I have been doing Baby Back ribs in my CharGrill offset for years. But now that I have a new MES40 I gave it a try and found several differences.I almost always had to much smoke( I just didn't know that because I had not yet found this forum. This forum has changed a lot of things in my life of smoking and I thank you all.) Anyhow, on the old CharGriller I tried to keep it between 225-250 degrees, with no water pan and after two hours would wrap my ribs in foil and go another two hours. Then the meat would litteraly fall of the bones. Well yesterday I did some ribs in the MES40. I used my new A-MAZE-N also. It was somewhat of a learning experience. I filled the foil lined water pan and set the temp at 225. About 40 mins later I noticed there was no smoke (first lesson), the drippings had put out the A-MAZE-N, so I moved the A-MAZE-N farther under the water pan. After two hours(second lesson) I opened the door to wrap the ribs and found thay did not have the color that I usually get on the CharGriller or a very strong smoke odor. So I decided to leave unwrapped for another hour and lighted the other end of the A-MAZE-N. After three hours I wrapped the ribs in foil, the extra hour gave them a little better color and smell. After 5 hours I took the ribs out and wrapped them in towels and placed them in an ice chest for a little over an hour while I waited on guest to arrive.
When I unwrapped the ribs and went to cut them I noticed that they did not simply fall of the bone as before, they were however very tender and moist. I attributed the moistness to the water pan. They were also very tasty with a great flavor just not as smoky as the old CharGriller, which by the way I always thought was a llittle too smoky. I would have liked a little more smoke flavor but not as much as when I used to over smoke in the Chargriller. So where did I go wrong?? Assuming that both temp indicators are correct on the CharGriller and the MES, why didn't the meat fall of the bone after 5 hours??? I am thinking of not using any water next time, would that do it?
When I unwrapped the ribs and went to cut them I noticed that they did not simply fall of the bone as before, they were however very tender and moist. I attributed the moistness to the water pan. They were also very tasty with a great flavor just not as smoky as the old CharGriller, which by the way I always thought was a llittle too smoky. I would have liked a little more smoke flavor but not as much as when I used to over smoke in the Chargriller. So where did I go wrong?? Assuming that both temp indicators are correct on the CharGriller and the MES, why didn't the meat fall of the bone after 5 hours??? I am thinking of not using any water next time, would that do it?
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