pork spares on a pellet grill

[jake0531]

hello everyone,
Hope everyone is enjoying their time off today, as I will be.
I got a GMG Daniel Boone on Monday. New to pellet grills, always had a stick burner.
I got 2 racks of pork spares from a local butcher I’m going to throw on today for my first smoke on the new grill.
I’ll be using Al’s rib rub on them. My question is what does everyone recommend for temps? Also, what type of thermometer does everyone use to monitor temps on a grill. Infrared? Suggestions welcome

 

[indaswamp]

I like 245* but I do not wrap my ribs.

 

[6GRILLZNTN]

Everyone has their preference regarding temps, but I like around 225 on my pellet grill. It's a good blend of smoke and temp. I use a Thermoworks Smoke to monitor grate and food temps.

 

[WaterRat]

Nice new smoker! I run 225 or 250 on spares. Plan around 6 hours. I still have a cheap digital oven probe thermo, maybe Santa will bring me something nice. You will eventually learn how your built in probe varies with a stand alone grate probe, just takes a while :)

 

[jake0531]

Got both slabs rubbed and wrapped in the refrigerator now. Put down mustard, a light coating of applewood rub and then ALs rub on top. They are smaller slabs at just under 3lbs each, so I’m not anticipating a long smoke

 

[jake0531]

Here they are going on. Daniel Boone set at 200 to start

 

[jake0531]

After 3 hours they were looking great. Put butter, some rub, sugar and water and some apple pie moonshine in some foil for one and the same minus the moonshine in the other. Back on the grill at 215 for about an hour

 

[GaryHibbert]

Sounds great so far.
I usually cook spares at 250 using the 3-2-1 method.
Gary

 

[jake0531]

Sounds great so far.
I usually cook spares at 250 using the 3-2-1 method.
Gary

Thanks. On my stick burner I usually do around 250, same method. This is my first smoke ever on a pellet grill, just picked it up Monday, and the ribs are just shy of 3lbs. I wanted to do 225 but worried they would cook too fast and not have time to foil. I just wanted to play safe for my first cook on a new machine

 

[jake0531]

After an hour in at 215, took the foil off and cranked it up to 250 for the rest of the smoke. Will post pictures when done. To sauce or not sauce one rack when it gets closer to time

 

[jake0531]

Finished product, will let know results after dinner

 

[jake0531]

Overall good taste and flavor. Texture was a bit chewy for my liking.

 

[gmc2003]

A little more time in the foil will cure the chewy. That said the look great from my screen.

Point for sure.
Chris

 

[jake0531]

A little more time in the foil will cure the chewy. That said the look great from my screen.

Point for sure.
Chris

Thanks. I’ll keep that in mind. I wasn’t sure if they were chewy due to not enough foil time, cook temp, or just the ribs themselves. They didn’t have a lot of meat on them, but when you can’t get to the butcher shop til 15 min before the close, you take what you can get

 

[illini40]

Those look great. From my experience on my Traeger, spare ribs need to go a little longer than what you think, to get extra tender. I like closer to fall off the bone ribs though. Foil time is key.

I have typically ran around 225*, however, running at 250* should work too.

I use a Weber iGrill for monitoring the pit temp at grate level. As mentioned above, the temp your pellet grill will
show on it's montor/gauge is likely hotter than what the actual temp is at the grate.

 

[Kiwi Smoke]

Nice Jake very nice...