I took some lessons learned from my first rib cook in the new Bronco and hit most of my targets on the second run. A couple of friends up the road had a sample and said, "Hands down"best ribs we’ve ever had, restaurant or family.â€
That’s rewarding, but I know there’s room for improvement, and I was a little unprepared for the results after making a few changes this time around. I’ll go over the main changes I made, and then put some questions to you seasoned smokers.
What I did differently
1. Used two SLC racks instead of the one BBR
2. Shook a more generous coating of MMD on ‘em
5. Hung probes on opposite sides of cooker, not upper and lower ends
6. Aimed around 250° instead of 225
7. Added 2nd chunk late...after two hours
Bend test after two hours, right before adding 2nd chunk. Bark would be much darker at finish.
One thing I did not do is heed the advice about hanging a second hook from the first—and almost paid for it, as you can see from the hook that’s barely still in the rear "green" rack at five hours.
The "green" rack read 201.5 Thermapen and very similar with Fireboard. All were very juicy and tender, so much so that I forgot to take a picture of the bones! They were pretty clean, though, and would come away with a little twist in many places.
We all pigged out happily on these ribs, but I have to admit: there was a sweetness about these that was a little too much for me—and I like sweet stuff as a rule...
Questions I have about the results
1. Were the racks I got too fatty? What do I need to learn about selection, trimming, etc?
2. Is the bark so much darker mainly because I used more of the sugary MMD? Did dark vs light brown sugar play a role? Or is it more that I let temps get higher this time? Maybe the smoke was too heavy for too long with 2nd chunk added late? Compare...
These are my previous ribs' bark, which I admittedly called done when they were not quite.
3. Is the overly sweet taste owing to anything other than too much rub? Maybe the dark brown sugar? Is this a characteristic of SLC? or of well done ribs w/ melted fats?
4. Is there a way to keep a thin layer underneath the bark from getting overdone and being hard to chew? At times, the bark/underlayer didn’t want to be cut or bitten through, and took away from the enjoyment of the chew. Again, I’d love to achieve this without wrapping.
5. Can I always expect to get a gradient of doneness over the length of a hanging rack? Some have said not to worry about flipping ends, but others say it’s the best trick. I realized the liabilities of the Thermapen in a rib rack, but tested several places, and these were pretty consistent readings for the "blue" rack 
At the bottom… in the middle… at the top
6. I know air moves quite a bit inside a smoker, but why did I apparently get higher temps on the side of the cooker where the fire wasn’t actively burning?
Many thanks to those who made it all the way through—you were probably just over five hours reading it, too!
That’s rewarding, but I know there’s room for improvement, and I was a little unprepared for the results after making a few changes this time around. I’ll go over the main changes I made, and then put some questions to you seasoned smokers.
Skip the small print for time if need be.
What I did differently
1. Used two SLC racks instead of the one BBR
2. Shook a more generous coating of MMD on ‘em
I felt there was room to add flavor last time, so I went heavier. Wish I had a picture, but I probably put on 70-100% more rub on these. I also got hold of some dark brown sugar this time (not light), which may have made more difference than I expected—see "Questions" below.
3. Racks were shorter...and didn’t burn at the endsAs cut by my grocer (I assume), these were about three ribs shorter than the BBR I did last time, and didn’t come close to touching the handle of the charcoal grate. Also no dried out crispy part at the bottom—so one big issue averted!
4. Used bricks for S-shaped fuse to engage drippingsI took the advice about drippings from jfmorris and fzxdoc, but used bricks to contain a fuse rather than a minion, since I had run well into the 300s doing that. I heard many drippings land either on coals or bricks, and saw the evidence later. The bricks were probably under 50°F initially and stole some energy as I tried to get temps up. It was the same 56° outside as last cook and not wet, so I suspect that’s what happened. I lit 15 more coals to add to the 18 starters. Initial snake had 60-65 unlit and needed to be re-fueled back the other direction after about four hours.
5. Hung probes on opposite sides of cooker, not upper and lower ends
Rather than dodge the fire to keep the tip from burning, since these racks were shorter, I kept the racks in place again this cook, and tried to study the "moving" heat source. I placed the probes above the "head" and "tail" of my charcoal snake, hoping to learn whether I would get even heat on the ribs over the course of the cook. What you’ll see graphed below is a bit more combustion and liquid dynamics than I’m ready to analyze!
6. Aimed around 250° instead of 225
I did this mainly to save a little time, and because jfmorris and others have indicated success. I would have guessed the probe near the coals coming alive would read higher, but it seemed to work the other way around (I’m sure I didn’t confuse those two probes—red and yellow in my graph and on the silicone rings in the picture). I was reasonably happy with the average of the two probes and the averages of each probe throughout the cook, though I didn’t always know how to respond when the readings diverged dramatically. Click to make it full screen.
4 hours, 36 min time cooker was above 225°
5 hrs, 5 min total time ribs were in
244° Average for yellow channel, initially over unlit coals
254° Average for red channel, near the poured coals
5 hrs, 5 min total time ribs were in
244° Average for yellow channel, initially over unlit coals
254° Average for red channel, near the poured coals
7. Added 2nd chunk late...after two hours
I used the same 8 oz total wood, but basically forgot to add the second chunk early in the cook. When I did add the second, the first wasn’t totally charred over, so maybe I’m going about this the wrong way. I did notice when I opened the lid at the end, there was quite a thick cloud of smoke—more than I remember at any point in the previous cook.
Bend test after two hours, right before adding 2nd chunk. Bark would be much darker at finish.
One thing I did not do is heed the advice about hanging a second hook from the first—and almost paid for it, as you can see from the hook that’s barely still in the rear "green" rack at five hours.
The "green" rack read 201.5 Thermapen and very similar with Fireboard. All were very juicy and tender, so much so that I forgot to take a picture of the bones! They were pretty clean, though, and would come away with a little twist in many places.
We all pigged out happily on these ribs, but I have to admit: there was a sweetness about these that was a little too much for me—and I like sweet stuff as a rule...
Questions I have about the results
1. Were the racks I got too fatty? What do I need to learn about selection, trimming, etc?
2. Is the bark so much darker mainly because I used more of the sugary MMD? Did dark vs light brown sugar play a role? Or is it more that I let temps get higher this time? Maybe the smoke was too heavy for too long with 2nd chunk added late? Compare...
These are my previous ribs' bark, which I admittedly called done when they were not quite.
3. Is the overly sweet taste owing to anything other than too much rub? Maybe the dark brown sugar? Is this a characteristic of SLC? or of well done ribs w/ melted fats?
4. Is there a way to keep a thin layer underneath the bark from getting overdone and being hard to chew? At times, the bark/underlayer didn’t want to be cut or bitten through, and took away from the enjoyment of the chew. Again, I’d love to achieve this without wrapping.
5. Can I always expect to get a gradient of doneness over the length of a hanging rack? Some have said not to worry about flipping ends, but others say it’s the best trick. I realized the liabilities of the Thermapen in a rib rack, but tested several places, and these were pretty consistent readings for the "blue" rack 
At the bottom… in the middle… at the top
6. I know air moves quite a bit inside a smoker, but why did I apparently get higher temps on the side of the cooker where the fire wasn’t actively burning?
Many thanks to those who made it all the way through—you were probably just over five hours reading it, too!
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