1st smoke...St. Louis ribs...thanks for all the input folks!

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da toad

Fire Starter
Original poster
Aug 16, 2015
69
107
WESTERN MASSACHUSETTS
Had a lot of helpful info in another thread  before I fired up my new smoker yesterday for the first smoke:

Total newbie here and the more I learn about this smoking stuff the more I realize that there is a ton of info out there. Feel like I rode the short buss into this cooking method.

Picked up a Masterbuilt 30" electric smoker with blue tooth this past weekend as it was a tax free weekend here in Taxachusetts. Seasoned the unit yeasterday per instrucrtions. Went to Costco and picked up ten pounds of St. Louis ribs with whatever rub Costco uses. Looks heavy on the paprika, salt and pepper but I really have no idea what the rub is. Just didn't have time to research rubs and such and wanted to get going with the smoker.

Findings so far:

1. The range on the blue tooth is around 24'. I still have to go and open a door to get close enough for the blue tooth app to work from my phone. Don't bother with this until they improve the range. I know they make a similar smoker with a remote but don't know what the range on that is. Blue tooth is a good selling point but they are deceptive about how it works. I may be bring mine back because of this. If I have to walk out in the garage to get the phone to work remotely then I can easily walk out the garage door to the smoker....it's 7 steps.

2. The window in the unit is worthless once the smoke starts. It's like looking through mud and becomes almost totally blocked after a couple of hours. Don't bother with a window if you buy one.

3. The temp seems to hold very well and varies approximately +8 to -10 degrees. It depends on how far I open the vent in the top of the smoker.

2. Wood chip load seems a little small. I had to load chips three times during the first two hours. I stopped after two hours with the chips because I read on several sites that after two hours of smoke your meat has absorbed about all the smoke flavor it is going to absorb and may become bitter after that. Maybe they are just blowing smoke but that is what I read. Time will tell. Oh yea...I just used apple wood chips because that is all I had besides mesquite chips but I read on some forums to stay away for heavily mesquite smoking. 

So at 10:00 this AM I took the ribs out of the fridge and set them on a platter to come up to room temp:



Also filled the water dish (not sure if I should check this but I don't want to open up the smoker) and started up the smoker and set it to 230 degrees. At 11:00 I loaded the meat into the smoker and set the time for 6 hours. Put chips in for smoke the first two hours. I hope my timing is right. 6 hours for St. Louis style ribs seems to be the norm for the information that I could find.

So anyway "SMOKEY" ( real original name right?) is setting outside the garage, holding the temp real well, and doing it's thing with no help from me. I intend to check the ribs after 5.5 hours to see if done and may slather a little Jack Daniels BBG sauce on a couple of pieces. Not sure what I am going to/should do yet.



I think they turned out great. Like I said above, smoker set for 6 hours at 230 debgrees. Apple wood smoke for the first two hours and nothing after that. Opened the smoker up after 5 hours and slathered some Jack Daniels BBQ sauce on a couple of pieces to see how the sauce would change the taste. I could see that he meat had already pulled away from the bones about 3/8", a sign that I read showed they were done. Shut her back up for another hour. After a total of 6 hours in the smoker I took them out. Looked and tasted great. I thinking in the future that I would like a little more sweetness, just a little. I don't know what Costco put on for their rub but it flavored the meat and tasted just fine.

The wife and I were in such a hurry to try them out I forgot to take a picture of the platter loaded with all the ribs. 


The wife and I were is such a hurry to try them I forgot to take a picture of the platter loaded with all the ribs.
doh.gif
This is what remained after we were done eating....we ate a lot!



Anyway I am real happy how these turned out for my first shot at smoking. Have to do some more investigation about rubs, mustard rubs and the like. I'm thinking that tomorrow I may just shoot for a pork butt to see what that is all about.

For the smoker...window is useless. For the blue tooth the range sucks and it seems to lose contact with the smoker around 24' which I call useless and may be bringing the smoker back for that reason. Smoker held temp real well although at times response to reheat heat seemed a little slow.

I would say after this first time....I'm hooked!
 
Nice job on the ribs!!  They look real good!  I recently purchased Jeff's rub recipe and used it on some pork butts and I think it might be just the flavor you are looking for.  I plan to try it on ribs this weekend.  When I do ribs I let the smoke roll the whole time if I am using a fruit wood like apple or cherry.  It supposedly adds to the bark and I have personally never had food that was too smoked using those woods.  I have however had tenderloins that were way too smoking using hickory.  Keep the smoking pictures coming and keep up the good work! 

Shelton
 
They look awesome! Some thought on the smoker I was going to go with that same model and after doing some research on the great Web I found out that ppl were having the same issues with the Bluetooth range being crappy so I decided on just a non window mes 30 n ordered the I grill probe n monitor if has like a 100 ft range on the Bluetooth so if u decided to return that model that's how I went. As to the sweetness I would try to find a rub that has some sugars in it as they will carmlize while cooking giving u a sweeter bite, you could also experiment with making ur own bbq sauce that could be on the sweet side. I personally make my sauce n then smoke it to add another level of flavor, but again they look great and if u liked them that's all that matters. Everything is trial and error in my opinion. Happy smoking!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Congratulations on your first Rib smoke . They look nice and tasty .

About the window , contact "Bearcarver" and see how he keeps his window clean .

I hear they are nice and easy to clean . Yeah , a bit of trouble ,but a nice option .

Good luck and as always . . .
 
The ribs look really nice and I'm glad you enjoyed them. I'd like to see a side view of the cut rib. Apple is good for ribs. I really like cherry on mine. Try Jeff's rubs and sauce. The recipes are such that you can tweak them to allow for your individual taste. I add a little sweet and take out a little heat. The basic recipes are great and the proceeds are used to support this site. Next time, try a higher temp and let them get done sooner. good luck, Joe
 
Nice going.  I received a hand-me-down MES 30 digital earlier this year and found it very easy to use, especially after reading a TON of threads here about techniques, recipes and how-to's.  It's a never-ending learning curve where even when it doesn't turn out perfect, you get to enjoy your "failures".  :)
 
They look awesome! Some thought on the smoker I was going to go with that same model and after doing some research on the great Web I found out that ppl were having the same issues with the Bluetooth range being crappy so I decided on just a non window mes 30 n ordered the I grill probe n monitor if has like a 100 ft range on the Bluetooth so if u decided to return that model that's how I went. As to the sweetness I would try to find a rub that has some sugars in it as they will carmlize while cooking giving u a sweeter bite, you could also experiment with making ur own bbq sauce that could be on the sweet side. I personally make my sauce n then smoke it to add another level of flavor, but again they look great and if u liked them that's all that matters. Everything is trial and error in my opinion. Happy smoking!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Where did you get this Tut....sounds like exactly what I am looking for.  I just started another thread  looking for something like that because I could not find anything...help me because I am returning the blu-tooth one tomorrow....thanks.
 
I got mine at lowes mes 30 inch it's was 199 on sale, home Depot had them also! The igrill just Google o think it was 79 which would bring the total to around 300 with taxes and stuff, but like I said the range is getting good reviews. Lmk how u make out!
 
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