Ribs on the Smoker

Another beautify day calls for another day on the smoker. This time I tried during some racks of Ribs. Not understanding what I was buying I purchased 4 racks of spare ribs thinking it was 2 so a pleasant surprise. Also got lucky as you will later see the 4 racks just fit on the smoker. 

Alright with the ribs I didn't cut anything off because the knives I have are not sharp enough so instead of struggling through it just left them as is. This was a slight problem because the top part of the spare ribs can be tough to eat because of bones that run through. With the rib tips attached went  to the seasoning. This time went with a salt, pepper, crushed red peppers, and paprika as a rub. I did two times across with the salt and pepper and once with the peppers and paprika. Two racks I only did salt and pepper on the bottom on the other two I put all 4 on both sides. 

This was probably a good call since as a family we are not big fans of heat and the ones with both sides my dad thought was a bit on the hotter side. 

Alright for the cook, I used a combination of hickory wood and apple wood. I smoked it for 4 hours at 275, well between 250 and 275, actually had excellent heat control this time. At the 2 hour mark I moved the ribs around make sure all of them are being cooked the same. The ones closer to the fire are cooked at a significantly higher temp and my way to account for that is to rotate.

 At the four hour mark I took them off and applied a coating of Sweet Baby Rays BBQ sauce, I am working on figuring out my own sauce but that will take time. Wrapped them in foil and let cook for another hour. 

I checked for doneness after 45 minuted by taking them off and holding them in the middle to see how much they folded over. At this point they were pretty pliable so likely could have been taking off then but I gave them another 15 minutes trying to figure out what I could plate them on. 

They rested for about 10 minutes before served for dinner. 

   

I think they came out well. Again some of the difficulty to eat was based on the improper butchering I did before cooking but outside of that they came out well. Generally everyone liked them. My dad thought they were a bit which I agree with. Next time I probably will not use the red peppers. 

Solid first try and I look forward to my next attempt!