Newbie trying ribs, need some advice....

[smoke3470]

First, I want all of you guys who have posted to this forum, man its great! After reading alot of posts I finally broke down and bought myself a Bradley. Well I just got it yesterday! Got her unpacked and ran an hour of smoke through it. Works great! I was planning on doing a slab of spare ribs as my first test this weekend when the family called and now I'm making four slabs and no time to experiment. I need some advice from you guys to make sure I don't mess this up. Here's what I've done so far, I removed the membrane, rubbed em, wrapped them in plastic and into the frig. Tomorrow, I'm planning on preheating the Bradley to about 225 and then smoke them, bones down, for about 3 hours. Should I rotate the racks during these first 3 hours? Then I'm debating, should I wrap them in foil with some apple juice for another 2 hours (no smoke) or should I just mop them every 1/2 hour so? Then after the 5 hours should I do the foil, towel, cooler thing for a couple more hours? I really want these to be "fall off the bone" good, but I've never done this before. I'm probably making a bigger deal out this then it is, I usually do. But any advice you veterans can give me would be great!

[Smokin Soon]

Take a look here at 10.5's tutorial. It has helped a lot of new members with ribs.

http://www.susanminor.org/forums/showthread.php?t=581

[aces-n-eights]

Hey smoke3470!  Congrats on your new purchase - good choice!  Sounds like you have done a lot of reading and that is a good thing.  

My rather feeble advice on ribs is to not get too hung up on cooking times.  Ribs are done when they're done.  Personally i would roll smoke for 3 hours, rotate the racks and back in the smoker until the meat pulls back from the bone.  At that point i would FTC them for at least an hour and check for "fall-off-the-bone-ness".   ;D  As far as mopping or adding sauce, i add that at the very end with a quick hit on the grill and mopping them up good.  Again that is my personal preference.  

Oh yeah, welcome to a great forum and please let us know how it all goes!

[deb415611]

Welcome Smoke3470

[HawkeyeSmokes]

Hey Smoke,

Welcome aboard. I'm to am a newbie but after my first attempt at ribs (they sucked) I followed the tutorial from 10.5. Best ribs I ever had IMHO. Juicy and fall off the bone good. I used apple pucks on those and really liked the flavor. You have come to the right place for advice as every one here really tries to help.

Have fun with it.

[KyNola]

Smoke,
First of all welcome to the forum family!  I like your deal on what you're doing with the ribs.  Only thing I would say is preheat the smoker much higher than 225.  When you open the door and put 4 slabs of cold ribs in the smoker your temp in the box is going to drop dramatically.  My suggestion is to preheat the smoker up to around 270-300 and then put the ribs in.  That's just me.  3 hours of smoke is good.  I'll yield to other folks about the need to rotate during the smoke period.  I like wrapping the ribs in foil with apple juice for the next couple of hours.  I think you're pretty much dead on with what you're doing.  Just watch for the meat to pull back about a half inch from the rib bone.  When they do, they're done!  The FTC is only necessary if you're not ready to serve dinner when the ribs come out of the smoker.

Have fun and let us know about all of the compliments you get!

KyNola

[drano]

smoke

Welcome to the world of Bradley.
Hope I'm not too late for you to read this.

I do a rack of spare ribs every few months. 
Here's info from my last spare rib smoke.
preheat at 220 for 1 hour
9:00 - one 3.65 lb rack of ribs on (cut in half, and a piece on the middle 2 racks)
6 pecan pucks (2 hours)
12:30 smoker temp down to 200 (I could tell the ribs would be done too soon)
1:00 ribs at 185 deg on 3rd rack down, 175 deg on second rack down
1630 -  FTC
1800 - enjoy!

I'd recommend allowing plenty of time.  I have no clue how much longer 4 racks take than 1, but its gonna be some time.  I like to leave ribs in the smoker until the meat gets to 180 deg, then turn the heat down to 195-200 deg until I'm ready to FTC. I don't boat or anything like that.  They are in the smoker, in FTC, or on my plate.  Get the ribs on early at 220 deg, and let them go (and keep that door closed - watching is fun, but lets all your heat out!).  Check for about 180 deg ribs, and meat pulling back on the bone for knowing they are done.  Should be tender and juicy.

Best of luck to you, and let us know how they turned out.
get smokin
drano

[seagravedriver]

OH CRAP!  Membrane!  Doing my second smoke today, baby backs in....oh well!  Good advice, as long as I look for it and follow it ;)

[starship]

Good advice on preheating much higher than 225.

I cook at 225 for ribs.

You have the right smoker, now see the link in my sig to learn about ribs. Majic Dust, 5 hours at 225.  Don't get any better!