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[cookingjnj]

So my son heads back to school in a few days, and I am trying to feed him all his favorites before he leaves.  Last night was a nice grilled 1.5" rib eye steak.  I have been reverse searing on the pellet pit for a while now, but due to ambient temps and a late start, all was done on high heat gasser. 

Tonight was spare ribs.  Since I was not working today, it was a good start to the week dinner.

As I was pulling the rubs out, and getting the rub together, I noticed a jar of Honey Powder in my cabinet.  Hmm, thought to my self, since I usually drizzle honey and butter over the ribs when seasoning with the rubs, and I usually add a little more brown sugar to the store bought rubs I was using.... why not use the honey powder instead.  So I mixed a few store bought rubs, with the honey powder to seasoned the ribs.  You will notice more ingredients than I originally wanted because I added too much of the honey powder to start.  My issue with not following or having a recipe.

Started the pit with a target of 225.  While the pit was heating up I  rubbed the ribs all over with the "new"  honey powder rub.  (Consisted of equal parts Rufus Teague Meat Rub, Penzies Galena Street, and a quarter as much of the honey powder.  I also threw in a teaspoon of paprika).  Sorry if the recipe is not exact, most of what I put together is not measured.  My new change, for this cook, was using the honey powder rather than liquid honey.

The ribs went on the pit when temps hit stable at 225.  The next change I made this for this cook was to not wrap.  I have always followed the 3-2-1 rule, even when I was smoking with make shift smokers on a gasser.  Reading all the suggestions learned from all of you here on PF, I tried this cook without wrapping.  Ribs went on at 225 for three hours.  After 3 hours I raised the temp to 275 for another 1.5 hours.  I then pulled the ribs off and lowered the temp to 250.  I sauced the ribs (one rack was done with Dinosaur Sensuous Slathering Sauce, and the other with Sweet Baby Rays Original).  Ribs went back on for another 45 minutes to set the sauces. 

Looking at the pics, it appears as though the ribs were not done as the meat did not pull away from the end bones very much.  Yes, I probably could have kept them on longer, although not sure during the low or higher temps before putting the sauce on them.  With that being said, these were very good.  Meat had a good pull from the bone, and they were very juicy.  Most important, the family all loved them, and my son was taking pictures of the cook to send to his buddies.  Oh, what have I started??

I don't think I really found any difference using the honey powder over drizzle of honey, other than it was all contained in one step (shaking the rub on the ribs).  I might actually continue with the power until I run out.  I also like the idea of not wrapping the ribs, which saved a step, and I really did not notice a difference in juiciness, so non-foiled ribs might continue in my future.  Thanks all for all the ideas.

Rub for the ribs:
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Ribs Rubbed and ready for the pit
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Ribs off the pit....nice color
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Sliced
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Plated with roasted cauliflower and French fries.  FYI....none of us stopped at just two ribs, pic only for effect.....hahahaha.
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[Michael_NW]

Nothing wrong with those! And thanks for sharing your experience with us. The longer I cook the more I see there are just so many ways to make tasty BBQ. Hopefully, this has helped you to refine your method a bit more. The final and most important proof was "and the family all loved them". That's so cool.

[Ross77]

I’ll have to try this method next time. I just cooked two racks with the 3-2-1 method. They were juicy but could have used a little more smoke flavor. I wonder if cooking them in the foil lessens the smoke? 

[Bar-B-Lew]

I’ll have to try this method next time. I just cooked two racks with the 3-2-1 method. They were juicy but could have used a little more smoke flavor. I wonder if cooking them in the foil lessens the smoke?

Try putting the ribs on the grill cold right from the fridge if you are not already doing so.  It may add more smoke flavor.

[TLK]

They look good to me (everything except the cauliflower that is :-))

[triplebq]

They look good to me (everything except the cauliflower that is :-))

+1

[cookingjnj]

I learned from many on this site that to maximize smoke flavor, cold is sometimes good.  As BBL mentions, I usually take the ribs right from the fridge on the grates while cold.  Many indicate the smoke is attracted to cold meat.  I did not mention in my original post, I also spritzed every 45 minutes (ok, I did not time each spritz but close to 45 minutes...hahaha) with cold apple juice to not only keep the ribs moist, but to also gain more smoke flavor based on the cold meat theory. 

[Canadian John]

 Excellent post.. I have never wrapped ribs and have eliminated spritzing..They have been ,tender,tasty and moist....Depending on the weight, the cook time changes. I overlooked the weight factor when doing a smaller rack once resulting in dryer and slightly

less tasty meat.. To me, cold and moist into the pit does enhance smoke absorption.. Just my $.02.

[Free Mr. Tony]

Those look great. The meat pulls back from the bone less when they aren't steamed in foil. No pullback isn't necessarily an indication of underdone when you don't foil. Even when I do foil, I never do longer than 45 minutes. I don't get much pullback on my ribs.