Trailblazer Grilling Notes: Baby Backs on the Trailblazer - Saturday, 29 May 2021

[Sscottfitz]

Must be a holiday weekend, two Grill Notes in two days..... Hard to believe we've had the Trailblazer almost a year and this is the first time we've done ribs on her......no excuses.... Since this is the first time, and I absolutely hate ribs that are too tough, we're giving the 3-2-1 method an approach....

• Grill Location: Hot Springs Village, AR.; 34 37 60.0N 92 54 55.4W
• Weather at time of Grill: Partly overcast wtih a nice cool breeze out of the North-Northeast. Temp ~58F, Humidity 38%. Significant cold front moved thru overnight, temps at the start time of the cook are almost 30 deg cooler than this time yesterday!
• Total Grill Time: 5 Hrs 59 Min (09:56 -15:55 CDT) [Grill Start to Grill Off]
• Total Event Time: ~6 Hrs 43 Min (Prep time + Grill Time) - includes pre smoke prep of ribs, thru plating
• Grill Plates: N/A
• Temp Probes: N/A
• Pellets Used: Rec Tec Ultimate Blend

• Item Grilled: Hormel Baby Back Ribs (1 x rack)
  • Pre Smoke Rub: Yellow Mustard, Cranberry Juice, Worcestershire Sauce mix for binder, Ron's Screaming Pig Rub for seasoning
  • Grill approach is 3-2-1 with a wrap during phase 2
  • Total Rib Prep Time: ~23 min (includes, rub, wrap, & saucing)
  • Wrapped with a stick of butter, honey, & Cranberry Juice, double layer of heavy aluminum foil (tented to keep the juices in)
  • Total Rib Grill Times:
    • ~3 hrs Smoking unwrapped at 180F (~09:56 - 12:55 CDT)
    • ~2 hrs Higher heat smoking wrapped at 225F (12:56 - 14:54 CDT)
    • ~1 hrs, unwrapped with BBQ Sauce at 225F (14:58 - 15:55 CDT)

Misc Grill Observations - all times are CDT

• Grill Start to Phase 1 Target Temp 180 F: 66 F to 180 F~ 8 min (09:45 - 09:56 CDT)
• Phase 1 to Phase 2 Target Temp 225 F: 180 F to 225 F ~3 min (12:54 - 12:57 CDT)
• No temp change for Phase 3, just unwrapped the ribs (Note, I had one of those "unexplained" temp surges (+ 10-15 F) in the last 15 min of this part of the cook, so I manually bumped the temps down to 180, as it was clear the ribs were done, and I was really just waiting for my Mom & Dad to arrive to removed them from the Trailblazer)

General Comments:

• Probably the real test of the quality of this cook were my parents assessments of the end product, they said they thought they were really good, so in my book, if your parents like the cook, it's a successful cook! NOTE: I'm lucky to have both my parents still around as the are both in their mid to late 80's, so it was a real treat to have them join us yesterday for this meal.
• I'm a big fan of the 3-2-1 method of ribs after only one attempt. Probably the only thing I'll change next time is to invert my approach for adding the butter, juice, & honey in the wrap as we did have some leakage thru the "tent seam" but it didn't adversely impact the cook. Next time, I'll just add them to the top of the ribs instead of placing the ribs on top of them, and inverting the wrap...
• Apologies that I failed to include a picture of the plated end product, got into a conversation with my Mom & Dad and totally forget to get the pic, so please envision a wonderful plate of 3 ribs, some coleslaw, baked beans, AND Red Lobster biscuits in a waffle format (something the master chef was trying in the new waffle iron.....)