So I decided to try my luck with baby back ribs yesterday and they turned out ok and a little dry. I rubbed them down with Jeff's rub just before they went into the smoker (MES30). I smoked two racks of ribs cut into thirds (6 pieces total). Once the smoker was at 225, I added the ribs and set the timer for 2 hours. After 2 hours I removed the ribs and added them to a foil pan with apple juice for another 2 hours. Once the 2 hours were up I added them back on the grates for 1 hour with a little BBQ sauce. I noticed the ribs sitting in the apple juice were actually juicier than the ones sitting on top of the ribs sitting in the apple juice. The ones sitting in the apple juice also had more fat, so that may have helped as well. The smaller pieces on the end without as much fat seemed to be a little dry. Any thoughts on ways for me to change what I did to get juicy ribs?
- Should I start the time on the 2-2-1 method once the smoker has recovered each time and reached the desired internal temp?
- Should I wrap them individually next time?
- I didn't use a water pan, I used sand in the pan. Does that matter? I thought I read where the water pan does not add moisture to the meat, it just acts as a way to help stabilize the temps.