First, a big thanks you to everyone on this forum. Being new to smokin' I have read and reread many posts and recipes. After getting my new 008 Smokette seasoned I had to try my first smoke and decided on baby back ribs.
I used three racks of ribs that totaled about 7.5 lbs. After removing the membrane, trimming, and cleaning the ribs I cut the racks in half. I made a rub using 1/2 cup of Smokeshack Rib Rub, 1/4 cup of Smokeshack Chicken Rub, and 1/4 cup of brown sugar. (Had some left over which I put in a "baggy").
I applied a thin coat of Dijon mustard (with white wine) and then the rub, one hour before they went in the smoker.
I used 3 ozs of hickory chunks and set the temperature to 225. At 4 hours I checked them and swapped the top and bottom racks then sprayed them with apple juice.
About this time I got a phone call from my niece saying that she and her husband were coming through town and wanted to take us to dinner. Thinking about some posts here advising against guests to sample my first attempt, I invited them over anyway (gripped with fear, of course). My wife had a back up plan and prepared a course of chicken breasts in a white wine gravy just in case).
They arrived at 5 hours into the smoke and I checked the ribs and again sprayed with apple juice. At 6 hours we were ready to eat and I pulled the ribs and they looked beautiful, very similar to the picture in Smokin' Okies Pork Ribs 101.
They were wonderful, and only my niece had the chicken breasts in addition to the ribs.
Thanks to everyone for posting their hints and the quality of the Smokeshack I was successful with my first smoke and look forward to trying some of the great sounding rubs that many of you have posted.
Now, I am off to Wal-Mart to get some different wood chunks. I think I will do a practice run with a turkey breast to see if I want to do that for Thanksgiving.
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. The fun and great eats have just begun!!!