Basic Pork Spare ribs (pellet experiment)

[snadamo]

So I am one of those people who are struggling with "smoke flavor" or lack thereof from my pellet smoker, compared to my WSM (which ironically I am battling the opposite issue with; more to come with that). I have a very busy family life, and as a result, my pellet smoker and weber gasser get the brunt of the work. There's give and take with all types of cookers, so I know some sacrifices are made. In the pursuit of trying to maximize said flavor on the pellet smoker, I decided to do a few upgrades and mess around with pellet choices.

So for this cook, I did 1 rack pork spare ribs, basic 50/50 S&P rub (kosher salt, coarse ground pepper). Sprayed with 50/50 apple cider vinegar and water if meat got dry. 4 hour smoke 225 ("smoke level 10"), 1 hour wrapped at 275, 30-ish minutes unwrapped and glazed at 275. If it sounds familiar, Jeremy Yoder did a video on this and I wanted to follow it as close as possible.

Fuel was a 2:1 mix of Lumberjack Oak Pellets and Royal Oak Charcoal pellets.

So ribs turned out GREAT! Just 3 things I would change (I am my own worst critic)

1. I trimmed them poorly. Tiny bones on ends, not very uniformed. Been a while since I've done spare ribs, we usually go babyback...that will change

2. I think I got more "smoke flavor" than previous attempts, but I'm looking for more...so next go I will do a 1:1 wood/charcoal pellet mix in the hopper.

3. May have been more fall of the bone than I'd like, but my family loves them this way.

Anyway, here are some pics (I Hope). After I feel I come to the conclusion of my pellet experiment, I will probably mess around with my WSM and different charcoal other than KBB.

 

[snadamo]

Ugh...rookie move, pics didn't upload...lets try again :doh: Sorry fellas, still learning the ropes here.

 

[Smoke on Badger Mountain]

I'd clean those bones!

 

[16Adams]

Awesome walk through, thanks. I think the best part of cooking full spares are the gristles-tips-Breaks-irregulars. I keep those for me and anyone else can have the uniform pretty ribs. I had tips for breakfast.
A cool search for the sweet spot, good luck

 

[tom b]

that ill eat

 

[HogGrog]

Super looking ribs!

Do you think the charcoal pellets provide more smoke flavor than the oak wood pellets? I have not tried the charcoal pellets I have yet and presumed them to be higher heat but not as smoky. Thanks, I’ll try them soon.

 

[SweetHeatBBQnSC]

Yes tell more about those charcoal pellets and your thoughts.

 

[snadamo]

I can certainly SMELL the charcoal pellets do their work when cooking. When eating, however, I was expecting more of that charcoal taste in the meat. It was there, but faint. So next step is to up the ratio from 2:1 wood/char to 1:1 and see if it makes a difference.

I don't think my controller had issues maintaining the 225/275 temps I set it on too badly. When setting the smoke level on my controller, temps will swing more as a result of the extra smoldering etc. When I set it super low, it was within 5* consistently.


I know folks have had issues with their augers and RO charcoal pellets, but I haven't had issues. They may have changed the way they make them since then too, I don't know.

I'll be sure to share more as I continue.

 

[snadamo]

So, interestingly enough, I had grilled chicken breast and eggplant/zucchini to grill tonight. Not planned well and I ran out of real estate on the gasser. So I decided to finish off the chicken with the remaining pellets in my hopper on my camp chef. I feel chicken soaks up smoke flavor like a sponge; and it certainly did. I got the wood/smoke notes I was anticipating for the ribs. It was damn tasty! So not I gotta think that going 1:1 on ribs and bigger cuts of meat will produce what I am looking for.

 

[mike243]

Spritzing can help on the smoke , every 30 minutes or so when you throw the meat on for a couple hours at low temp high smoke