First attempt ever!

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tr1ple8

Smoke Blower
Original poster
Sep 15, 2010
85
46
Southern California
So this is the first smoke that I have ever done. I decided that I would make Ribs for the first time.  I attempted the 3-2-1 method. Although I think I maybe should have reduced the time on the 3... And I kind of lost track of time on the 2 and i think they were only there for 1.5.  They came out really good but not quite fall of the bone.  A little tough for my liking.  For the first attempt; they weren't too bad. Oh btw, I cooked them at about 230. There was a short time where they went up to about 245 but that was for about 15 minutes.

Before putting in the smoker

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About 2 hours in...

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3 hours and ready to wrap

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After the wrap and ready to go in for about 1 more hour

5081d6eb_Ribs4.jpg


The finished product.... I sauced the ribs at this point

b3daba0d_Ribs5.jpg
 
They look good
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did you add some liquid when you foiled them?
 
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Your ribs look good and maybe if you got alittle more smoking time on th first leg they would have been more to your liking. Definatly earned
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Good old thermodynamics...I'll take a semi-educated guess can knock 20mins off 3 hours every-time you open that door on your smoker due to heat loss.  Another words, you think you're cooking for three hours but if you opened the door three times, it's like you're cooking for two hours.  If you have a super insulated rig made of 1/2" thick metal or a ceramic cooker, it would be much different.  Try to pride yourself by only opening it up twice, once to foil and again to remove the foil.

I've been preaching that if you use oven bags instead of foil with is impossible to seal, you get a pressure cooking effect which makes them much more tender.

Great start!  Let us know if you have any other questions. :)
 
So I did add liquid when I wrapped them. I was using apple juice. I was spraying them about every 45 minutes. Taking into consideration what Bacardi said, that may have been the reason why they weren't all that tender. I will make sure to keep the door shut.
 
So I did add liquid when I wrapped them. I was using apple juice. I was spraying them about every 45 minutes. Taking into consideration what Bacardi said, that may have been the reason why they weren't all that tender. I will make sure to keep the door shut.
I can guarantee they'll be MORE juicy and tender if you stop straying and like RStan said, experimentation is the key to meet your expectations of how you tender you want them.  Science has proven spraying and mops do little more then slow down the cooking process and that somehow meat is NOT like a sponge absorbing whatever liquid we throw at it.  It was a myth and it keeps going; we want to believe it works (like "enlargement" pills) but it falls short (pun intended). lol

Next time you make them, give 'em a spray of apple juice AFTER they're done and off the smoker.  None of the A.J.'s flavor will be steamed/burned off :)
 
The way I see it, is this is your first smoke. So as long as the ribs didn't have to go in the trash, you had a successful cook. I actually thought the ribs were looking pretty good, ya, a little more bone showing may have been better but if they had the flavor then your real close.

I spritz when I cook, but its more to get a lite coat of sugar to help with the bark rather then to soak into the meat.
 
I spritz when I cook, but its more to get a lite coat of sugar to help with the bark.
Liquid is a bark's worst enemy as it hinders it's ability to harden.  Simply up the sugar in the rub if your goal is to help with the bark.  :)
 
I can guarantee they'll be MORE juicy and tender if you stop straying and like RStan said, experimentation is the key to meet your expectations of how you tender you want them.  Science has proven spraying and mops do little more then slow down the cooking process and that somehow meat is NOT like a sponge absorbing whatever liquid we throw at it.  It was a myth and it keeps going; we want to believe it works (like "enlargement" pills) but it falls short (pun intended). lol

Next time you make them, give 'em a spray of apple juice AFTER they're done and off the smoker.  None of the A.J.'s flavor will be steamed/burned off :)

I can't agree more.  I believe i sprayed during my first ever smoker but never after that.  I think it was a combination of my first smoke not turning out so well and me doing about 3 hours of research afterwords.  Some swear by it, but I agree that meat is definitely not like a sponge... great way to put it.
 
These look good to me. I could not tell if If they are Pork ribs or Baby Back Ribs they should be cooked at diffrent times I think possible 3 hours-2.5 hours-.5 hours  (Baby Backs time) .

Also I use about 1/4 cup Aple use in the foil stage. Reason I say this is you do not have much pull back shown in your pictures.
 
These look good to me. I could not tell if If they are Pork ribs or Baby Back Ribs they should be cooked at diffrent times I think possible 3 hours-2.5 hours-.5 hours  (Baby Backs time) .

Also I use about 1/4 cup Aple use in the foil stage. Reason I say this is you do not have much pull back shown in your pictures.
If they're laying flat they're spares as baby back or loins have curved bones, tip to tip.  :)
 
For a first smoke.... good job!
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Don't overthink it, make one small change at a time and don't over do it.
 
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