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First time smoking St. Louis style Ribs

Posted on 6/26/15 at 7:27 am
Posted by Larry Gooseman
Houston
Member since Mar 2014
2658 posts
Posted on 6/26/15 at 7:27 am
I bought the Smokenator add-on for the Weber 22.5" kettle and did a test run on Monday this week to understand how the temperature would react by toying with air valves and did well maintaining 250 kettle temp. Yesterday I decided to do some St. Louis style spare ribs using Alton Brown's dry rub, using no sauce, and using pecan wood.

I had some trouble stabilizing the 225 temperature at first but all in all they turned out pretty good. Some lessons learned - get a real meat thermometer, and rotate the meat if something is closer to the heat. One rack sat closer to the heat source the whole time and I didn't rotate it, it wasn't over done but wasn't nearly as moist as the further rack. As for the thermometer, i threw the ribs in the oven wrapped in foil at the end and now i believe that was unneccessary, a good thermometer would have taken out the guess work.

My review on the rub was that is was good, i probably would have added a little more cayenne. The pecan wood was perfect for a first time smoking, very light smoky taste and not at all over taking the pork flavor.

Can anyone share any tips or recipes on smoking ribs?




This post was edited on 6/26/15 at 7:52 am
Posted by LNCHBOX
70448
Member since Jun 2009
84304 posts
Posted on 6/26/15 at 7:31 am to
We can't see pics from your gmail

ETA: Those look pretty good. Nicely done. As the guy below said, not much use in using a thermometer on the ribs.
This post was edited on 6/26/15 at 7:55 am
Posted by AA7
Birmingham, AL
Member since Nov 2009
26727 posts
Posted on 6/26/15 at 7:51 am to
I wouldn't worry about using a meat thermometer with ribs. The bones are going to mess with it and throw it off. Use the bend test from now on. I would recommend getting a maverick and use it to keep track of what the temp is in the kettle.

As for the smokenator, I've had one for a few months now and used it about 5 or 6 times. It takes a little while to get going and at a sweet spot but once you get it there you are good to go for a good while. I normally try to stay around 225 (give or take 10 or 15 degrees). It takes about 30 mins to get there after I put the meat in, then after a few hours it normally starts spiking (gets close to 280 if I'm not paying attention) and I have to close the vents off some.

It takes some getting used to, but is very consistent once you know how it acts.

When I do spare ribs I normally do 3-1-1, where I crutch (foil) for just an hour and then do another hour without foil to get back some of the bark.
This post was edited on 6/26/15 at 7:57 am
Posted by Patrick_Bateman
Member since Jan 2012
17823 posts
Posted on 6/26/15 at 8:46 am to
Looks great to me! IWEI
Posted by DaTroof
Louisiana
Member since Jun 2015
978 posts
Posted on 6/26/15 at 8:59 am to
They look good. Considering that was your first time, you did great. Did you wrap them, or just pour the smoke to them the whole time? I Usually like to see the bone protruding a little more. Were they tough? I use a dry rub, pour the smoke to them for a few hours and then wrap them in foil with a little apple juice and steam bake them until until desired tenderness. Some people don't like to wrap but I find that my ribs are less dry this way, so I continue to do it. It also helps to prevent bitterness from over smoking. I use a mixture of mesquite and hickory though because I like my smoke taste to be a little bolder. I have a larger smoker, so I'll put a brisket on at 4am and cook for 13 hours - that's dinner. In the interim I put ribs and chicken wings on different racks - that's lunch. Anyway, looks great and I have this same grill so I may have to try this smokenator you speak of for the times I'm just smoking a couple racks of ribs.
Posted by surprisewitness
Littleton, CO
Member since Apr 2013
560 posts
Posted on 6/26/15 at 9:22 am to
Look up the 3-2-1 method. No need for a thermometer.

3 Hours smoking with rub
2 Hours wrapped in foil in smoker with a little liquid added
1 Hour unwrapped in smoker, with sauce if you want it
Posted by OTIS2
NoLA
Member since Jul 2008
50204 posts
Posted on 6/26/15 at 9:53 am to
Look fine!
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