Separating the Times ?

[old poi dog]

We've been invited to a Mother's Day luncheon that begins at about 11:00 am. They want BBack ribs....OK.....If it weren't for a breakfast committment on the same day of the luncheon I would have started the ribs at 5:00 am and be ready for lunch.
I was going to do the 2.5-1.0-.75 thing. Would there be any problem doing the 2.5 thing on the day before and do the 1.0 and .75 the day of the luncheon?

Thanks All

 

[smokebuzz]

Times are total guide lines, nothing cut in stone for those times. The smoker you use, the way you prep for your smoke, and the way you run your smoker will all have an effect on times. Probly the biggest differential in time will be the way the ribs was cut out at the meat cutter. Now there wont be more than an hour or so in the way i do my ribs and the way you do yours, but an hour will mean alot to the finished product.

Something i have done in the past, but don't much anymore is, keep a very detailed log book on every smoke, this will help you alot in the future.

 

[roksmith]

If you try and split you times that way, you will probably have to add an hour or so to the foil time.

Normally, an hour in the foil is plenty, but since you are cooking the day before, the day of the event..your meat will be coming out of a fridge I assume...so your going to spend the first 1/2 - 1 hour just getting the meat back up to temp.

The saving grace might be that since the ribs are wrapped when they go back in, you don't care about the quality of the smoke at that point.
So you can go ahead and put the ribs in right when you are starting you fire..by the time you're ready to unwrap...your fire should be in good shape.

 

[reinman]

I'm doing a Mothers day smoke too and asked a while back if it would be ok to do the 2 hours smoke and 2 hours in the foil the day before, and then just do the 1 hour back in the smoker on Mothers day. I'm doing the 2-2-1 with spareribs. Everyone thought it would be no problem, so that's what I'm doing. As said I think the last hour would have to be longer since you'll be starting with cold ribs instead of hot ribs straight out of the foil.

 

[bman62526]

I agree. Smoke the ribs for 2 - 3 hours, then wrap them in foild w/ a little apple juice or your favorite "spritz" and then let them cool completely in the foil, then into the fridge.

Not sure if someone else pointed this out yet, but whenever I do something like this, I make sure and give the meat a "lighter" smoke than if I was cooking them all in one day. Otherwise you are at risk for a little of that 'oversmoked' taste. This is because of the condensation and cooling that happens when you go to foil and then in the fridge over night.

Glad someone else pointed out that you will have to allow for longer times because you'll be bringing everything back up to from fridge temps!

Also, the day of the eats, when you are finishing the smoke - stay at a low temp so that everything heats up gradually, otherwise you can dry them out if the temps are too hot.

 

[the dude abides]

Is it a good idea to add the liquid to the foil before they head off to the refridgerator for the night? I don't know this to be true, but it seems to me that you'd want to add the liquid to the foil before they go back on the next day. Wouldn't sitting in the liquid overnight make them mushy?

Just wondering.

 

[roksmith]

Good point...
I would probably hold off until the next day for the liquid as well.
..now if a person wanted a nice sweet rib, I don't suppose sprinkling a little brown sugar on the ribs before putting them to sleep for the night would be a bad thing.
If you're not looking for sweet..maybe a dash of your rib rub would be nice.

 

[old poi dog]

Aloha,

Well tomorrows the Day...Since last week was the first time I did the no foil thing..and I'm a little more familiar with foiling, I decided to go with foiling for tomorrow's luncheon. I gave the ribs the 2.5 and 1.5 treatment this afternoon. The ribs are in the foiled disposable aluminum pan cooling to room temp. Then in the refrigerator they go. I was planning to finish them off the grill tomorrow as I read about in another thread. But our host infomed me that he'll be grilling a bunch of meat..So I'll finish in the smoker. If I get the ribs out of the refrigrator and to room temp., can I finish smoke at my 230*?

Thanks All :>)

 

[porked]

If they already have 4 hours of smoke, I would think you'll probably just need to heat them up thoroughly. I take a rack of ribs into work all the time and just heat 'em up in a little oven we have there on low all morning. Makes a great lunch.