Test run of ribs in a #3

[TexasSmoke]

So far I have earned my Boston Butt & Brisket badges and now I am ready to smoke my first racks of ribs.

I have some family coming in town masters weekend and I am making a trial run today.  I bought a rack of St Louis cut and a rack of baby backs for a test.  Here is the plan:

I covered them both in olive oil and rub last night and wrapped them in plastic and kept them in the fridge overnight.

I plan to smoke them both with 3.5oz of hickory in foil boats and a pan of apple juice @ 225 for 5 hours (no peeking).
At 5 hours I will test for doneness and pull the babies and add sauce to the Stl Cut and cook for another hour.

Thoughts?

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[swthorpe]

Plan looks perfect to me!   Enjoy!

[SuperDave]

Going full load on hickory will be smoky if you love smoky. I tend to blend my woods from mild to smoky.

[TexasSmoke]

I checked the ribs at 5.5 hours and I am not sure they are done yet.  I was having some issues having my Auber stay constant at 225.  I think my temp probe moved and was to close to the meat for the first part of the smoke.

I tried one rib and it tasted great but was tough to separate from the bone.  I am no looking for fall of the bone but closer than they are now.

Does that mean I need to cook longer or have I gone to far? 

[Walt]

Longer

[TexasSmoke]

Well I am pretty happy with my first batch of ribs.  It ended up being 6.5 hours for the BB's and 7.5 hours for the Stl's.  I think I liked the BB's the best.  They were the meatiest ribs I have ever had.  I guess that is why it took longer than I had thought.  I had some leftovers tonight for dinner and they were awesome!

The one thing that was weird was my Auber.  During my prior smokes it was locked on to 225 +/- a single degree.  This smoke it was all over the place.  The only difference was I did not use the meat probe but everything else was the same.  Ideas?

[SuperDave]

Ron,
I'm starting to read more occurrences of this weird Auber behavior. Ribs have been a common theme between them. Lack of mass in the smoker freaks the Auber?

[Walt]

I dont use the auber for timed smokes.

[NDKoze]

St Louis cut ribs will usually take about an hour longer than baby backs. So, your times are right in line with when I do them. I prefer the St Louis cut, but this is a total personal preference as I know many here prefer the BBs.

Looks like a successful smoke. I can't help you on the Auber though. I am still debating whether I really need/want one or not. I turn out some pretty good food without it and not sure it is worth spending the money on when I have some other interests (Fishing, Camping, Golfing, etc) that need some disposable dollars too.

[Carp210]

Those test ribs look great.  I can't wait to see the photos of the big cook and results.  Good luck.
Consider going the fixed Auber probe route.  It takes away one variable of consistent probe placement.

[DivotMaker]

Consider going the fixed Auber probe route.  It takes away one variable of consistent probe placement.

+1!