First ribs on the drum. Foiled and Unfoiled.

[wutang]

Fired up the drum today for some babybacks. I have been reading other UDS users posting about how the drum is a very moist cooking environment (and I agree based on the moisture accumulation on the bottom of my drum) So I decided to do a little side by side comparison

3 slabs, rubbed and ready for some smoke


One slab went about 5 hours straight through. And the other 2 got a modified 2-2-1 method. It was probably about 2.5-2.0-.5 The slab that is closest in the pic is the unfoiled slab. You can see one of the rear slabs fell apart when I picked it up of the grate


Here is a cross section pic. The one on the right is the unfoiled


All in all it was good. My temps were running a little hot today so the bark is a little too crisp. The meat inside both was juicy and tender. But the unfoiled slab had a crisper exterior. I think that is probably a by product of temp and maybe a little too much brown sugar in the rub.

I will probably continue to foil in the future but wouldn't mind leaving them unfoiled from time to time.

[Cajunsmoke13]

Nice job wutang. Looks great. Send some my way if any left

[Bbqgoddess]

Yes great job... I so suck at ribs! I am jealous they look perfect! I will take some if your sending out care packages!

[Kyote]

wutang just awesome looking. I like the crispy out side myself. I am going to have to get a drum.that all there is to it.

[Bassman]

Great looking ribs. Foiled or not, I'd eat some of those.

[DDave]

I will probably continue to foil in the future but wouldn't mind leaving them unfoiled from time to time.

Looks good Wutaing. I tried one rack not foiling but I was still opening to mop and check and such and to me they came out a little drier than I'd like. But other people have reported such incredible results without foiling that it keeps we wanting to try again.

I think one of these days I'll try a rack on the drum without foil and just go a straight 5 hours -- no mop, no foil, no opening the lid to peek (or let out the moisture) and see how they turn out.

Dave

[wutang]

I think one of these days I'll try a rack on the drum without foil and just go a straight 5 hours -- no mop, no foil, no opening the lid to peek (or let out the moisture) and see how they turn out.

Dave

When I had to take the lid off to wrap/unwrap the first two slabs I did spray the unfoiled slab with cherry juice. I figured since I had the lid off anyway I might as well.

[DDave]

When I had to take the lid off to wrap/unwrap the first two slabs I did spray the unfoiled slab with cherry juice. I figured since I had the lid off anyway I might as well.

Makes sense since you're opening it up anyway. And I don't know how practical my "5 hour straight" routine would be -- especially since most of the time there are other things cooking with them. It stands to reason though that unfoiled would not be as moist as foiled regardles of what you were cooking them in because you skip the braising. So I guess it is just a question of is unfoiled moist enough as a personal preference.

But I'm with you -- it would be nice to just skip that step from time to time. Sometimes it's nice to just kick back, watch the thin blue float on the breeze and enjoy the aromas without having to worry about foiling and such.

Dave

[gooose53]

Those look mighty good, wrapped or not I would have no problem putting a couple of them on my plate!! Nice work!

[Abelman]

Great job on the ribs and thanks for the info on the experiment. They both look and sound excellent to me

[Uncle-Honky]

They all look very good to me! Just a beautiful smoke

[Kingudaroad]

Nice experiment!! Nice ribs also

[grothe]

Nice run Adam....both look great ta me!!