Last month I tried barbecuing with low, indirect heat for the first time. Country pork ribs. Turned out well. Now I’m thinking I’ll try beef. Well, not ‘now’; but in the not-too-distant future.
I have some leftover rub from the pork. I can use that, or I can make a recipe someone posted a couple of years ago. I can get some mesquite charcoal. Maybe I can get some wood chips and put them in a pie tin next to the coals. I only have the Webber grill, so there’s not a lot of space; and temperature control is by guess and by gosh. I’m thinking that I’ll put the meat on a rack in a baking pan, with some water underneath it. I’ll gauge the temperature by shooting the water with an infrared thermometer.
So: Ribs, or brisket? Assuming I can get 200ºF, how long? Any pointers for a guy trying to go from grilling to barbecuing?
I am not experienced at smoking, but I like grilled beef ribs.
I keep them together, cook them bone side down with the grill cover closed. Barbecue sauce sometimes at the end.
Once they are browned, I sometimes wrap them in aluminum foil (HERETIC!) so they will stay moist and not be crisped.
Beef ribs are good. You can cook them all together or remove every other bone to get some real meaty ones left. I find they cook better when separated, it doesn’t take as long, and they cook more evenly. Take it slow, they aren’t as fatty as pork and high heat will run the fat out and they’ll be dry and tough.
I’d suggest in a small charcoal grill putting the coals in a small metal container. It should make them burn more slowly and help isolate the heat from the meat. The pan of water may help, but I’m not sure it’s a great spot to check the temperature. I a thermometer in the smoker that’s telling me the temp near the top, and I keep another one the grill to sort of calibrate between them.
My own observations are that smoke makes the difference at the beginning and the end if you aren’t going to burn wood the whole time. So for a long smoke I’ll start with a little bit of charcoal and some wood chunks. I’ll stoke the fire with some more charcoal along the way, then add wood chunks again for the last hour or so. YMMV
Almost forgot, soak those ribs overnight. You can use brine, beer, something vinegary if you like. I usually use half apple cider vinegar, half apple juice for pork, with some chunks of onion in it, and often do some beef ribs at the same time.
For smoke I use hardwood chunks (hickory, pecan, etc)…for a 10-12lb brisket and a 225-250 grill temp, you’re looking at 10-12 hours until the meat is done (intenal temp of 195-205).
Alternatively, after 5-6 hours on the Weber (at which point it should be plenty smoked), you can wrap it in foil and finish it inside in a 250 oven for another 4-6 hours and save yourself a lot of charcoal.
I’d suggest checking out some of Stephen Raichlen’s books, like this one.
I drilled a hole in the lid of my Weber kettle and installed a thermometer like this one. Works great, and is much better than guessing or trying to use an IR thermometer.
