- Jun 20, 2011
- 13
- 10
After reading the many posts and looking at the pics of all the wonderful Q u folks have posted I thought I'd give it a go myself. I picked up a MES 40 from SAMs a little while back and tried to smoke some baby backs using the 2-2-1 method. My first go didn't turn out so well. I had virtually no smoke ring and it took longer than 5 hours to smoke. The ribs were also not fall of the bone tender. I have made better/more tender ribs in the oven! But I digress....I put it out my mind and vowed I would try again later.
Fast forward a few months to the arrival of my AMNPS! I figured this would solve my smoke ring issue at the very least....last night I burned the oil off, wrapped up some freshly rubbed ribs and put them in the fridge for smoking today. I started at 2pm. Got a nice flame going on the AMNPS. I let that work for a few minutes and blew it out. I then had all the smoke I could ever wish for, so I put it on the on rails of my MES. I set the temp to 225 and went in to get the ribs ready. After the MES got up to temp I added 2 racks of baby backs(eac rack was cut in half). At this point is was 2:50, so I set my timer for 2 hours. I returned at 5:10pm to take them out. I spritzed on some room temp apple juice using a spray bottle and wrapped them up in heavy duty foil. I placed them in the smoker bone side up at 5:30pm. I came back and took them out at 7:30pm. I took them out of the foil, slathered on some sauce and put them back in for the final hour...except the final hour came and went. After the final hour passed they were holding at mid to high 130 degrees. I waited another 15 minutes and no change. I had to up the temp to 275 to get them to finish and I was able to take them out at 9:30pm once they hit 170. Even though I removed the membrane it still seemed like it was still there. They were tough and still didn't have that elusive smoke ring!! Throughout the entire process the AMNPS kicked out plenty of smoke. Based on other posts I read I had the chip drawer open slightly, the chip 'dumper' pulled out slightly and the vent opened all of the way. So I am puzzled as to why I still had no smoke ring, not to mention the ribs were tough and took 7 hours to fully cook. I would love some insight by the gurus here so I may be able to smoke picture worthy meats.
Sorry for the long post, I just wanted to put as much info out as possible. Please......HELP!!!!
Fast forward a few months to the arrival of my AMNPS! I figured this would solve my smoke ring issue at the very least....last night I burned the oil off, wrapped up some freshly rubbed ribs and put them in the fridge for smoking today. I started at 2pm. Got a nice flame going on the AMNPS. I let that work for a few minutes and blew it out. I then had all the smoke I could ever wish for, so I put it on the on rails of my MES. I set the temp to 225 and went in to get the ribs ready. After the MES got up to temp I added 2 racks of baby backs(eac rack was cut in half). At this point is was 2:50, so I set my timer for 2 hours. I returned at 5:10pm to take them out. I spritzed on some room temp apple juice using a spray bottle and wrapped them up in heavy duty foil. I placed them in the smoker bone side up at 5:30pm. I came back and took them out at 7:30pm. I took them out of the foil, slathered on some sauce and put them back in for the final hour...except the final hour came and went. After the final hour passed they were holding at mid to high 130 degrees. I waited another 15 minutes and no change. I had to up the temp to 275 to get them to finish and I was able to take them out at 9:30pm once they hit 170. Even though I removed the membrane it still seemed like it was still there. They were tough and still didn't have that elusive smoke ring!! Throughout the entire process the AMNPS kicked out plenty of smoke. Based on other posts I read I had the chip drawer open slightly, the chip 'dumper' pulled out slightly and the vent opened all of the way. So I am puzzled as to why I still had no smoke ring, not to mention the ribs were tough and took 7 hours to fully cook. I would love some insight by the gurus here so I may be able to smoke picture worthy meats.
Sorry for the long post, I just wanted to put as much info out as possible. Please......HELP!!!!