Finished my first smoke

Bucky · September 07, 2009, 11:03:05 AM

Thanks for your help guys. My pork butt came out perfect. The crowd loved the results. It took 21.5 hours of cooking and FTC'd it for many hours. The ribs came out only OK. I had baby backs and I don't think I had a high enough temp on them. The meat didn't pull back. AT ALL. I smoked them for 3 hours / AJ and foil for 1 hour and another hour bare with sauce. The BDS was set to 220 but the actual tower temp was between 185 and 210 at any given time. Again, they were ok but just not that fall off the bone and melt in your mouth kind of ribs. Oh, the ABTs were a huge hit with the guys who like it hot.

Mr Walleye · September 07, 2009, 11:25:18 AM

Congrats Bucky! ;)

On the ribs next time you could increase the foil time to get them more tender. When I do mine I usually apply 3 hours of smoke, then let them go another hour after that. Then into foil with a splash of AJ and back into the smoker for around 2 hours. I usually sauce them on my gasser just long enough to stiffen the sauce, maybe 10 to 15 minutes. I like mine to be falling off the bone as well.

You'll get the ribs dialled in! ;)

Mike

mikecorn.1 · September 07, 2009, 11:29:39 AM

Congrats. Were you getting the temp off the bradley thermometer or and independent.

Bucky · September 07, 2009, 11:41:50 AM

I got the temp off a separate thermometer. The probe was placed about .5" from the top of the meat on the first tray of ribs. I had 3 trays going. Don't get me wrong. They were good and the crowed thought they were great. However, I know they could have been better. Probably just a slight learning curve to dial it in to my preference. OH, and I almost made a horrible mistake. I was making a S.C. style sauce for the pulled pork. Apple Cider Vinegar based. The bottle has a big picture of an apple on the label. I went to go outside to apple juice and foil the ribs. Mistakenly, grabbed the apple cider vinegar. Poured some on the ribs and foiled the first packet. My nose whiffed the acidy and knew something wasn't right. Thanks goodness a I caught it. Just re-foiled with the AJ. Wish I could blame it on the beer but I only had one at this point. HA!

Bucky · September 07, 2009, 12:10:03 PM

Here's my pork butt.

mikecorn.1 · September 07, 2009, 12:34:46 PM

Good looking butt. ;D That bark looks mighty good. :)

KyNola · September 07, 2009, 01:21:35 PM

Way to go Bucky! I knew this would go well for you. You will dial those ribs in to your preference but sounds like they turned out great for your first run. Congrats my friend. You are now officially hooked.

Reel him in boys! :D ;)

KyNola

sterlingpriceporker · September 07, 2009, 02:10:55 PM

hi all, i'm new to the site and smoking, my smoker will get here at the end of the week. in several of the posts i saw AJ what are you refuring too?
Remember there no dumb qoestions just dumb people asking questions ;D

Mr Walleye · September 07, 2009, 02:13:10 PM

Your absolutely right... There's no stupid questions. Well, except for the ones you don't ask. ;)

AJ= Apple Juice

Mike

FLBentRider · September 07, 2009, 04:16:05 PM

That is a nice looking butt you have there.

Hopefull Romantic · September 07, 2009, 04:37:26 PM

Great looking meal you got there. Enjoy

HR

pkcdirect · September 07, 2009, 05:27:40 PM

Nice Butt... ;D

HawkeyeSmokes · September 07, 2009, 06:23:16 PM

That butt looks great Bucky! I to have found that spare ribs take a bit longer. Mine have taken from 6 to 7 hours to be falling off the bone tender. Just a learning curve, you will nail those to. ;D

OU812 · September 08, 2009, 08:39:56 AM

Nice looking bark on your butt, as for the ribs there is a bit of a learning curve to get what you want. I have had some BB ribs take 5 hr and some take 7 hr i think the pig has a bit to do how the ribs or butt turn out.

Bucky · September 08, 2009, 01:22:00 PM

Yeah, I'll nail the ribs next time. This smoking stuff is truly addictive. I'm doing my own bacon this weekend. I ordered a 9-10 lbs free range - organic pork belly from my favorite meat supplier. (Prather Ranch) I'm lucky to live in Northern California and have easy access to great "old school" farmed meat. Trying to decide if I should brine cure and only cook to the 130 degree range and treat it as raw bacon or fully cook it and not have to worry about cooking it later. I'm really leaning towards undercooking / slicing and cutting lardons to freeze. Something about cooking raw bacon that makes me tingle all over.