First Smoked Ribs

[Davemartin88]

First time using our Bradley Digital. Apple smoked a slab of ribs and a turkey breast. Used the 3-2-1 method for the ribs and flavor was great but they weren't falling off the bone tender. Oven was set to 220 and seemed to be holding near that temperature. I found later after putting a Maverick probe in the oven, I was probably closer to 200 for the entire cook. Does it seem likely that being about 20 degrees too low for the entire 6 hours of cooking would have caused the ribs not to be as tender as they should be? The ribs were very meaty so may have just needed a bit longer even if at the right temperature. We have about half a slab left so will reheat these in the oven and see if we can let them cook longer to get more tender but we were too hungry to wait last night.

Second question, to freeze ribs, would it make sense to take them through the foil wrapped cook stage and then leave them in foil to freeze- could they then be thawed, sauced, and finished on the grill? Seems like this would work fine.

Turkey was cooked 6 hours to about 150 degrees and will finish it in the oven tonight- it looks and smells great. According to the turkey probe, the internal temp was at 142 for nearly an hour before finally starting to increase again- guess this must be what I see called a "plateau"?

All in all, a great first experience. Have a brisket, pork roast, and some cheese on hand to try next- will have to search for some information about "loading" the oven, placements, etc.

[Habanero Smoker]

Where they spare ribs or baby backs?

Being 20°F lower will definitely extend you cooking time, so it would definitely take longer for them to cook.

Do not wrap smoked foods in foil for extended periods. The acid compounds contain in the smoke along with the salt from rubs will eat through the foil. If you use a foil, first wrap the meat with a plastic wrap, that will prevent the foil from coming into contact with the meat. Once frozen they can be thawed and reheated by the grill, oven or microwave.

When I use to monitor my cooks more closely, I would notice when I cook whole poultry, there is a slight stall around 140°F internal temperature, and occasionally you will see a drop in temperature; but it doesn't last as long as the "plateau" that tougher cuts of meat have, that start around 160°F - 165°F.

[Davemartin88]

These were baby back ribs. We cooked a pork shoulder and a brisket yesterday. After the smoking was done, I put the ribs we had left wrapped in foil back in the smoker for about 3 more hours- wow, this time they were falling off the bone and wonderful! Paid more attention to the temperature today and basically just ended up setting temp at 240 which maintained about 220-225 based on the Maverick probe except when I opened the doors. We had a bit of a breeze and will find a better location, thinking I have room in the corner of my workshop where I could vent it to the outside, at least during the winter.

Good information on the foil. Don't usually freeze in foil but thought since it was all wrapped up, could just go strait to the freezer but will use a vacuum sealer instead. Took the brisket out at about 155, would say it was medium rare but cooked. We like to put a brisket in the crock pot with potatoes and BBQ sauce so sure it will finish cooking to the tender state and looking forward to the extra flavor of the hickory smoke we used.

Thanks for the feedback, see you post a lot here and appreciate your help as I'm getting started. Buying a smoker was actually my wife's idea after she saw them in a store and remembered my botched attempts using a charcoal smoker- anyone want to buy one of those, lol. Thanks again.

[Habanero Smoker]

If you vacuum seal the ribs, you can also reheat then in simmering water. Hold on to your charcoal smoker, you may eventually do a few cooks on it in the future.