cheap lumps

Audrey

I am new to smoking and my big green egg. We got it for Christmas. I used 2 bags of 20 pound of lumps that was BGegg brand. I purchased a cheaper bag and was very disappointed with my ribs that I cooked I have never cooked ribs on the grill. I used indirect heat, and had them standing on a rib rack, marinated them with a mix of ketcup, A1, lemon juice, dressing and what ever else I could put in there. I have done that in the past when I put them in the oven. I had problems with the grill burning to hot. Today was very windy and wondered if that was the cause or if it was the chaper lump. Any way I am very disappointed with the ribs. They were very brown/burnt burnt on the ends. The grill was about 300 and I wanted it at 225 but cold not get it lowered inspite of the fact that I had a very small opening at the top and the bottom. I have read that you can cook them for about 3.5 hours. I put them on and left when I returned they were plenty cooked. Need advise before I try ribs again. Thanks

Kokeman

What kind of lump? Royal oak makes BGE lump. I have found Cowboy burns hot. When I do a low temp cook I only lite one spot in the center of the lump. If you start with a big fire it will be hard to keep low. I sauce at the end of the cook only so it does not burn.

Mike in Abita

For an inexperienced rib cooker (read me) I would stick with the 3.1.1 method for baby backs and 3.2.1 for spares. In each of the methods the numbers represent number of hours. Set up your egg for a 8 hour burn, adding enough lump to last at least that long. If in doubt add more than you think you'll need, even a whole firering full.

Light your egg and add all ceramic pieces to create an indirect cook. Allow your cooker to come up to temp, closing the vents to maintain 250 DEG F. Once it is stable at that temp. Put the ribs on for 3 hours don't open the egg, don't check how they are doing just monitor the temp every hour making sure you are still at or near 250.

At the end of the third hour, open the egg and pull all your ribs out, place them on a platter and close the egg back up as soon as you can. Take the ribs and wrap them in HDAF. Adding about 3-6 oz of the liquid of your choice. Some use apple juice others use pineapple, I use rootbeer. After adding liquid wrap the aluminum foil tightly around the ribs making sure everything is sealed. If you puncture the foil wrap the whole package in another layer of foil. Cook the ribs in the foil pack for another hour or two depending on rib type.

Once this hour or two is up then carefully unwrap the package and put the ribs back on the grill to firm them up a little. Add your sauce for the last 45 minutes of so.

'Q Bruddah

Audrey--did you use a platesetter and do an indirect cook?

Brokersmoker

Granpa Grub has a nice post with pics on temp control that will give you a good reference point to start. Ribs take practice IMHO. I've tried all of them 3-1-1, Carwash Mike's I can't seem to find one that is a must have yet (so I continue to search and tweak). They will all get you in the ball park of what you are looking for. Don't give up and keep cookin the ribs

Audrey

I did use the platesetter to get indirect cooking.

Audrey

The bag is brown and does not really have a brand on it. I had Hardwood lump charcoal. And very little square on the back has an address texarkana texas. I did get the bag from a dealer of the BGE. Next time I will not add sauce till the end, that may be the cause. But does the wind make a difference also. I know air flow does make a difference.