First ribs on my WSM

[wormser]

Got a WSM 18.5" about 3 weeks ago.  New to smoking, seasoned it with a 3-hour chicken thigh smoke, worked great.

Smoked spare ribs yesterday, hickory, 1 rack 3-2-1, 1 rack straight.  6 hours, temps were around 240-245 for first 3 hours, then about 230-235 for last 3.  Turned out pretty good.  the rub I use is brown sugar based, and it tastes good, but has sort of a sticky residue on the back of your teeth when you bite into it.  Any recommendations to resolve that?  turbinado sugar better?

Anyway, for a first rib smoke I was pretty happy!

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• wormser
• May 19, 2014

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• wormser
• May 19, 2014

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• wormser
• May 19, 2014

 

[smoking b]

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• wormser
• May 19, 2014

Looks good man! Nice job 

  & congrats on the new smoker! 

 

[forluvofsmoke]

Lookin' mighty tasty!!! I noticed you identified each type with a tag on the pan so you can differentiate between them for preferences to reference to later on with the next smoke...good planning makes for successively better dining. Nice work!!!

As for the sticky sugar issue, your ratio of sugar to herbs/spices/salt may be a bit excessive, but also note that sugars tend to caramelize quite a bit at higher temps or with longer smokes on open grates, so you may have a couple things going against you with that. Try to run a bit lower temps and add 3/4 hour if needed to complete the cooking to your desired amount (by pull-back, bend-test, whatever works for you). If that doesn't give better results with the sugar, then I'd suggest on cutting back the amount of sugar at least 1/3, possibly 1/2, and roll with that for the third round (or whichever change you want to try first).

On second look, I don't see much in the way of a darker carmelization, except on the no-foil ribs. Are those the ones with the stickiness, or was it with all of them? If it is with all of them, I'd say too much sugar, if not, then I'd reduce smoke chamber temps a bit.

Damn fine first rib smoke with the new WSM, Wormser!!!

BTW, if you give up on sugar in the rubs like I did years ago, try dried red bell peppers in your spice grinder and replace the sugar with that, only use quite a bit less, of course...mildly spicy with a sweet background...we love dry rubs based on RBP...it won't scorch on a long smoke, no sugar stickiness, and still gives a great bark on the meat if you want it. Give me a shout if you're interested.

Eric

 

[Rafter H BBQ]

Nice ribs on the new toy ! Thumbs Up Great job !

 

[jirodriguez]

Grats on the WSM and the good food! I've been rockin my 22.5" WSM for several years and it has never let me down once, rock solid results with little to no input from me once the meat is on.

Like furloveofsmoke said - cut back on the amount of sugar in your rub. I used to use a lot more sugar in my rubs and cut it back by about 2/3 and am really happy with the results. If you want to sweeten them up at the end make your sauce a little sweet and sauce them for the last hour of cook time - or sauce them right at the end and finish on a hot grill.

 

[wormser]

Thanks for the advice all. 

I believe the ones with no foil had more of the stickiness.  The 3-2-1's were preferred by all, so I'll probably be going with that for my next rib smoke.

I will have to try the RBP rub though, sounds great.

Thanks again everyone.

 

[jp61]

Congrats on your new smoker! Enjoy!

 The ribs look good!