Favorite Rib Rub, and rib tips for 1st timer?

Unknown

New Egger here. My maiden voyage with my new Large BGE was last night. I smoked a beef tenderloin using the Chateaubriand recipe as found in my BGE cookbook, and it was outstanding! I wanted to keep it relatively simple to get my feet wet cooking with the BGE. I am most definitely hooked now! The next thing I want to conquer is baby back ribs. I know there are some real pro's on this forum, so I thought there would be no better place than here to solicit advice on making my first rib cook on my BGE a success. I am looking for suggestions on rubs (especially rubs), sauces (I've got some Blues Hog original and red ordered and on the way) and cooking methods. I have always been partial to the St. Louis style babybacks, so any advice specific to that style/flavor would be great. This noob would appreciate any help you could give me!

Sundown

BravoWhiskey,[p]Welcome to the Cult. If anyone offer you Kool-Ade pass for the moment.[p]Consider keeping things simple on your first rib cook use a rub or even salt and pepper. Don't forget to remove the membrane on the back of the ribs.[p]Now for the hard part, everyone has their own favorite way to do everything here so you can pick and choose whatever appeals to you and run with it. I usually do my ribs direct on a raised grill and 250º dome temp. Bone down and don't look at them for at least an hour and a half then I open the Egg and quickly check them. I've cooked them as long as 4 hour this way. Best way to tell when they are done is the meat will have pulled back 1/2 - 3/4 of an inch. You should almost be able to twist the bone out of the meat.[p]I'll leave you with that for now. By the time I get this up you'll have more suggestions and ideas.[p]One last suggestion. Load your Egg some warm fall afternoon and practice controlling your temps using the lower vent. Wait a bit and adjust the daisy wheel a bit and see what happens. Once you have temperature control down and are comfortable it's all pretty easy from there. Again, welcome and good luck!

DynaGreaseball

BravoWhiskey,[p]Well, the rib rub choice at my house is John Henrey's Pecan Rub. It's a little sweet, and adds a great flavor to St Louis ribs.[p]I'm probably in a minority on liking the sweeter tasting ribs, in here. If you like a hotter, more peppery taste, then it wouldn't be your first choice.[p]Anyway, experiment a lot with rubs. It seems the choices are endless. [p]Welcome to Eggdom. You're in for a lotta fun. Keep us posted about how everything turns out. Take pictures too.

Car Wash Mike

<p />BravoWhiskey,
You are going to get a lot of answers. St. Louis style is spares trimmed. I like DP Orginal or Blues Hog Rub. I like to apply a light coating of mustard so the rubs sticks better.[p]If you like sweet sauce, use the orginal Blues Hog. The Tennesse Red is just to vinegar based for me on ribs.
For the first time, I urge you to foil for 45-60 minutes.
Indirect at 225-250 with apple or cherry wood.[p]Make sure you apply the Blues Hog cold.
Good luck.[p]Mike

Unknown

Thanks for the advice Mike. Can you elaborate on what it means to "foil", and how that plays into the process? Also, about how long would you indirect smoke at 225-250 to achieve the desired results? I guess that question goes for whether you use the foil method or not. I read your rib recipe in the cookbook, and it was the one I was likely going to refer to. I'm thrilled to get tips from you on this subject. Thanks!

Car Wash Mike

BravoWhiskey,
I never foil, but I encourage you to for the first time.
I would go indirect at 225-250 for about 3 hours, double wrap in aluminum foil with apple juice (about 8 oz.) for 45 minutes. Be careful when wrapping, sometimes that pesky little short end bone breaks the foil. Take off, sauce, put back on indirect, bump temp up to 275. When the bones really pull apart easy. Take off. These will be more fall off the bone than what I like. But you should enjoy. If you want shoot me an e-mail and can give you a cell number to call when you cook.
These are spare ribs trimmed, I haven't cooked a single slab of these for awhile. But, I think this should be good.[p]Mike