Hickory Baby Back Ribs in Weber

[mastamike]

Hi there,

Some of you will recall I recently scored a bargain OTG as a result of some clever price matching. I christened her with some 1824 rib eye steaks last weekend. Delicious.

This weekend I decided to test her (and mine) smoking ability with some baby back ribs. Here are a few snaps of the process. What a delight.

Ribs, freshly cut from the pig hanging at the butcher


Ribs rubbed (24 hours on)


Snake setup


Ribs on


Smoking away


2 hours mark - about to be wrapped and spritzed


End result



Lessons learnt.

1. Started with too many coals. Took a good 45-1hr to get it stable and had to remove a few coals.
2. Hood temp is a joke. Probe just off grill was at 225 when hood was at 300. Dont trust the hood.

Amazingly tastly results were achieved!

[Davo]

Well they don't look too shabby at all mastamike.....in fact you're lucky I wasn't there coz you woulda had a rib fight on your hands

Yeah it's common to put too many coals on the snake but you only need about 10 max and if you find you're getting temp spikes, just get a small foil tray of cold water and place it over where the fire is presently burning so as to act as a heat sink....that'll bring the temp down and add some moisture to the kettle.
The lid temps are generally just a guide and there can be quite a difference between the grate and lid....heat rises so up under the top of the lid is the hottest point.
Also, close your bottom vents to about 10% open once you've placed the lit beads down so you're not getting too much oxygen for the fire to ramp up the heat.....otherwise you're definitely on the right track.

180-225F is a general ideal hot smoking temp that allows all the connective tissue dissolve into the meat but it's not the be all and end all, many like to get closer to 250-275F which is just in the actual BBQ range and the low and slow bbq range actually extends up as high as 320F. From around 320-400F is roasting and anything above is grilling.

You might find this video helpful https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gZmyJE1F5M8

Can't wait for the next cook-up pics.

[Narmnaleg]

Great work. Yum!

[Narmnaleg]

Great work. Yum!

[mastamike]

Well they don't look too shabby at all mastamike.....in fact you're lucky I wasn't there coz you woulda had a rib fight on your hands

Yeah it's common to put too many coals on the snake but you only need about 10 max and if you find you're getting temp spikes, just get a small foil tray of cold water and place it over where the fire is presently burning so as to act as a heat sink....that'll bring the temp down and add some moisture to the kettle.
The lid temps are generally just a guide and there can be quite a difference between the grate and lid....heat rises so up under the top of the lid is the hottest point.
Also, close your bottom vents to about 10% open once you've placed the lit beads down so you're not getting too much oxygen for the fire to ramp up the heat.....otherwise you're definitely on the right track.

180-225F is a general ideal hot smoking temp that allows all the connective tissue dissolve into the meat but it's not the be all and end all, many like to get closer to 250-275F which is just in the actual BBQ range and the low and slow bbq range actually extends up as high as 320F. From around 320-400F is roasting and anything above is grilling.

You might find this video helpful https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gZmyJE1F5M8

Can't wait for the next cook-up pics.

Thanks mate. They did turn out well. I did ribs because they are somewhat forgiving if the temp spikes and drops a bit. It took a lot of stuffing around with both vents but I pretty much ended up with the bottom vents only open 10% and the top vents maybe 90%. I also found it useful rotate the lid as the snake burned so the top vents were on the other side of the heat for max smoke cover. I will try the cold water trick next time if needed.

This weekend is maple glazed smoked salmon. I have researched and decided on a brine and technique. I cant wait. Any tips??