First time doing Ribs

[Trip]

Got 4 racks in right now, may open up a little before 5 hours and sauce em, haven't really decided if I am going to go dry or not.  Kinda following Aaron Franklin's recipe for the first batch.  Not going to foil though.

http://si3.twowheelvinyl.com

Ole Jack Burton would be proud...

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[DivotMaker]

Love the "pork chop express" sticker, Trip!

[swthorpe]

I always sauce after 5 hours or so, but that's the preference here...try it both ways and see which is better for you.

[TmanEater]

Hey Trip. Where'd you find the HeaterMeter sticker (if it's a sticker) for the top of your HM? Did you JB weld your SSR near the switch and that's working pretty good?

[1stlink]

Nice Trip but where are the rib pics? 

[Trip]

Sorry for the late reply, meant to put something up last night, but just got busy when the ribs came out because my parents came over and we took my daughter to see Thomas at the TN Valley Railroad Museum.

Tony, I have a vinyl cutter, so I just made up a little heatermeter logo for my own use.  Same with the Big Trouble in Little China inspired Pork-Chop Express sticker.  I put some stickers for the switch as well.  The SSR placement seems to be working fine.  I will take some pics of my setup this week and add them to your thread.  Glad you made that thread, it's been a blast playing with this thing.  I did a 2 line screen instead of the 4 line.  I tend to use my phone or comp to check temps more than the screen, so I wanted the smaller size.

Here are the ribs, they were a little tougher than I wanted.  I had them in there for 6-6.5 hours.  Started doing the toothpick check every 30 minutes or so at the 5 hour mark, but I ran out of time and had to pull them before I really wanted because we were going to the Thomas thing.  I need to dial back my pepper mill for ribs and not make the pepper as coarse as I made it for brisket.  Other than that, the ribs were by far the best thing I made in the smoker so far.  Aaron Franklin's rib rub was great, his sauce left a little to be desired, so I may look elsewhere for a better sauce.  It may be my sauce making skills than his recipe though, lol. 

I am definitely learning, I used 2.7 ounces of hickory.  I got the placement of these by far the best so far.  The bark was definitely a lot better tasting and didn't taste like the wood may have combusted like some of my previous smokes.  I could tell by the smoke coming out of the smoker it was doing a lot better, wasn't quite TBS, but I could tell by smell it was going to be better than anything I had done so far.

[BedouinBob]

Looks like success to me Trip.

[DivotMaker]

Great looking ribs, Trip.  I find it odd that they weren't either fall-off-the-bone, or over-cooked after 6.5 hours!  I do 3 racks at a time, at 235, and have never had ribs take longer than 5.75 hours, but usually 5.25-5.5.  Are you sure the HeaterMeter is reading the box temp true?

One more reason I suspect you were cooking at a much lower temp is that there isn't any pull-back on the bones.  Normally, you'll have about 1/2" of bone exposed, at the end, when the ribs are done.  You might want to confirm your box temp to your setting.

[TmanEater]

Trip-

I agree with Divot's assessment. You may want to confirm your next cook with another temperature probe separate from heatermeter to ensure you are dialed in appropriately. 6.5 hours is long for ribs and they should have pulled up some on the bone and have been closer to done than your pictures seem to indicate. Did you have them completely thawed/unfrozen before starting the smoke? Usually at 5.5 hours I start seeing decent indicators of done.

Tony

[Trip]

I will check again.

These were thawed completely.

[teleskier]

The last two racks I did were from different companies. Smoke time was 5.5 hours at 235 as usual and one rack was perfect with a clean rib, nice chew and pull and good bark while the other rack was tougher and not a clean rib.  Could have just been the meat you used too like my one bad rack.

[OFFSHORE GINGER]

Great looking ribs, Trip.  I find it odd that they weren't either fall-off-the-bone, or over-cooked after 6.5 hours!

Tony , funny thing that you mention ( fall of the bone ) because I have never had a fall of the bone experience in my Smoke even after six hours of cook time , and to tell you the truth the only place I have ever had the meat fall off the bone ( ribs /smoked  ) was at Rib Shack in Saginaw Mich which in my opinion have been the best ribs I have ever tasted !

[teleskier]

We have sat as judges in two K.C. competitions here locally.  For ribs, if they are fall off the bone, they are way over cooked. What you are looking for is a clean bite into the meat. Not having to rip or tear. As you bite, the meat should come cleanly from the bone and the meat should have a good flavor profile, good moisture and a nice bark.

[DivotMaker]

Tony , funny thing that you mention ( fall of the bone ) because I have never had a fall of the bone experience in my Smoke even after six hours of cook time , and to tell you the truth the only place I have ever had the meat fall off the bone ( ribs /smoked  ) was at Rib Shack in Saginaw Mich which in my opinion have been the best ribs I have ever tasted !

Mike is right about "fall off the bone."  I guess I should clarify a bit.  There is a difference between what I consider fall off the bone, and what others may.  If you pick ribs up, and the meat, literally, "falls" off the bone - they're overcooked (imo).  If you pick them up, and you can bite a very tender hunk of meat off, and the bone is clean beneath it, they're what I consider fall off the bone done.  If you bite into a rib, and it's tough, and you can't easily pull the meat from the bone, it's undercooked.  Make sense?

[Pork Belly]

one rack was perfect with a clean rib, nice chew and pull and good bark while the other rack was tougher and not a clean rib

Some animals make great food, some don't.