Smokin-it 911

[Don]

Just recieved my smoker a couple days ago & decided to test out ribs& brisket today. I'm fairly new to smokers and as I'm cooking the meats the ribs already came out and have no bark. How do I create a nice bark on the meat? Wasn't sure if it was because I put the brisket/ribs in together. There was no aluminum foil around them and it was cooking directly on the rack with the rub. Please help, open for ANY suggestions.

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[swthorpe]

What temp did you use for the cook?  How long did you have the ribs in the smoker?  Typically they go for about 5 hours at 225F.   When I put on the rub, I start with extra virgin olive oil and then apply the rub so that it adheres to the ribs.   After 5 hours, the ribs have a nice dark bark to them.

[DivotMaker]

Hi Don, welcome to the party!  We'll be more than happy to assist you, as most of us have been there before with just about any "problem" you'll encounter.  To help you with good solutions, we'll need some more details.

What did you do for "prep" on the brisket and ribs (binder, rubs, injections, etc.)?

What temp did you use?

What size was the brisket and the ribs, and how long did you cook each?

The more info we have about your process, the better we can help.  I smoked 3 racks of baby backs yesterday, and they came out with a really nice bark:

http://smokinitforums.com/index.php?topic=1049.0

You usually want to have some sort of sugar in your rub (preferably dark brown sugar) to get the rub to caramelize. 

These smokers produce some very fine Q, so I'm sure we can get you on the right track!