First Ribs in a SM020

First step,will be to start earlier and just build in the time.

Put larger/heavier pieces of slabs in the hotter part of cooker.

You can always just quickly rotate the whole racks of ribs.

Run the cooker as hot as it will go.

Basically go back to step one.

Yes,opening the door allows heat loss,but that is how we learn how to cook things,and taking careful notes, that lets us open the door less in the future.

Hopes this helps some.

Sounds like you did well for your first batch. At least you didn't over-smoke them, causing a bitter taste.

You'll eventually learn your smoker and how it cooks. Take good notes to improve on what you've already learned. Experiment & have fun!

Good job!!!

Tom, a question about your response. You suggested to Eyebuster to run his CS as "hot as it will go"

Is that to make the whole interior hotter so as to lessen the chances of the lower-racked ribs getting browner, OR is that your suggestion for all rib cooking?

I usually cook them around 225 and then crank it up the last hour. I've always been happy with the results, but I'm willing to be enlightened.

Your thoughts?

If it works for you,it is correct.

There are cooks that do a fine job with loinbacks and small St Louis spares,flipping often,over a med fire on a grill.

I have been taught,and learned ,that cookers have a place they are "happy" to cook.

225* is a number that we all use ,that all things can be cooked at,and it is hard to ruin anything-because you really aren't boiling the liquid out of your product,and it will probably get done sometime.

The smallest CS seem to cook better when full,as the mass may be a heat sink,which lessens the temp swings.

My personal little CS likes 235*[measured accurately at the cooking surface], when it only has a couple of butts.

Forget your dial setting,and go with the surface of the rack.

Many folks, on the forum,like their results at 250* best,when cooking average size and quality ribs.

A nine lb slab from a 700 lb sausage sow,may need 200*.

I may vary my temps/times all over the place ,when cooking large meats,to suit my personal timing.

Eddy likes folks to cook ribs at 275* on the FEC cookers, when cooking comp ribs,although that doesn't always suit our technique.

Many fine cooks feel that fat is rendered better and collagen broken down better,at below 225%,and the longer big meats set in the plateau-the better.

Some cooks feel that the cooker needs to be about 65* above the meat's internal temp,to move efficiently to your desired final internal temp.

Ribs on your top rack may cook hotter,because heat rises.

Ribs on the bottom rack may be getting grilled,so they need to be moved more.

Here are enough thoughts to give you mental indigestion ,but maybe an idea about different meats and cookers.

Once again,if you and your cooker have achieved this understanding,then that is what you are trying to accomplish.

Hope this helps-more than it hurts.

Thanks, Tom, for your informative reply. I may print it out and paste it on the side of my 55's!! (not sarcasm...appreciation)

I also find that differences in particular pieces of meat make huge differences in end result. I've had more muscle-y cuts get ruined sitting in 'the zone' too long, and others really beneifit...different cows/pigs, different occasions. (though everything tossed into a CS seems to come out ok, almost no matter what, there still is a bit of an 'art form' to it!)

Thanks again.

Well,over the years,you will have your own group of observations,that may assist for some situations-but not all others.

Enjoy.

Yep,if we quit looking for the "magic",our own common sense can be pretty useful.

i.e,think of a steak,cut from a 1,000 lb black and whiteface cross,about 2 yrs old.

Think standing peacefully in its own lot,of two steers /acre.

Eating good grass and being supplimented with 13% creep feed.

Think being hauled to a custom slaughterhouse,killed without running/stress,etc.

Allowed to hang in cold storage for 21 days,then cut and wrapped correctly.

The alternative might be a 20 yr old longhorn bull running the mountains of Mexico,eating cactus and sagebrush,or a 20 yr old dairy bull,that was completely used up,eating weeds and should be ground for hanburger.

The cooking and eating could be drastically different.