1st Attempt with Baby Back Ribs and I have a few questions

  • Some of the links on this forum allow SMF, at no cost to you, to earn a small commission when you click through and make a purchase. Let me know if you have any questions about this.
SMF is reader-supported. When you buy through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.

zx24

Fire Starter
Original poster
Aug 5, 2014
36
10
Mandeville, LA
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?
  1. Should I start the time on the 2-2-1 method once the smoker has recovered each time and reached the desired internal temp?
  2. Should I wrap them individually next time?
  3. 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.
 
 
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?
  1. Should I start the time on the 2-2-1 method once the smoker has recovered each time and reached the desired internal temp?
  2. Should I wrap them individually next time?
  3. 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.
1 No 

2 Individually wrap 

3 sand works great.

Have you checked you MES to see if it is holding the set tempature?

Happy smoken.

David

  oh and by the way
worthless.gif
 
Last edited:
I have never done 2-2-1. I like a nice outer bark on my ribs and I wrapping hurts that from what I hear. I always use water, I have never tried sand. My ribs always turn out nice and tender. But everyone is different that is what makes smoking so much fun.
 
SmokingMeatForums.com is reader supported and as an Amazon Associate, we may earn commissions from qualifying purchases.

Hot Threads

Clicky