Hi all,
It's been 2 years since I last smoked so thought I'd share my latest adventure!
I bought some meaty spare ribs with the full belly meat on them and some beef short ribs (in the past, I always ended up buying spare ribs with too little meat which meant it would dry out in the long smoke). Started my kettle early in the morning, first time using proper fuse/snake method with hickory wood placed throughout the burn. Lit several briquettes and placed them on one end, put the lid on and waited for the kettle to reach temperature. It struggled to hit 250F but anyway, I put the ribs in the rib rack and placed the meat on, with my newly bought Maverick ET732 (first time using it). This thing was great! Finally I could monitor the temperature without using an oven thermometer. I didn't look at the meat for 2 hours. The temperature was around 255-265F for these two hours - it would not go up to 275F at this point, which was annoying. I spritz the ribs and close the lid again and waited. Another 2 hours later (4 hours cooking at this point) the temperature finally hit 275 and rising, steadying around 275-290F. I spritz again and around the 6 hour mark I take everything off and wrap in foil to let it rest for an hour.
Just some things I learnt:
1) Definitely trying to smoke too much as one time in a limited amount of space. this is the second time I'm using the rib rack and probably my last - I have to use wooden skewers through the spare ribs to hold them up properly and stop them touching each other. I should have only smoked maybe 2 racks of ribs instead of 5! Not enough air flow going round I think.
2) I think the spare ribs with the full belly on wasn't that great - the extra belly meat on top was kind of tough and dry (and flapping away as you can as see in the pictures on the bbq) but the actual rib meat was perfect. I think I overcooked these spares at 6 hours - I should have pulled these at 4 hours and wrapped in foil. But because I was doing the whole thing (pork and beef ribs together) I just thought I'd cook everything at 6 hours and especially because these spares had extra meat on them too. Next time I will get better cuts - I wasn't too happy with this type of cut.
3) The beef short ribs look great but they were slightly tough - they were not finished! They had been in for 6 hours but they probably needed an extra hour or two by themselves in the smoker. It was annoying as I think one of the beef ribs wasn't getting as much heat because it was being shielded by the spare ribs. Also, because the first two hours of cooking were around 255-265F, I think I definitely should have given the beef ribs another hour or so at 275F minimum. These also weren't the best cut of beef short ribs, next time I'll get the good stuff.
Anyway, it was a great experience to smoke again. Next time, I won't be greedy and just smoke 2 racks of ribs, placing them flat on the grill without using the rib rack (they also turn out prettier without the rib rack mark on them!). When there's simply not enough space, don't be greedy! I wish I had a stick burner. The fuse/snake method worked great as well, gave me 6 hours continuous burn! And that was only 2 briquettes stack along the snake. Also, selecting the right cut is important! Something I keep telling myself again and again.
I plan on doing another smoke within the month, probably just pork spare ribs.
It's been 2 years since I last smoked so thought I'd share my latest adventure!
I bought some meaty spare ribs with the full belly meat on them and some beef short ribs (in the past, I always ended up buying spare ribs with too little meat which meant it would dry out in the long smoke). Started my kettle early in the morning, first time using proper fuse/snake method with hickory wood placed throughout the burn. Lit several briquettes and placed them on one end, put the lid on and waited for the kettle to reach temperature. It struggled to hit 250F but anyway, I put the ribs in the rib rack and placed the meat on, with my newly bought Maverick ET732 (first time using it). This thing was great! Finally I could monitor the temperature without using an oven thermometer. I didn't look at the meat for 2 hours. The temperature was around 255-265F for these two hours - it would not go up to 275F at this point, which was annoying. I spritz the ribs and close the lid again and waited. Another 2 hours later (4 hours cooking at this point) the temperature finally hit 275 and rising, steadying around 275-290F. I spritz again and around the 6 hour mark I take everything off and wrap in foil to let it rest for an hour.
Just some things I learnt:
1) Definitely trying to smoke too much as one time in a limited amount of space. this is the second time I'm using the rib rack and probably my last - I have to use wooden skewers through the spare ribs to hold them up properly and stop them touching each other. I should have only smoked maybe 2 racks of ribs instead of 5! Not enough air flow going round I think.
2) I think the spare ribs with the full belly on wasn't that great - the extra belly meat on top was kind of tough and dry (and flapping away as you can as see in the pictures on the bbq) but the actual rib meat was perfect. I think I overcooked these spares at 6 hours - I should have pulled these at 4 hours and wrapped in foil. But because I was doing the whole thing (pork and beef ribs together) I just thought I'd cook everything at 6 hours and especially because these spares had extra meat on them too. Next time I will get better cuts - I wasn't too happy with this type of cut.
3) The beef short ribs look great but they were slightly tough - they were not finished! They had been in for 6 hours but they probably needed an extra hour or two by themselves in the smoker. It was annoying as I think one of the beef ribs wasn't getting as much heat because it was being shielded by the spare ribs. Also, because the first two hours of cooking were around 255-265F, I think I definitely should have given the beef ribs another hour or so at 275F minimum. These also weren't the best cut of beef short ribs, next time I'll get the good stuff.
Anyway, it was a great experience to smoke again. Next time, I won't be greedy and just smoke 2 racks of ribs, placing them flat on the grill without using the rib rack (they also turn out prettier without the rib rack mark on them!). When there's simply not enough space, don't be greedy! I wish I had a stick burner. The fuse/snake method worked great as well, gave me 6 hours continuous burn! And that was only 2 briquettes stack along the snake. Also, selecting the right cut is important! Something I keep telling myself again and again.
I plan on doing another smoke within the month, probably just pork spare ribs.
