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13 replies

Is this the right way to do ribs?

U umyayaMember
I'm trying to smoke ribs for the first time tomorrow and have read many of the threads to come up with my strategy. Here's what I'm going to try and I would welcome any comments.

1) Ribs have the CS rub on them and are already in the fridge.

2) I have four racks of ribs and I cut them each in half...so 8 half racks. I plan to lay 3 on each of the top 2 shelves and the final 2 on the lowest shelf as far to the side as possible to be farther from the heat source.

3) I plan to start the ribs meat-side down for 3 hours.

4) At the 3 hour mark,
a) I'll turn the ribs over so they're meat side up.
b) Put sauce on the ribs.
c) Switch the positioning of the 2 on the lowest rack with 2 on the highest rack.
d) Check the temp.

5) Take out when done.

I'm not sure out the whole meat side up or down issue. I thought that I read Smokie say that meat side down could be better for the ribs to get smoke at the beginning, but then his 101 seems to indicate that he flips them to bone side up at the 3 hour point. I'm a bit confused here and would appreciate some help.

Any other suggestions are welcome.
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wheelzwheelzSmmmmoooookin'!
bbq_newbie - Everyone has their own style of cooking ribs. If you want to do the rib turning thing, go for it. I don't turn my ribs and they come out fine - moist not dry. I am assuming you are doing pork ribs and cooking at 225. One thing so any do wrong is open the door to "check on the ribs." Resist that temptation as it will only lengthen your smoke. If you do decide to turn the ribs at the 3 hour mark do it as quickly as possible and check then again in about 1 1/2 hours. You'll want the meat to be pulling up on the bone about 1/2 - 3/4 inch.

Now, on the sauce - if the sugar content is high the sauce will burn and may leave an unwanted taste. I sauce mine about the last 20 minutes of the smoke. In fact, you can sauce them as soon as you pull them from thhe smoker and there should still be enough heat from the meat to set (solidify) the sauce.

Hope this helps a little.

Good luck on your smoke & let us know how they turn out!
FM Former Member
I cut the thinest end of my ribs 10" - 11" long so 2 of them fit on a rack, then take the thick ends and put them on the lowest rack thinest on the highest rack, I'm inherently lazy so I rub when I put them in the smokette, smoke for 5 hours and eat. This machine is so foolproof it ought to be illegal.
U umyayaMember
I changed my mind this morning about the whole flipping idea. I just put them in meat side up and will probably leave them that way the whole time. Thanks for the input on only putting the sauce on during the last 20 minutes. I've read so many posts about ribs getting dried out that I was going to error on the side of putting more sauce on a couple of times. Sounds like you've had good results with just putting the sauce on at the end.

The ribs are pork spare ribs and they are crammed in there. The 2 half racks on the bottom sure seem close to the heat source.
FM Former Member
bbq_newbie ~ like Wheelz said, everyone does have their own method. You'll probably get good results no matter what method you use, within reason. I prefer using rib hooks and smoking mine at 250* for 5 hours and I never open the smoker before then. I used to go with 225* for 4 hours but I had much better results with the higher temp and longer cooking time. If you're willing to experiment a little you'll figure out how you like to do things. I would recommend keeping it simple.
FM Former Member
I've played with meat side up and meat side down, and I really didn't notice any difference. The routine I've settled on for loin backs is to open the Smokette at three hours to rotate the racks and give them a quick spray of juice (apple, cherry, whatever is on hand), and then to give them a quick glaze at about the 4 1/2 hour mark and let them cook for another 30 minutes or so with the glaze. They are generally done to the tug off the bone point, which I prefer.
wheelzwheelzSmmmmoooookin'!
bbq_newbie - No good BBQ places in Searcy. One mediocre (sp) with decent pulled pork is Barb's BBQ. Little Rock is just 40 minutes away. Whole Hog Express is good and of course our own Pappa Shaka is located in the River Market. I've never been there but others here say he has some wonderful Q. I'll get thhere some day.

On your ribs, remember that half the fun with BBQ is experimenting -sauce, rubs, etc. Don't worry about to much rub unless it was heavy on the salt (and besides that it's too late anyyway Big Grin ). That's about the only thing a good sauce can't hide. Take good notes and learn from your successes and failures.

Let us know how the ribs turned out.
U umyayaMember
I thought they turned out pretty good for a first effort. They definitely weren't "fall off the bone" (I didn't foil them at all), but they were still pretty tender.

I checked them at 4 hours, put sauce on some, and then put them back in for about 1 hour. The sauced ribs were very good. I like a good dry rib as well so I left a few that way. Despite using a lot of the CS rib rub, they weren't salty and were actually quite tasty. They could have been a little more moist but weren't dry.

I'm thrilled that they turned out as well as they did, but there is room for improvement. I'm not sure how to make them more moist though. If I open the door to spray apple juice, I'll also let out a lot of moisture. It's a catch 22. I'll probably try foiling them next time at the end.

My other thought is to buy a couple of rib racks. It definitely complicates matters to have ribs on the bottom that finish before the others.

Thanks to everyone that provided advice. As always, any suggestions would be appreciated.

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