First Time on the MES 30"

abird1252 said:

 
I purchased a MES 30" (model 20071914) after Thanksgiving.  Following the initial preseason, I completed my first attempt at smoking over the weekend with baby back ribs and lamb ribs.  My  wife likes lamb so I decided to give it a try as well.  Overall I would rate the Ribs a "B" and lamb a "C", but hoping to improve the next time around.  The main issue was the ribs could have been more tender and did not "fall off the bone" as much as I hoped.  I didn't research on smoking the lamb and it turned out on the dry side.  The smoke flavor did come through nicely. Do you want fall off of the bone or tender with a bite?   

I followed the usual guidance 1)  Preheat smoker to 225  2)  Dry Hickory chips  3)  Damper at least 2/3 of the way open throughout  4)  2 hours smoke, 2 hours in foil, and then 1 hour back in after applying sauce.  I added a cup of HOT water to the pan at the beginning and then again after the first 2 hours.  Have you checked the actual temp of you MES with something other than the factory set temps? Forget water in the pan and wrap with foil, or add sand to the pan and wrap with foil or wrap a couple of bricks with foil and leave the pan out.

I only added a small amount of water in the foil with the ribs.  I'm thinking I need to go with more water in the foil and keep them going longer than the 2 hours on the second step.  I believe they needed more time to cook in the foil and become tender.  Any suggestions on the baby backs and/or lamb is appreciated.  If your temperature is correct bump it up  a little say 240°ish. 

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• abird1252
• Dec 9, 2014

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