Spare Ribs

[rbcjake]

Used my smoker last week for the first time.  Smoked pork loin turned out awesome! What rack do you put your ribs on?  Top, middle, or bottom?  Also do you place them directly on rack?

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[DivotMaker]

Jake, always put your meat as high as possible.  The heat is most stable at the top of the smoker, so always load your shelves from the top down.  Ribs should go bone-side-down, flat on the shelves.  Be sure to remove the membrane on the bone-side. 

[elkins20]

Hey Jake, I do my ribs as Tony suggested, also I use a temp. of 235. And will check them at the 4.5 hour mark. This is one meat that you will do by time and not an IT as the meat is too thin and close to the bone. I use a toothpick to check for doneness. Insert the pick between the bones, if it goes in like a knife in warm butter they are done, also move the pick up and down pulling a little on the meat if you can do this without breaking the pick their done. You can sauce them and cook an additional 30min. if you wish or pull and sauce as you serve. Good luck.

[NDKoze]

Also, it's probably common sense, but if you are cutting your slabs in half, put the larger halves on the lower shelves.

[elkins20]

I should have asked, are you doing baby back ribs, St. Louis style ribs or full slab ribs? I am not sure but remember Tony/divotmaker making comments of having to cut ribs into so would fit in his #2. And as Greg suggested, if you do have to cut them into. Put the larger one on the lower shelf.

[NDKoze]

Also, Spares/St Louis Cut will typically take about an hour longer than Baby Backs.

The average times that most report are 5-6 hours for Baby Backs and 6-7 hours for St Louis cut. But, this is very subjective.

For your first smoke, I would smoke no peak until the 4 hour mark for BBs and 5 hour mark for Spares and if they are not done go for another 30 minutes and keep on checking every 30 minutes until they are done to your liking.

To test for doneness, stick a toothpick in next to the bone and see if you can pull the meat away from the bone to tell how fall off the bone they are.