amazing results.  My wife got to use her oven for over an hour and when time to carve the breast increased temp from 151 - 165.  Actually had hot turkey this time.  I would think ribs would f

do the same. On the right track?

 

[gary s]

  Good morning and welcome to the forum, from a beautiful day here in East Texas. Lots of great people with tons of information on just about  everything. 

Gary

 

[forluvofsmoke]

Welcome to the SMF Family!!!

Instead of smoking your ribs low & slow @ the typical 225*, you could push 250-275* and that would knock at least an hour off the smoke time, probably more. Then wrap 'em up for transport. I finished a load of baby backs from my Smoke Vault 24 over RO lump (nice, wicked-hot fire) on a kettle grill a couple years ago for a larger family gathering...gotta say, I'd definitely do it again, 'cuz those were among of the best ribs I've ever made.

Eric

 

[mr t 59874]

Welcome to the forum.

To back up Eric's post, maybe you will find the following helpful.

http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/t/196389/mr-ts-ribs-p-i-t-a-vs-k-i-s-s

T

 

[bauchjw]

I'm new to MES, but have over 15 years on kettle using indirect heat and horizontal offset. I would recommend just using indirect on the grill at about 300 degrees. Should take less than 3 hrs and you can use wood chunks for smoke. I've feed hundreds of parties that way with great food.

 

[tltrade]

I too am a newbie to MES, but the smoked butts were so good wanted to try the smoker.  As it was they were done in four hours.  Need to work on them not as good as I do on the gas grill.  Little dry and tried Jeff's rub, but I think way too much, a little salty.​

Thanks for your input.  I have a small smoke box for the grill but doesn't really fit too well.

 

[travisty]

I think your strategy would work perfectly. I would put them in the MES for as long as you possibly can, and as others mentioned dial it up to the max 275 to cut off some time. 3-5 hours is plenty of time for them to take on plenty of smoke flavor. That being said, you may want to consider using a stronger smoke flavored wood like oak or hickory to get the max flavor in there.

Even if you just use the basic 3-2-1 method (3 hours on the smoker, 2 hours wrapped in foil with some sauce or apple juice, and another hour on the grill) You seem to have enough time though to turn out some great ribs in 6 hours, so I wouldn't sweat it!

I use the MES myself and rarely if ever do ribs for longer than 5-7 hours. Good luck and welcome to the forum!