First Smoke using Back Ribs & have a few ?'s

[hky280]

New owner of an OBS, did a lot of reading on the forum and then went & smoked 5 lbs of ribs.  I concocted my own rub by throwing a bunch of bottled rubs & different BBQ salts together and some herb mixes with a lot of brown sugar.  That was a mistake, should have used a rub recipe here.  Anyway, took off the silver skin, applied the rub & into the fridge overnight, out in the morning, brought the ribs up to room temp and applied the rest of the rub.  I put the ribs on 2 racks and smoked at 200, using the door temp gauge, for 3 hrs, wrapped them in foil with some apple juice and back in for another 2 hours.




Here they are after 3 hours.


Foiled up & back in for 2 more hours.


They looked better than they tasted.  The rub wasn't right for one thing and I thought they were a bit on the dry side and they were not that tender but "fall off the bone" OK.


Assuming I smarten up and use a good rub recipe, I'd like to sauce the ribs too next time so they don't taste so dry. Is that common with back ribs since they are so thick? By adding a sauce time would that just make them drier by cooking them longer?  Oh, do I apply the sauce after the foil treatment or instead of it?

   

[Tenpoint5]

If I had to venture a guess. It sounds to me like you had a very high salt content in your rub. Which pulled all the moisture out of your ribs. After the foiling you can/could have added another hour with sauce on the ribs. But I think you already had the moisture pulled out before you even got them in the smoker.

[SouthernSmoked]

Hello hky280 and welcome to the forum

I agree with Tenpoint5 that you may have a very high content of salt in your rub that contributed to pulling all the moisture out of your ribs.

Also, remember that Baby Back's don't contain a whole lot of meat so I would cut down the frig time, I'm a true believer on Baby Back's or Spare Ribs frig between 2-6 is more than enough.

I also believe in using a vinegar base mopping sauce not bbq sauce while smoking. I feel that the bbq sauce should be used as a glaze after the FTC and before cutting.

Be careful when using BBQ sauce while smoking, taking extra care not to apply to liberal, you don't want the bbq sauce dripping on your heating element (could result in fire). I had this happen several times in the first year of smoking and with the vinegar base mopping sauce not once.

Here is a link to a couple of Baby Backs that I done...
http://forum.bradleysmoker.com/index.php?topic=17217.0
http://forum.bradleysmoker.com/index.php?topic=17703.0

Remember to have fun and enjoy!!

[hky280]

Thanks for those tips and the link to your thread, very helpful.  Next time, I'll proceed as you suggested. 

Moving on, others in the house want me try some salmon, so onward. 

I have another question about smoking time.  I thought you continuously burned the wood disks for as long as the meat was cooking but reading the recipes, it appears the smoking time goes up to about 5 hours, even for a big pork shoulder?  So, do you continue to cook in the OBS without burning any more disks?  Turning off the disk advance switch cuts the power to the heating element so rather than removing excess disks, I guess you calculate how many to insert and they just run out at the right time?  I loaded up the whole tube initially.     

[iceman]

Thanks for those tips and the link to your thread, very helpful.  Next time, I'll proceed as you suggested. 

Moving on, others in the house want me try some salmon, so onward. 

I have another question about smoking time.  I thought you continuously burned the wood disks for as long as the meat was cooking but reading the recipes, it appears the smoking time goes up to about 5 hours, even for a big pork shoulder?  So, do you continue to cook in the OBS without burning any more disks?  Turning off the disk advance switch cuts the power to the heating element so rather than removing excess disks, I guess you calculate how many to insert and they just run out at the right time?  I loaded up the whole tube initially.     

Just remember about three disks per hour. Most folks don't smoke more than 4 hrs. (except hams and such). Just load the right amount and follow with bubba pucks.

[SouthernSmoked]

Thanks for those tips and the link to your thread, very helpful.  Next time, I'll proceed as you suggested. 

Moving on, others in the house want me try some salmon, so onward. 

I have another question about smoking time.  I thought you continuously burned the wood disks for as long as the meat was cooking but reading the recipes, it appears the smoking time goes up to about 5 hours, even for a big pork shoulder?  So, do you continue to cook in the OBS without burning any more disks?  Turning off the disk advance switch cuts the power to the heating element so rather than removing excess disks, I guess you calculate how many to insert and they just run out at the right time?  I loaded up the whole tube initially.     

I will normally do about 3 1/2 hours of smoke when doing ribs, 6-7 butts and about the same on briskets.

When click the ON/OFF switch on the Smoke Generator it only turns off the burning element that burns your wood chips, not the unit.

Sometimes you may want to leave this on if your needing a little more heat, just not sure how much this adds.

I also use (3) Bubba Pucks will help you from wasting bisquettes left on your burner.

Remember 3-Bisquettes = 1 hour of smoke.

Bubba Pucks
http://www.yardandpool.com/Bubba-Pucks-Bradley-Smoker-Woodsaver-p/bubbapuck-p.htm?1=1&CartID=0
http://www.auberins.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=14&products_id=111

Hope this helps

[Dougsts]

The only way I do ribs anymore is as follows:  rub the ribs with salt, pepper and garlic powder. I smoke them at 170 for 2.3 hours with a couple of rotates thrown in there.  I take the ribs out of the smoker, let them cool and wrap them in plastic wrap and toss into the fridge for a few hours.  I then light up the grill and grill the racks on a low heat for at leas an hour, turning every 15 minutes or so.  My family is about half and half when it comes to BBQ sauce so i smear sauce on half the ribs toward the end of the grilling process.  They turn out really good.

[hal4uk]

hky,

Aside from not using too much salt in your rub (or too much sugar)...
Anther thing you can do "sauce-wise" is to heat up a glaze on your stovetop...

---take your favorite BBQ sauce and add some honey and some apple juice (or whatever you like), and get it to a thin consistency...
Brush it hot on the ribs in the last 1/2 hour -- or (I like to do this) just brush it on hot right before serving.

That way, your smoker isn't all gunked up with sauce, your ribs aren't "dripping wet", but they're not "bone dry" either.
Just juicy/shiny looking.

A heavy sauce covers up the great flavor you worked so hard to get, but a thin glaze can add to the look/flavor without "drowning" it.