# Newbie here. first experiences and some questions



## DoomsDay (May 24, 2007)

Hi all, I recently purchased a brinkman electric smoker. I know absolutely nothing about smoking meat and have been reading tons of information on the subject. I thought I would share my experience so far and ask some questions that seem to be hard to find straight answers for.

My first smoking experience:

Lets just say it was just a shade less than a total destruction of some perfectly good meat.

I put the smoker together the night before which was pretty easy. Just had to put the handles on it and was done. In much of my research I found many many statements of "you dont have to soak your wood" and " you should soak your wood for 1 hour". So far, both of these statements have not produced good results.

My first try was to smoke some beef ribs. I fired up the smoker which means I plugged it in as it has not controlls at all. I let it run for about half an hour. I let my ribs rest on the counter for about an hour. I used the BRITU rub on them and it had started forming a nice red liquid underneath. So time to put it on the smoker. I place them on the smoker and added 5 hickory wood chunks into the bottom (UNSOAKED). I went back in 1 hour to check on the ribs and they were already charred all the way around. Since this was my first attempt I had no clue what to expect thus I let them cook longer, Placing 3 pieces of wood on it every hour for 4 hours.

End result. My beef ribs were now beef jerky. Very stringy, very very tough. They did have a nice smokey flavor though 


My second and only other attempt was last weekend. I decided again to try ribs but this time I tried pork ribs. In my discussions with a friend of mine, who has this same smoker, it sounded like my temp was just out of control. I swear that first time it must have been cooking at 500+ degrees. Anyways, this time I prepared the ribs the same way but this time I soaked my wood for 1 hour prior to putting them on the smoker.
Since I was worried about temps, I bought a temp gage and put it in there. Without any wood in the bottom it runs at a steady 225 degrees. This time, I took my soaked wood and put it in and started my ribs. At the half hour mark I went out and my temps were at 350 degrees. I noticed the wood had actually caught fire and that was what raised the temp. So during this same process, I put the rest of the wood I had soaked back in the water for another hour, while this was going on I was battleing the temp going into the 250 degree range anytime the wood would catch on fire.

Now enter the 2 hour soaked wood. This was now perfect, It never caught on fire and smoldered very nicely the rest of its short life in the smoker. at 3 hours and 15 minutes, I put my sauce on the ribs and let them cook for another 45 minutes. I pulled them off and put them in aluminum foil or another 10 minutes on the counter.

The meat thermometer that I bought cost 25 bucks and I have yet to get it to work correctly in that smoker. It seems as soon as I put it into the meat and close the lid, within 5 minutes or so it is beeping and telling me my meat is passed above 200 degrees. This part has been very frustrating as I can not get an accurate reading of what the temp is internally to the meat.

When I tested the meat after pulling it off the grill, it said it was around 158 degrees. I had 2 racks and 1 of them was a good size smaller than the other one. The small one said it was at 142 and the big one said it was at 158. They both were on the same rack so I just dont understand how that was possible. Thus why I felt there was something wrong with my new thermometer.

These ribs were very tough. They had a great smoke flavor and the sauce worked ok, but they were just very very tough. Not what i expected after 4 hours of cooking. Now, I had to do a lot of opening the lid and checking the temp and adjusting so it is possible that I just lost a good hour of cook time having the lid opened up every 15 minutes or so. The next day, I took some left overs and heated them in the microwave and they indeed got more tender than the day before, but were still tougher than I would have liked.


So here is some questions for you guru's out there.

Smoke. How much smoke is enough? Frankly the 4 solid hours of smoke to me made the meat way to smokey. You couldn't really taste the pork at this point, it was all smoke. So if your doing ribs, how long do you actually smoke the meat? I found in my smoker that 2 pieces of wood (chunks) soaked for at least 2 hours will produce smoke for about 1 hour. 
On a 4 hour piece of meat, should you only smoke it for say the first 2 hours and then let it sit in the smoker at 225 just absorbing the heat afterwards?

Ribs. I see pics of ribs all over the place and the ribs I get from my store never look like what people use. Its kind of hard to explain, you have the ribs but on one end of them appears to be a bunch of meat and connective tissue along with more bones, but they are not rib bones. Are you supposed to cut that section off the ribs prior to cooking or do you leave it connected? Like I said, you never see pictures of anything other than a straight rib bone with meat on it and nothing on either end of it.

And lastly for this post, Chicken.

I am planning on attempting to smoke chicken this coming sunday. its not a whole chicken, just thighs and breast meat. Do you pull them off when they reach an internal temp of 165 just as you do for ribs? My thermometer says poultry is 175. And also for smoking, how long would you actually produce smoke for smoking them? I like a good smoke flavor but not completely dominating the meat.

Thanks
DoomsDay


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## Half Baked (May 24, 2007)

Welcome Doomsday (12-21-12)!    Your post was really entertaining and although I can't help you with that smoker, someone will show up who owns one, I hope.  

I use the double decker Weber.


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## dreamsfloatjoe (May 24, 2007)

By chance have you read the how to recipe booklet that came with your smoker?


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## DoomsDay (May 24, 2007)

Yes I read the pamplet that came with it. It states that you only need to soak the wood for 30 minutes. I am assuming that I just got a bag of really dry hickory wood and it needs to be soaked a lot longer than normal. Since I am new, I am unsure if thats true but thats the theory I am sticking with till someone can come up with a better one =)

Oh, and what is (12-21-12)? I am assuming it is in reference to some doomsday date? My handle was originally taken from the show The Bionic Woman when she went up against the DoomsDay machine and I thought that handle would be good, but nowadays there are tons of DoomsDay's out there hehe.


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## Katie H (May 24, 2007)

Welcome to DC, DoomsDay.  We're glad you've found us and when one of our knowledgeable smoker gurus shows up, I'm sure they'll offer great advice.  The first person who comes to mind is Uncle Bob.  He's a proficient outdoor cook and will probably be able to shed some light on your situation.

While you're waiting, why don't you browse through our forums to see what other wonderful things DC has to offer.

Hellooooo, Uncle Bob!!!


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## Uncle Bob (May 24, 2007)

Welcome to DC Doomsday...

Your post, while entertaning, has me dizzy! What is the model number of this beast and does it have themostat??


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## DoomsDay (May 24, 2007)

The full name of the smoker is Brinkmans Gourmet electric Smoker. Model number *810-7080-K *and no, It does not have a thermostat. 


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## Uncle Bob (May 24, 2007)

Doomsday...I have no experience with an electric smoker so my comments will have to be brief. With no thermostat, you are probably wasting your time and energy. Check with a local electrical supply house for an in-line one. 

That being said. you said that it runs at 225* with no wood! (A perfect temperature for BBQing.) When you add flavoring wood the temp goes up!
What does this tell you? You are using way to much wood. Cut back on the amount of wood to control your temperature. In fact after the first hour of cooking do not add any addtional wood. The meat will have had plenty of smoke and your temperature will be under control. 

The debate over "to soak" or "not to soak" flavoring woods will rage on forever. I am of the opioion that wood is not a sponge and will absorb only so much water no mater how long you soak it. So in 30 minutes or so it's over.
The benefits of soaking to me are at best marginal. The moisture is quickly dissipated and you are down to dry wood.

Key point: Your cooker was designed to heat to 225* This is good!
You are using way to much wood causing to much smoke (bitter) and to high of a temperature. Cut back on the wood and let the beast do it's thing.

Are you with me so far?


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## DoomsDay (May 24, 2007)

That answers part of my questions. Yes it is desinged to run at exactly 225 degrees. My problem was that my wood was so dry that it would catch on fire shortly after putting it into the smoker and thus it was raising the temp inside. Even 1 piece of wood being on fire will cause the temp to go up. In my last try, I found 2 pieces of wood that had been soaked for 2 hours did not catch on fire but smoldered nicely. After only 1 hour of soaking and putting it in the smoker, it would catch on fire about 10 minutes after being put in there. So it _seems_ that it is able to soak up more water the longer it stays in there.

So, when smoking things like chicken or ribs, you really only need to produce smoke for about 1 hour correct?

And were you able to understand my question about the ribs and the way they come from the store?
 I found an image that looks closely to what I am talking about. See the big section at the top of the ribs? While in the picture it seems it is all meat, but the ones I got had a lot of gristle and bone in it.


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## bowlingshirt (May 24, 2007)

that pic looks like a rib roast


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## Uncle Bob (May 24, 2007)

Doomsday...

So that this will not become a personal conversation I will send you a private message and we can continue our discussion there. It may take a while as right now I am in the middle of building a camp fire to produce wood coals to grill some 2 in. rib-eyes. I will get back to you later. 
The picture you posted is not one of ribs, but looks all the world to me to be a bone-in pork loin. You may want to spend some time reading about pork ribs..ie. spare ribs, St Louis cut spare ribs and loin back ribs. (baby back ribs)

Later...I must tend the fire.

Uncle Bob "Keeper of the Coals"


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## DoomsDay (May 24, 2007)

Thanks, sounds good. As for the pic. It was the closest thing I could get to explain what I have been getting from the store. Ahh, found an image that is closer to what I am talking about. My ribs usually have alot more on the top than this picture is showing, but I think you get the idea now. It appears from reading the blog from that website that this is not needed as it just makes them more uniform by trimming off the top at the gristle area


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## Half Baked (May 24, 2007)

Now that's ribs as I know them. I still haven't been able to trim off the silverskin or whatever it's call on ribs.

Now, I don't want my ribs falling off the bone. I like to be able to cut through them but have the ability to chew them easily.


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## Uncle Bob (May 24, 2007)

Doomsday..

The picture is your basic pork spare rib. Check your private messages.

Miss Jan when I can find time I will PM ya and tell how to remove the membrane. It's easy!!


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## Half Baked (May 24, 2007)

*kiss kiss*


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## Barb L. (May 24, 2007)

Uncle Bob said:
			
		

> Doomsday..
> 
> The picture is your basic pork spare rib. Check your private messages.
> 
> Miss Jan when I can find time I will PM ya and tell how to remove the membrane. It's easy!!



Tell me to UB - Pleaseeeeeeeee -thanks !


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## bowlingshirt (May 24, 2007)

Half Baked said:
			
		

> Now that's ribs as I know them. I still haven't been able to trim off the silverskin or whatever it's call on ribs.


 
See the second post in this thread

http://www.discusscooking.com/forums/f36/smoked-ribs-technical-needs-1779.html


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## AllenOK (May 24, 2007)

Doomsday, does your smoker have dampers, to control the airflow through the smoker?  If so, you may need to adjust them during cooking.  

Leave the exhaust (probably at the top) fully open.  If you close the exhaust, you will have creosote (that black, flaky stuff that deposits on the inside of your fireplace chimney) condensing and depositing on the inside of your smoker, as well as your meat, which may explain the "charred" appearance on your first attempt.

The intake damper is the "throttle", so to speak, for the temperature.  It allows oxygen into the smoker.  The more oxygen, the more combustion, which results in more smoke and heat at the same time.  When I'm smoking in my setup at home, I shut the damper down to barely open, so that my fire smolders, instead of burns actively.  If your intake is open, then to much oxygen is getting into your smoker, so the wood actively burns instead of smolders.

Remember, every time you open your smoker, you increase your cooking time by 15 minutes, as a rule-of-thumb.

I usually baste my meat with apple juice every hour.  Really, REALLY, lean cuts of meat need added fat.  Covering the meat with bacon will do the trick, so I've heard, but I've never actually tried it.


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## DoomsDay (May 24, 2007)

No, there are no dampers or exhausts. The smoke comes out around the the lid. I think my problem on my first attempt with the charred meat was due to the 5 pieces of wood that I had in the smoker that actually caught fire and raised the temp inside the smoker to a really high temp. I watched closely on my second attempt and when the wood caught fire it was indeed raising the temp inside the smoker. I think I have that fixed now with soaking the wood longer as when I put those pieces in, it did not catch fire and smoldered nicely and the temp stayed at 225. I also think I just didnt cook it long enough considering I kept opening the lid and checking the temps several times.

I do have one question that nobody had answered yet. With chicken, what internal temp does it need to be to be safe to eat? I have read anywhere from 155 to 165. My meat thermometer says poultry is 175 so I am a little bit confused on that one.

Thanks


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## kitchenelf (May 25, 2007)

I will say up front I have not read every single post from start to finish so I apologize for any repeats here!

I used to have an electric smoker and I never placed the soaked wood chunks directly on the coils, only around the coils.  I usually used about 6 or 7 large chunks and that was all for the entire time.  If I smoked a whole "beer butt" chicken that totaled usually 6 hours.  The wood chunks will not totally disappear if placed around the coils but it will eventually quit heavily smoking from around the top after awhile.  DO NOT lift the lid until you are pretty sure everything is done.  If I smoked a pork butt I used around 10 chunks as the pork butt could cook for up to 12 hours.

You do not want to keep adding wood chunks the entire time, which you found out produced a bitter over-smoked taste and nothing else.

I would say your chicken pieces would take around 3or 4 hours or so?  I've only cooked a whole chicken, sorry.  You want the chicken cooked above the recommended temperature.  That recommended temperature is only to assure you that all the bad stuff is cooked away/out.  For example, I always cook a pork butt to no less than 190 degrees F. (even though it's done in the high 160's) but I prefer 200 or slightly above.  At this point the connective tissue breaks down and the meat just falls apart.  Chicken is the same way.  For a whole bird I do the "wiggle" method.  If the leg wiggles like it will fall off it's done!  For chicken pieces I would have to do a google search.  

I have never taken a final temp on my poultry.  An hour or so before I pulled it out it was close to 162 I think.  Just remember that smoked poultry is going to have pink meat near the bone, which doesn't equal "not cooked".  It's just a "smoke thing".  If you cook to 165 I feel like it will be done.  With chicken pieces it might be a bit trickier to check the temp because there won't be a lot of meat before you get to the bone.  Take the largest piece out of your smoker and let it rest for about 10 minutes then check for doneness.  Completely dry your chicken pieces, rub with softened butter, then rub a rub on.

Are you going to use any kind of rub on your chicken pieces?  If you do a search for Beer Butt Chicken I have listed a rub recipe.  

Another thing I do that helps the final flavor is I use apple juice in the water pan instead of water.

We'll save brining for another day "wink".

Soaked wood chunks (never use chips) will heat up and produce smoke - dry wood chunks just dry out even more and burn up.


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## AllenOK (May 25, 2007)

One thing to remember, is that the Health Department, and some manufacturers, have a "Mother knows best" attitude towards the general public.  The minimum safe temperature for chicken is 165 degrees F.  However, the Health Department recommends that home cooks keep cooking chicken until it's around 175 - 180 degrees F.  This is complete crap, as it results in dry, tough chicken that tastes like sawdust.  The meat thermometer is also wrong.

This is another reason why I prefer to purchase equipment that just lists the temperature, not the spot where "they" feel it's done.

Doomsday, with no exhaust on your smoker, I feel you might have a problem with creosote depositing onto your meat.  I made that mistake, once.  I shut the exhaust on my smoker, and after 3 hours, a rack of ribs was as black as charcoal, and the temp never went above 250 degrees F.

You might want to consider taking a power drill and drilling a few 1/4" holes in the lid.  This will do two things:

1)  Provide an "exhaust" for the excess smoke.
2)  Provide a quick access point for a probe thermometer, so you can accurately guage the temperature of your smoker.


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## Uncle Bob (May 25, 2007)

Doomsday...

Do *NOT* drill holes in your cooker! It was designed by the manufacturer to operate efficiently as is. 

Excesss smoke is caused by poor fire control, or in your case using to much flavoring wood in your electric cooker. Solve the problem by mastering proper cooking techniques not by drilling holes.

Also temperatures are best measured at the cooking level not in the top of the lid where you will get high, misleading readings. In your particular electric cooker, if left to operate as it was designed to do, your temperature will remain a steady 225*


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## DoomsDay (May 27, 2007)

I Did my test run friday and smoked some chicken thighs. It appears it took them about 3 1/2 hours to be done in the smoker. However, 1 hour of smoke did not seem to be enough for me. It ended up with a very very light smoke flavor (and I was using hickory). I think tomorrow I am going to try and smoke for about 2 hours and see how that goes. BTW, I used the chicken rub recipe that was suggested. It turned out pretty nice.

Thanks


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## Uncle Bob (May 27, 2007)

Good job Doomsday! 

Get in there and "get your hands dirty"! Get aquainted with your cooker!
Keep a 'log book' of what you do and the results you get. Pretty soon you'll be truning out product that you and you family enjoy! Thats BBQing!!

Have Fun!!


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## love2"Q" (May 27, 2007)

uncle bob nailed it on the head with a log book ..
its a science experiment .. write everything you can down ..
when i first got my smoker , i went out bought some cheap 
leg quarters .. experimented with those until i found a heat/smoke 
combo that worked for me ..


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## AllenOK (May 27, 2007)

I concur, and I do the same thing.  When I try something new, I record the type of meat, weight, how long it cooked (in the smoker and in the oven, for the longer-cooked meats), and average temp.

I also do the same thing when I brine.  I find that this helps immensely when planning to cook something big, and I already know how much brine to use, and what container to put it into, or when I'm brining a different cut of meat, but about the same size as something else.

This is also how caterers work.  They'll keep records of how much food was prepped for a given party, how much was actually consumed, the number of people, type of event, and any other notes (like mostly older folks, lots of men, lots of kids, etc.)


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## kitchenelf (May 27, 2007)

I feel sure the temp on my chicken was not accurate (was probably higher) as towards the end I kept opening the front door - I didn't check the back of the bird - I gauged by "wiggle"   I know it's not accurate but I knew it was done after 7 hours.


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## CasperImproved (May 30, 2007)

DoomsDay said:
			
		

> I Did my test run friday and smoked some chicken thighs. It appears it took them about 3 1/2 hours to be done in the smoker. However, 1 hour of smoke did not seem to be enough for me. It ended up with a very very light smoke flavor (and I was using hickory). I think tomorrow I am going to try and smoke for about 2 hours and see how that goes. BTW, I used the chicken rub recipe that was suggested. It turned out pretty nice.
> 
> Thanks



DoomsDay - I am a little late to respond, and being a BBQ novice myself, I thought I would point you to some experts on the topic.  If you are willing, or experienced at USENET, visit the group alt.food.barbecue. They have an *EXCELLANT* faq on doing real BBQ, and even if they are a bit stuffy, they will help you when you have questions.

BTW, wasn't knocking the folks here as they are not only helpful, they are smart. ;-)

C


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## jminion (May 31, 2007)

DoomsDay
To keep the wood from bursting into flames use chips and place them in a foil packet, wrap tight and poke a couple of wholes in the top of the packet. That will keep the wood from burning but will supply smoke. Should make the temp control easier.

Jim


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## DoomsDay (May 31, 2007)

Sundays attempt was very good. I had no heat problems at all, the soaking of the wood for 2 hours is keeping it from bursting into flames and is making it smolder very nicely. I did however try a different rub and sauce and everyone liked it a lot. My wife said she still preferred the first rub I did which was the one kitchenelf suggested. I was very happy that when I went to serve them they looked just like you would see on tv, nice and shiney and sticky with the bbq sauce I had on them. 

I will be attempting some ribs this coming weekend so wish me luck. By golly I am going to make these things tender if I have to cook them for 30 hours hehe.

And thanks for the suggestion Casper, I am familiar with usenet and will check it out to...


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## aesthete (May 31, 2007)

kitchenelf said:
			
		

> Soaked wood chunks (never use chips) will heat up and produce smoke



i'm interested in your arguments for using chunks over chips. i've expirimented with both and haven't felt strongly against chips


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## Renee Attili (Jun 2, 2007)

Welcome to Discuss Cooking!
My first suggestion is... smoke is really only needed for the first hour to 2 hours. After that you will get that "Too Smoky" flavor.
Second suggestion... Get yourself a remote meat thermometer. You can leave it in and know what is going on with the interior of you meat.
Third suggestion... Use something other than mesquite or hickory. Both have a tendency to be over powering and bitter. Try instead a pecan, apple, or oak. More mild but definetly flavorful, without the bitter.
I always soak my wood. But I will use a beer/water combo and that way any steam that comes off the wood also will add to the overall flavor.
Good Luck and Happy Q-ing


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## BBQBob (Jun 10, 2007)

You are getting a lot of good info from the folks here on DC. I use the Brinkman charcoal bullet smoker most of the time when I smoke food. Most of the time it is only my wife and I, so I don't need to cook a large quantity. Although last weekend was our annual driveway bbq party and we had 80 100 guests. For that I borrowed a large cooker. 
I purchased a digital food thermoter and I lay it on the cooking grill near the meat. I want to know the cooking temp inside the cooker. The guage on the Brinkman smoker is not much help. I cook a lot of Baby Backs and the bullet smoker can do a great job. I always remove the membrane from the ribs and I recently started to brine the rib for several hours before I put on the rub. The idea of using apple juice in the water pan is great. I also add apple juice to my brine. 
I have found that hickory has a stronger smoke flavor than some of the other woods. My favorites are apple for poultry and fish and pecan for beef and pork. The pecan is a member of the hickory family but the smoke flavor is not nearly as strong. Using these woods, I usually keep it smoking almost the entire cooking time.
You can get a lot of helpful tips from others, but the best teacher is experience. Just keep trying 'til you are happy with the results. Then keep expermenting.


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## DoomsDay (Jun 18, 2007)

Thanks for all the information. I was starting to get discouraged with my spare ribs attempts as my last attempt ended very badly. I cooked these ribs for almost 6 hours but they still wasn't where I wanted them to be in tenderness, They were close, but not what I was wanting. That aside, I had a major problem with the rub. I had made a big batch and this was the last bit of the rub that I was using and it turns out that most of the salt in the rub ended up in the bottom of the bag and made my spare ribs WAY to salty. I mean I am a salt lover and these things raised my blood pressure just looking at them.

A friend of mine who has the exact same smoker I do, gave me a recipe to try for baby back ribs. This one called for me to brine the meat over night and that is exactly what I did. I used the rub that was with the recipe and I was a bit disappointed in the taste. I found out I am not much of a summer savory fan on baby back ribs lol. The good news, I had roughly 3 pounds of baby backs and smoked them for roughly 5 hours and 20 minutes at 225 degrees. They turned out EXACTLY the way I wanted them to be for tenderness. They were not fall off the bone but when you bit into one the meat just fell right into your mouth with no pressure at all.

Ok, so things I have learned. 

Summer savory on ribs is a no no.
The wood I used this last time was hickory but it was from very young trees out of my parents back yard. It imparted almost no flavor at all into the meat and I had it smoking for the entire 5 hours (3 small chunks of wood per 1 1/2 hours)
I think the most important one is to brine my meat the night before to get that texture that I want in a rib.


So now I have the texture down, now to find that ultimate rub to go on the meat


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