First Beef Rib Cook Underway

[Reds Fan 5]

First ever beef rib cook. Two choice 3-rib plates from Costco. Water/Worcestershire binder (Goldee’s BBQ technique), big bad beef rub. OKJ Bronco with deflector plate with BB briquettes and 2 oak chunks.

Bronco rack capacity a bit smaller than I realized. Had to cut one rack to fit and still tight.

Thought I had clean smoke, put ribs on, and about ten mins later white smoke started pouring out of the stack. Hopefully the chunks aren’t smoldering. It smells clean so we will see.

[HawkerXP]

Lookin good!

[Reds Fan 5]

Thanks. A little worried about the smoke situation.

[HawkerXP]

You just put a lot of cold meat on a hot cooker. Relax.

[Draznnl]

Your pics are looking good. Hoping your smoke situation straightens itself out.

[Reds Fan 5]

Just keeps pumping white smoke. No sign of settling down. It doesn’t have an acrid dirty smoke aroma. It smells like good oak smoke. Let’s keep our fingers crossed. That’s not exactly discount meat in there.

[CHNeal]

Looks good to me. If it smells like wood smoke and not a house fire let it roll!

[Panhead John]

I agree! Let er roll, all that good smoke is getting on your ribs.

[radiodome21]

Beef ribs are amazing from Costco. I’m sure it’ll great. I find highly fatty meats hard to mess up.

[Reds Fan 5]

Smoke finally settled down. Had white smoke for an hour. Last night’s dinner wasn’t exactly a smooth cook (indoor) and it turns out ok, so another 6-8 hours and maybe as many bourbons and we will know.

[Reds Fan 5]

3.5 hour mark. Smoker running at 240 degrees with zero maintenance. Good bark forming. Will spritz with the water/Worcestershire mixture I used as binder of bark gets too dry. Otherwise not planning to wrap until it’s time to hold.

[Panhead John]

Looking good! 👍

[bbqLuv]

I think I see my name on one of them.

[Reds Fan 5]

Final results: Overall, very happy. 8.5 hours to probe tender, held in cooler for 2.5 hours (more on that in a moment). Bronco was great again. Ran at 240-245 all day with one drop and one spike. Served with mashed potatoes, gravy made with tallow rendered from beef rib trimmings, AR Boston beans, and homemade coleslaw.

Bark was getting too dry so spritzed a couple of times. Planned to hold for 90mins-2 hours. Wife cut herself and needed some first aid so ended up holding for 2.5. They started to lose some temp but no detrimental effects.

As reported at the beginning of the cook I had some smoke issues. I thought the ribs were a bit over smoked. Not an ashtray by any means but more than I like. Wife and teenager thought smoke was perfect.

First time ever smoking beef ribs so very pleased with the results.

[Sid P]

They look great, but maybe you should wrap next time to reduce the smoke. Lots of people wrap them.

[Andrrr]

Those look great and it’s got me craving some beef ribs. Congrats!

[Reds Fan 5]

Sid P, I’ve never wrapped but am considering it with the bronco. Cooked spare ribs without diffuser and three wood chunks and thought they were over smoked. Cooked beef ribs with diffuser and two chunks. Thought they were over smoked. Bronco has a much stronger flavor than the kettle. I think I’ll wrap next time and see if there is a difference.

[Allon]

I like my Q smoke heavy. Linda doesn't...

So my cooks are either very smoke heavy or just briquettes plain depending on who's eating... Or whoever has more votes. Dogs count.