Results of first 3/1/1 Rib cook

JimF

I feel that my first 3/1/1 rib cook was successful though I still have a lot to learn and have several questions. The ribs tasted good but they were not as fall off the bone tender as I wanted. I did the dizzy dust rub on Friday night. Setup the Egg per Wess's write-up on his web page. I started the fire using 4 starters with 3 around the perimeter and 1 in the middle. I got the charcoal going and after about 1 hour the dome was 220. I had soaked the apple wood chips in water for about 1/2 hour and added them as I put in the plate setter and drip pan full of apple juice.[p]This is my first question. Doesn't putting wet wood chips dampen the fire and maybe put it out in spots? How do others add wood chips to their cook and when?[p]I started to get a lot of smoke so I put the ribs on in the inverted V-rack. I had some problems getting the dome temp to get to 250. I made very small adjustments to either the bottom vent or daisy wheel, waited 20 minutes and then checked the temp. I did this several times and it was not until the first 3 hours were done that I finally got the dome to 250. [p]Here is my second question. Was I keeping the dome temp too low for the first 3 hours?[p]After the 3 hours I made what I can only describe as a drip pan with aluminum foil and put the ribs in stacking one rack on top of the other. Added some apple juice and brown suger and then put a wrap of aluminum foil over the top and put it back on the grill.[p]Here is my third question. Did I do the foil wrap correctly? Seems like the bottom ribs are sitting in the apple juice and the ribs stacked on top are never in the juice. Does this make a difference?[p]Left the ribs in the foil for 45 minutes. I then took out the plate setter and added the ribs back on the rack for direct cooking. This is when I noticed that most of wood chips had never burned which is why my smoke did not last long during the first part of the cook. I also noticed that only one section of my charcoal was burning.[p]Here is my fourth question. How do I get the fire to burn equally over the all of the charcoals rather than just one spot? I am afraid if this had been a 16 hour cook the fire would have gone out. Also how do you get all the wood chips to burn?[p]I stirred the charcoal up before the direct cook which caused a lot of smoke to start which did add some smoke to the ribs during the last part of the cook. Let the ribs direct cook for 45 minutes at around 300, turning once. I got the temp back down to 250 after the 45 minutes and I then started saucing for the last 20 minutes. I could bend the racks almost 90 degrees and the meat had pulled back off the bone so I took them off after just a little over an hour of direct cooking.[p]Here is my last question. Should I have direct cooked them longer?[p]Overall I am pleased with the results and will definitely be trying ribs again in the near future. They were much better than any I had ever cooked on a gasser.[p]Thanks for any advice you can provide.[p]Jim

thirdeye

JimF,[p]I'll give your questions a shot.[p]1. I don't soak wood. I mix some chips into the lump and put some splits on top when I light the lump. I light in the center and let the fire spread at it's own rate throughout the cook.[p]2. I cook the leaner BB's hotter than I cook the fattier belly ribs, not sure what kind you had, or how they were trimmed.[p]3. If I foil, I use individual pouches for each rack. Meat side down.[p]4. If your lump is arranged evenly before lighting it will burn more-or-less evenly throughout your cook.[p]5. The pouch time is up to you and how tender you want the ribs. 45 minutes is usually good for me. If I put the ribs back on after the foil step, I don't fool with taking the hot plate setter out. I keep them on just long enough to firm them up or to add a glaze.[p]~thirdeye~[p]

EggEd

JimF,
I soaked chips once. Have not done it since. The heat dries them out pretty fast anyway. I can't see the chips putting out the lump unless you put alot of chips on and the lump was barely going. Most on the forum like to let the smoke settle down some before putting the meat on as depending on what type of wood the flavour can be too harsh at the beginning[p]Thirdeye answered most of your questions[p]I would only add that I have seen lump burn right down the middle, off to the side and spread around. I use an electric starter for most cooks but sometimes for long cooks I take paper towel, twist and soak in olive oil and then put those in a couple of spots then light (found this on the forum). Then I have fire going in a three spots[p]
I don't take the plat setter out either. You are just glazing in the last step[p]Good luck next time. My egg ribs are better than any gasser ribs I have had as well

JimF

Thanks for the replies. I will try those suggestions on my next rib cook.