Smoking: Precut country style ribs, how minutes per pound

How long does it take to smoke pre cut style country style ribs. How many minutes per pound? I have never done this before but am excited since my Christmas day smoked turkey was very well received. I am putting on my ProQ Cap and making my rub per the ProQ recipe in the ProQ Manual. Also, do the ribs need to be at 180° for thorough cooking?

Thanks,

Flyswatter
Birmingham, AL

Couple of recipes here https://proq.forumotion.com/pork-f11/

They'll be done when they're done... you can't rush perfection, but work on around 5-6 hours.

Well, I had my first Country Style Rib smoking experience On my ProQ Excel 20 yesterday.

Here is what I did.

5 1/2 lbs of store cut ribs (Pork shoulder boneless) was prepared with mustard baste with rub recipe marinating for 3 hours.
I was smoking in 34° temps but had a very good fire.
I used two digital thermometers. One for the ribs the other for internal temps at grill or meat level (upper stack).
I had a steady temp of 235° to 244° for the entire burn. Side note: ProQ Temp gauge was very close to digital readings.
I had 3/4 full water level in my water pan at the start with about 1/3 left at the end of my Pro Q E20 smoking.
Cook time was at 1 hour 45 minutes with meat/pork temp at 177°.
Brought them into the kitchen and covered the ribs to set for 10 minutes wrapped in aluminum foil.

Overall the ribs were very tasty with hickory smoke flavor and rub taste. However, the ribs were not as moist as I would have hope. It was good but there is room for improvement. Any suggestions per this post will be appreciated. I absolutely am enjoying my ProQ Excel 20 and find myself gravitating to a new hobby.

Thanks to all and Happy New Years from the States!

Flyswatter

Not sure on the cut of meat you're describing, do you have any pics?

Mack,

So-called country style ribs are really pork shoulder cut into strips, sometimes bone in, sometimes boneless. http://www.mnpork.com/consumers/images/countryStyleRibs1.jpg

To get them more moist, you might try a lower temperature, mop them during the cook, and cook them longer. Since they are basically pork shoulder, they could be cooked up to 190. That's about where pork shoulder starts getting to the pulling stage.

How do you get your ribs up to a higher internal temperature yet smoke them longer yet keep them moist? I am anxious to learn. My way of thinking would be the ribs would get extremely dry at longer cook time at 180 plus meat temps. What would be the max smoke temp to cook your ribs?

What you are calling dryness may be more toughness. Pork shoulder has a lot of tough connecting tissue / collagen that needs to be broken down before the meat gets to the "falling apart" stage. Pork shoulder also has a considerable abount of fat, which helps to bast the meat during cooking. So I think cooking them to a higher temperature may be the key. Of course, it never hurts to mop them during cooking.

I certainly may be wrong. I don't cook country style ribs. I cook spares or baby backs for ribs and cook the shoulder for pulled pork. And when cooking a shoulder, an internal temperature of at least 195 is optimum.

Next time, try a few variations with the same batch as a test. Cooks most the way you just did, cook some with frequent mopping, and let a few cook for a lot longer (also mop these periodically). Hey, BBQ is all about experimentation anyway.

Mike,

You have been most helpful. I have a better understanding now. Thanks! One last thing. Now for a newbie question. I am not familiar with mopping the meat. I understand the brushing aspect but where do I get the mopping sauce? Do you actually purchase it? If not I am not sure how to get this from the meat. Do share and thanks again.

Tom
Birmingham, AL

Hi Tom,

Here are a couple of links with some good information about mops:

http://bbq.about.com/od/saucesmarinades/a/aa061204a.htm

http://library.rusbiz.com/article_index.html?cat=137&id=5629

I usually put the mop (basting sauce) in a spray bottle. But if you include any pepper, it can clog the end of the spray tube. Like the articles say, mops can be pretty simple. For instance, I just use beer, apple juice and cider vinegar on the ribs and pork butt that I smoke. The one I used on the brisket had more ingredients than I normally use. But, like I said, I like to experiment.

To get more info, just Google "barbecue mops" or "barbecue mops and marinades".