First St. Louis Rib Cook with the Auber 1503

[cwshiles]

Good Morning SmokeMasters!

I started this prep yesterday after I finished the Auber temperature bypass and power cord Mod.  Its gonna be a busy week of smokin it action!  Today, I am doing Ribs, tomorrow 2 small chickens, and Friday, I am doing to 8 lb butts.  Ill give my impressions as we go.

Lets get to it!   
I picked up a 3 pack of Smithfeild Spare ribs from Sams Club.  These are the first Smithfeilds I have purchased because previously they only had the IBP ribs.  I can't comment on the flavor yet, but I do like the cut of the IBP's better.  After trimming down the Smithfeilds to a St. Louis Style cut, I got very inconsistent sizes of ST. Louis ribs.  Very narrow at one end.  I usually do not trim spares down to St Louis style because I felt like I was wasting the rest of the meat.  This time, I didd't care, I trimmed.  You can see the before and after of what I am talking about.  There was A LOT of waste.  Oh well. 

I was inspired by Divot Maker and some of the other high regard for the Famous Daves Rib Rub, so I ran out and picked some up yesterday at Famous Daves.  I also got some of their sauces (Origional and Sweet and Zesty) to try out instead of Sweet Baby Rays which we also like but I needed a change.   

I pulled the Ribs, rinsed them off with cold water, let them dry off a little and then started trimming these spares into St. Louis'.  First, I found the end of the rib bones and ran my freshly sharpened knife along that line to get rid of the gristly rib tips.  I actually purchased my #3 because I could do full racks of ribs without cutting but because of the smokers orientation, I actually find it easier to cut them in half before smoking them to make them easier to handle and arrange on the racks. 

Next, I grabbed the Yellow Mustard to use as the binding agent and rubbed it over the ribs.  I used to do this a long time ago, but got away from it.  Not sure why.  So, its back to the basics!  It should aid in keeping moisture in the meat as well.  Here is my reasoning.   Many of the rubs have salt in them which pulls the moisture out of the meat.  Adding the yellow mustard could slow that process a little by being the first moisture layer that is affected by the salt.  The last few times I did ribs, I did not use mustard, so I'll let you know if it made much difference. 

It's Famous Daves Rib Rub time.  I sprinkled the rub generously onto both sides of the ribs and ended up using about 3/4 of the bottle.  I took a little extra brown sugar and added it to 2 of the ribs just to see if it sweetened them up a little.  My wife likes em sweet! 

Into the beer fridge to get Happy, Happy Happy!

Thanks to the modern magic of internet time, its the next day and time to prep the smoker and put the ribs in.

I am using 3.2 oz of a combo between Hickory and Cherry.  I have not tried that combo yet so we shall see how it goes.  I also have filled the flavor saver up with apple juice. 

I also really love putting  potatoes into the smoker while I am smoking the ribs.  It makes some really delicious smoked/baked potatoes.  I usually put some Wegmans basting oil on them along with a little course sea salt and today added a little Famous Daves Rib Rub, wrap them in foil and poke holes in them with a fork.  We shall see how that plays out.  I leave the potatoes in the entire time I have the ribs in and the consistency is about perfect for us. 

I have the Auber all set up to do a timed cook at 225 for 7 hours, since its difficult to get a good temp from the ribs.  I know it won't take 7 hours, but before I had the Auber, it took 7 1/2 hours for the spares to finish.  Now that I have the Auber, I am expecting 5 1/2 hours.  I also plan to try holding half of the ribs at 130 degrees in the smoker and taking the others and wrapping them and putting them in a cooler.  This test was suggested in another thread by Polish Q so Ill give it a try.  I am not expecting much of a difference with the ribs because there is not much meat, but hey, why not give it a try!  SCIENCE!!

Initial impression is the Auber and the mods I did yesterday.
I really like the idea of having a digital stepped temperature controller.  I think for the #3 it is a necessity.  YMMV, but for me, it was taking forever to complete a cook.  I took the smoker temperature controller and used a Maverick probe holder to mount the probe on the bottom of the top cooking rack between the two racks I am smoking the ribs on.  You can see the pics.  I like it, but the probe is just a little loose. I may try to find an o-ring to put on either side of the probe to keep it in place or I will probably try the hanging block of wood Johnnytex put in another thread.

The Auber is easy enough to program once you read the quick start guide Steve is shipping with the Aubers being purchased on the Smokin It site.  Thanks for putting that together.  I was up and running in 5 minutes.

I LOVE the cold weather cord mod I did to the smoker & Auber.  WOW!  It really makes a huge difference in the cold weather here in MD.  The difference is night and day.  I also like the shortened cord length on the Auber.  It makes it easy to store and when sitting on top of the smoker it is the perfect length. 

Thats all for now.  Nothing to do now but wait with the dogs........... 


I the mean time, here are some pics....

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[Three Sons BBQ]

Cool! Let me know the results foil versus none.

Like the mustard signature. 

[DivotMaker]

Nice looking setup, Charlie!  Yep, I loves me some Dave's rib rub on pork ribs and butts!  If you like it, you can 6 bottles on Amazon for about $21 (lots cheaper than the stores).  I've used several homemade rubs, but love this one for sweetness and spicyness.  Can't wait to hear the results!  BTW, the dogs look like they're not too worried about how well they'll turn out!

[cwshiles]

The Ribs came out FANTASTIC!!!! The best looking and tasting ribs I have made yet.

I did them at 225 for 5 1/2 hours (no peekey) and then pulled 1 full slab and wrapped it in foil and then a beach towel.  The other 2 slabs I left in the smoker and dropped the temp to 130.  The meat pulled back from the bone which it did not do on the last 2 sets of ribs I did.  The meat was just pulling off the bone which is where I like it.  Fat rendered out pretty nicely and made from some delicious St. Lois ribs!

The look test:   The wrapped ribs looked more moist.  The ribs left in the chamber looked more dry on the outside.  After cutting into both, the moistness seemed to be about equal on both.

The taste test:  They both tasted great.  I could not really tell much of a difference between the two.

Ill try again with the Butts and see if there is much of a difference.
 
I am extremely impressed with the Auber.  I definitely got the results I was hoping for. 


As for Famous Daves Rib Rub....  Yup, its a keeper!  I think I like my rub just a little more, but in a pinch, I could use this rub and be completely satisfied with the flavor.  Its not too sweet and not much heat, but its enough to keep you interested in the taste.  You could serve it to anyone and they would be able to eat it which is always nice when you are catering to more than just yourself.  My rub is a but more spicy which can be a turn off.  Thanks for the recommendation Tony!

[Three Sons BBQ]

Nice test! Looks like A and A+ marks.

Write up nice; pictures better!!

[DivotMaker]

Fantastic rack there, Charlie!    Those look really, really good!

[bocaboy]

CW, I did my first St. Louis ribs with my #2 and the Auber PID yesterday. I've been smoking a long time with my medium Big Green Egg, but recently purchased the Smokin-It #2 to do a better job with smoking fish at lower temperatures than are easy to maintain on a BGE.

I've tried ribs once before in the #2 without the Auber PID and used a pan of apple juice and water during the smoke. In short, I didn't like the way they came out. First, I found the temperature all over the place using the built-in thermostat. It could vary by more than 20º either side of the target. (I used a Maverick 732 probe for monitoring the temperature inside the oven.) Second, the ribs had a "steamed" taste to them which I really didn't like. I'm of the school that if you cook 'em right, you don't need to wrap them to get that perfect "pull" off the bone.

I've since made the investment in an Auber 1503 for my #2 and decided to cook a rack of St. Louis ribs again, this time without the pan of apple juice and water. The difference was night and day, and the ribs were absolutely tender and delicious after 5 1/2 hours.

I'm not a fan of the yellow mustard coat when preparing the ribs. I prefer olive oil as it helps dissolve the spices in the rub and let them baste into the meat. I used Meathead Goldwyn's Memphis Dust as my rub.http://www.amazingribs.com/recipes/rubs_pastes_marinades_and_brines/meatheads_memphis_dust.html I didn't allow any time between the preparation of the ribs and starting to cook them in my #2. I cooked them at 225º for 5 1/2 hours, then coated them with sauce and returned them to the smoker for another 30 minutes. I used the middle position for my rack throughout the cook.

I used two pieces of hickory (the last two of the ones that came with my smoker) along with one small chunk of apple. That was enough to apply smoke during the entire cook. If you prefer a less intense smokey taste, or have guests that aren't too crazy about smokey flavor, use only 1 or 2 chunks of wood. I, on the other hand, love an intense, smokey flavor, hence the use of more wood.

These ribs were spot-on. They were perfectly tender and came off the bone with a mild pull. The smoke flavor was full but with just a hint of sweetness from both the sauce and the apple wood. I'll definitely do these again!

The Auber performed perfectly. I did notice that occasionally the temperature would drop as low as 195º and as high as 235º, but the Auber quickly corrected for this variation and stayed mostly between 224-230º. I should also note that I've disabled the internal thermostat by taking the back off the smoker and connecting the two spade connectors from the thermostat, bypassing it altogether and allowing for temps higher than 250º. Steve, the owner of Smokin-It, has said in other posts in the forum that the cooker should be good to as high as 500º, although I have no intention of ever taking it north of 325º.

So, in short, a very successful dinner with the #2 powered by the Auber PID. It definitely did a better job at maintaining the temperature in the oven better than the built-in thermostat, which is not all that accurate.