Babyback Ribs - Cookshack Beginner

I use Meatheads Memphis Dust Dry Rub recipe (find it on Amazing Ribs website).  He has a page with pretty good directions on how to do ribs.

After taking off the membrane, I put rub on, salt to my preference, let sit for a couple of hours in fridge.  Put in smoker bone side down, put in 2 oz apple wood and 2-3 oz of cherry wood in wood box.  Set temp to 225. After 4.5 hours I check for done. Usually have to go to 5 hr 15 min though to get done to bite off the bone done.

No water pan in or wrapping in foil, etc.  I just put the ribs in and check the first time at 4.5 hours.

Good luck.

On my SM-066, I use 2 - 3 oz of peach wood chunks (whatever wood you have or you like will work, although I find mesquite too harsh for smoking anything), and cook at 225 for about 5 - 6 hours until the toothpick test works (toothpick slides in between ribs like into warm butter). They come out bite off, not fall off, the bone as I like them. Before cooking, I remove the membrane and I usually use Porkmafia Memphis Mud as a rub. I do not rub the ribs before hand, and I do not preheat the smoker. I never sauce ribs, or anything else I smoke, since I don't like BBQ sauce; to me it hides the flavor of the meat and is redundant with a good rub, but I will serve it on the side if guests want it. If necessary, I will pull the ribs when they are done and wrap them in heavy foil (I never foil during cooking) and keep them in a 150 degree oven until needed, up to one hour. Oh, and I start bone side down and usually flip them over about halfway through since I think that gives a better bark on the meat side. But the whole thing about BBQ is experimenting and deciding what you like. It is supposed to be fun! Good luck, and report back!

Thank you LonzinomakerCS and Jay1924. I am nor sure yet how to reply to your response to my post but I really appreciate it. It's comforting to know I have some great experience to learn from. Thank you both, 

@BobKat - 225 is always my setpoint for ribs.  ALWAYS get rid of the membrane!!!  Trim to get a nice uniform rectangular slab (season and throw the scraps in the smoker for some good snacks about halfway through the cook).

I never use sauce or mop.  Just some form of dry rub OR just plain old salt and pepper...  I don't rub until right before the meat goes on the smoker.

The caveman in me likes to have to gnaw the meat off the bone a bit...  Straight up cooking for 6ish hours usually accomplishes this.  My wife however thinks the meat has to fall off the bone with zero effort, so I boil hers using the 3-2-1 method.  A decent compromise is to go 3-2-1 but with butcher paper wrap ILO foil.

Can't wait to hear what you end up with!

Thank you jobiewan. Just assembled our SM045 last night. "Look-in to do some Smok-in"

First off go to the top of the page that you originally posted on and read the Ribs 101.  This will get you started.  The tutorial was written by a former forum moderator everyone knew as Smokin Okie.  I have 3 racks of ribs going in today.  I use Southern Succor rub on the ribs.  You can find the recipe for the rub on line.  I will smoke them at 250 degrees rib side down for 2 hours  I like fruit woods for the smoke.  I will check the ribs after 2 hours and look for meat pulled back off the ribs a little.  I foil my ribs and use butter, brown sugar, honey, and Tiger Sauce on the ribs before sealing the foil tight.  The ribs go on the foil bone side up so the foil seams are on the top of the bones.  The wrapped ribs go back in the smoker with the meat side down and seam side up at 250 degrees for 2 hours.  I pull out a foil pack and open it just enough that I can do  a tooth pick test ( don't go through the foil on the bottom side. )  Once they are close to done I pull them out of the smoke, open the foil being careful not to loose and of the sauce in the bottom of the foil.  Once the ribs are out, I use the sauce to baste on the ribs and then either put them back in the smoker to set the sauce, or I do a reverse sear on a hot BBQ grill basting the ribs as they sear.

I smoked some Baby Backs and a Rack of Spare Ribs Sunday. The Baby Backs were about 2.5X more in price than the spares. I cut both into halves so total of 4 1/2 racks that fit on three shelves in my CS45. I rubbed them with yellow mustard then coated with a combo of "Slap ya Mama" for some heat, then "Butt Rub" for flavor. They sat about 2 hours then into the smoker at 225 with one chunk of CS hickory. For some reason I placed the baby backs on the lower shelf, in hindsight they should have been on top. They smoked for about 2 hours then I switched the BB up top as their temp shot up real fast to close to 180, not a lot of fat on them. I continued till I reached about 180 in the spares (3.5 hours) then wrapped all in foil until about 5 hours had passed, then onto the gas grill for some burnt edges. I did coat them with some Sweet Baby Rays and Brown Sugar prior to grilling.  They did come out exceptionally delicious but for sure the spares were way more tender and juicy than the BBs. I don't think I'd waste my money buying more BBs when the spares are so much cheaper and tastier in my opinion.  Plenty of leftovers.

Nice looking ribs.  I sauce ours after the smoking and onto a grill to char the sauce.  We have been using Sue Bee honey BBQ sauce. Pretty good stuff.

Sarge, I like a bit of crunchy sweet sugar burnt ends!  I used the Sweet Baby Rays Honey, but the pure cane "sugar in the raw" I think did the trick, plus you cant go wrong with "Slap ya Mama"!

By the way, I used one chunk of the CS Hickory and it did the job, nice touch, not overly smoked. But I think the mustard acts a bit of a barrier for the smoke to penetrate.

I recall last time I just put my rub, without the mustard, and for sure the smoke was deeper.

I have found the CS hickory to be perfect. I think it has something to do with where the tree grew. Just a guess.  It produces a very nice profile. I may give the other sauces a try. Going to think about it.  Before the Sue Bee sauce, my wife used to mix honey with Open Pit.  That was a lot of years ago. OP is still available but not sure it is by the original company. Our dry rub is salt, pepper, garlic powder and brown sugar. Kind of basic but it works for us.  Sauces are always 'lets try something new'!

I never sauce or foil, but can't recommend enough as a dry rub Pork Mafia Memphis Mud (I know, I'm a broken record).

Never foil.

I'll use some sauce the second day when there are leftovers.

I foil with butter, brown sugar, honey, and Tiger Sauce, and then use the drippings in foil for the sauce.

Jay, Good to see you still like the Memphis Mud. That's been my goto for pork for years.

Andyj, Yep, me too. I buy the large containers now! They changed the anti-caking agent a few years ago, but I've gotten used to it being a bit more clumpy. Great stuff, and thanks for the original rec.