School me -- Please!

[dburgette]

I used the 3-2-1 method tonight when I smoked my Back Ribs and they turned out a little crunchy on the outside, but perfect on the inside. I kept my heat at about 200-220. I am wondering if I ended up cooking them an hour too long. What gives? Any advice would be appreciated.

 

[irishteabear]

For baby backs I do 2-1-1 at 225. What did you rub them with? Did you spritz at all? Did you use a glaze? Did you foil them?

 

[the dude abides]

Crunchy? Like there was a bark? What was in your rub? Did you apply a sauce? If so what was in that?

My guess would be a high sugar content in your rub or sauce (if you applied the sauce while you were still cooking) created a bark? That's desired by many people.

Did it taste bad?

 

[mballi3011]

I think these two above me pretty much got all the questions in so did you foil was my first and then how much sugar regular/brown was there in your rub everything else sounded about right.

 

[dburgette]

Definitely didn't taste bad...my wife enjoyed the outside. The ribs turned out great! I would personally like it to be moist, though. I foiled them on the second two hours. I used a store bought Dave's Awesome Rub or something like that. I didn't spritz or glaze at all. I was wondering if that was a missed step on my part.

 

[dburgette]

Hell, that would have cut the time almost in half! I will try that the next time I do BBs.

 

[alx]

As you journey along you will also find the weight of the racks determine alot.Some baby backs are 2 pounds-some 3 pounds...This will effect foil time alot.4 pound plus spareribs are gonna need more time etc,,,

Folks below are all friends and excellent smokers.We all learned from experience and in my case took lots of notes-time,temp,wood,weather conditions etc...Enjoy it.

 

[adb551]

BabyBacks usually do not take as long, but the previous poster was right about the weight making a difference. That goes for almost anything, but BB's especially since you are not talking about a long smoke to begin with.

 

[mr mac]

For St Louis style ribs the 3-2-1 is fine, for baby backs I scale it back to 2-2-1. I also spray with apple juice/bourbon or apple cider after the first hour and then add more in the foil. No spray on the last hour.

 

[dburgette]

Okay, so this place has taught me my first of many lessons: BB take less time to smoke. I will remember that for the next BB smoke.

 

[carpetride]

Any chance you didn't get all the membrane off? I've done that on occasion and if my heat got high it would get a let tough/almost crunchy...just thinking that the extra time might have put it there.

A good sign they are done (for me at least) is picking up a slab with say a pair of tongs. Go 3 or 4 bones in when doing this. If they start to bend and pull away at a 45 degree angle they are done. After a while you will know it by sight alone.

Happy Smokes!

 

[dburgette]

Yeah, I think I got all the membrane off. I will remember the 3 to 4 bone trick. THanks for the help.

 

[dburgette]

Okay my next question, when smoking my ribs and using the ecb, what is the recommended method when adding wood to my coals? Do I add a few at the start and continue adding? Do I add a lot at the beginning and not add more? DO I add wood directly on top of the coals in the ecb or do I get a tray and lay the wood on? I wasn't able to maintain a constant smoke when I was grilling and that could have been part of my problem. Sorry about all the questions, but any help is appreciated.

 

[Dutch]

Most folks use the minion method when using an ECB type smoker. A couple of chimneys full of unlit briquettes goes in the pan and then place about 10 briquettes in the chimney and light them up. When they ash over, place them on top of the unlit briquettes and then reassemble your smoker.

When I ran my ECB, I would stick some small wood chunks into the briquettes as I was filling the bowl and a place a couple of chunks on top. I used about 5-6 chunks total. These were small in size about 1 in. X 1 in. or so.

You can do a forum search on the minion method and you'll find different variations that they found that works for them.

 

[dburgette]

Yeah, that makes a lot of sense. I was trying to use the minion method, but didn't have it narrowed down this well -- as far as quantities. I will definitely be taking your advice for the next smoke. Thanks!