Baby Backs in SM075

I am skeptical that 3 hours at 225 will be long enough. I typically do BB at 250 for 4 to 5 hours. Results and time depend on the weight and meatiness of the ribs. Rather than using a formula, use a toothpick. Stick it down through the meat. when it moves through easily with little resistance, they are done.

I typically add sauce about 30 minutes prior to when I think they will finish.

I don't foil ribs.

Take notes. Don't feel bad if first batch doesn't come out perfect. You have to learn your smoker. Best times, temps, etc.

Read Smokins 101's on the Cookshack website.

Welcome to the forum. The forum and the Search feature are much better than the cookshack recipe book that comes with the smoker. You will love your smoker.

Thank you!
I thought about this a little more...
It is a commercial restaurant model. Restaurants need to prep tons of food. Getting the meat through the first 3 hour leg at 225, then hold at 140 indefinitely buys you time without drying out the meat. The chef would probably pull what he (or she) needed out to finish on the grill, leaving the rest in holding at 140 until another order comes in.
That might make sense.

I agree with you on rough estimate for time falling in the 5+ hour range depending on meat and temp.

I will not foil and will try your tooth pick test. Thanks for the tips!

I'll post results sometime Sunday.

Thanks Soleman, for the advice and encouragement just when I needed it!

I did not mind going to bed at 1:45 AM this morning, since I was well prepared for a late night.
I had to work and could not get smoking until after 6:00 PM yesterday...

Prior to this, I used a Brinkmann for one summer 20+ years ago.
Still a newbie. I am basically starting all over again from scratch in terms of smoking skills and technique.

After sitting with pork rub overnight, I loaded the baby backs from top down. One rack, cut in half, on each grate.
Two Pork Fatties on the bottom grate.

Two good size chunks of apple wood, with one small one added.
Closed the door and hit the pre-programmed "Chicken/Ribs" button (programmed for 3 hrs. at 225) and walked away.

After three hours, checked the Fatties. Temp was only 150. Set timer for 2 hours at 225 to continue the ribs, leaving the fatties in for another hour. Sprayed everything with apple cider vinegar/apple juice concentrate. Flipped everything over.

I did not foil wrap.

At the end of hour 4, Fatties were right at 165 and ready to come out to rest. Sprayed ribs with apple solution again.

At the end of hour 5, ribs sprayed with apple solution.

At hour 5.5, applied Cattleman's BBQ sauce to both sides of the ribs.

At hour 5.75, applied second coat to topside to finish glazing the last 15 minutes.

Meat had shrunk back from the ends of the bone and the toothpick was pushing through easily.

Done!

Ribs and Fatties do show a slight smoke ring and look REALLY GOOD!!!
This is for Sunday dinner and I can't wait!

Pictures on on the SmokingMeatForums.com thread I posted, because it was easier to add pictures on that forum.
Results Photos

Looked at your pics. Turned out nice, you must have been feeding an army.

Couple thoughts: opening the door frequently to spritz will add cooking time. Because the CS is a very moist environment, you may not need this step. Either way is fine, just realize it will add time to the cook.

The electrics typically don't give a smoke ring. There are several threads on the subject if you want to use the Find feature. You can get a smoke ring if you add a charcoal to your smoke box (again, use the find feature, as I have never done this and the details are in another thread). The smoke ring is cosmetic only and does not add to flavor.

Always recommend you take notes, so you will know what worked and did not work for next time. There is a learning curve and once you find the sweet spot, you want to remember how you did it.

Next smoke, consider a pork butt. They are very forgiving and a good way to figure out the intricacies of your machine.

Briskets are fabulous but start with pork butt, ribs, and chickens. Figure those out, then move on to brisket. Be sure to read the 101's on the main CS website.

Again, any question you have has likely probably been posed on this forum. Any time I need advice, I do a search, and the answer appears. The forum has never steered me wrong!

Best wishes and enjoy your smoker. You will love it.

Also, another thing to try might be to apply the rub just before smoking.

I feel that if the rub is on too long the ribs taste a little like ham rather than ribs.

MountainMan, I think you're on to something. I used to leave the rub on overnight, but lately I've cut the time down to no more than a hour, and I think the ribs taste better. Plus, I think if the rub is really salty, it tends to draw too much moisture out of the meat over several hours, making the ribs somewhat tougher. Just my $.02

Thanks for the recommendations Soleman, MountainMan and Jay1924!

I did read up on rib cook times, but was confused on the pre-programmed cook time being set to 3 hours on my SM075, while most people were going 5-7 hours. Best I can figure is that it was set to 3 hours for commercial users prepping food to "almost ready", then they would probably be finishing at high temperatures in the oven or on a grill.

After having rub on overnight, I think I would also be interested in trying rub application closer to cook time. Mine did not taste like ham, but a little less punch from the rub spices might be a good thing.

Pork butt does sound like a good choice for figuring out how my smoker does things.

Thanks again!!

The simple way to do Baby Backs
I use the true Danish Baby Backs, 3 down.
I take off the silverskin, then soak in Italian Dressing for 24 hours
I then rub with dark brown sugar & Kosher ice cream salt. Then put in smoker with meat side up.Cook with 2 oz hickory @ 200 for 2 hours.
Start timing when smoke comes out of top of smoker. No sauce, just enjoy the smoke !!
If you "must" add sauce "paint" cattleman's on & grill till you get grill marks. NO SAUCE NEEDED!!!

Kinda goes against everything I've read on this forum for the past 13 years. But since this is a "civilized" forum, I guess I should keep my thoughts to myself..

I cook my ribs at 225 or 250, never 200. When I've checked my ribs (not often, but a few times while I was learning my smoker) they were still pretty raw at 2 hours. Even at 250, I've never had them done in under about 4 1/2 hours. Must be something I'm missing here.

The only thing you would be missing is the taste of RAW RIBS!!

5.5 hours at 225 made for some pretty legit ribs!
I enjoyed them a couple of times this week.

Cooked just right.

Best I can figure, the pre-programmed 2 hour ribs button only takes things through the first hurdle for someone doing commercial food prep, with finishing going on at the grill.

I will contact Cookshack to find out a little more in the use of that programmed Chicken/Ribs button...