Nice looking ribs Earl!! After doing some research I've opted to not wrap them in foil anymore. It's more or less a crutch. I've been leaving them open to the smoker the whole time now.
Here's my fuel source. It's hickory from a tree that I cut up. Someone on craigslist had a downed tree so I removed it for them. Nothing like not having to buy charcoal!
I always dry brine my meats with salt about 24 hours before cooking the meat. Dry brining is just simply sprinkling a 1/2 tsp of salt per pound of meat and let it sit for a minimum of 2 hours. In this pic I already dry brined it and added my rub. Because I dry brine I don't add any salt to my rub.
Here it is the following day before going on the smoker
Getting the fire going
Fire is just right
Put the meat on
About half way there
About 5-6 hours later
As you can tell despite not wrapping the ribs in foil they still come out very moist and pull cleanly off the bone. I really do enjoy stick burning with just wood. For one all my fuel is free. Also it has an old feel to it that really does take some time to "master". I use that term loosely because I'll always be learning.
Next time I'll show you guys a datalog of my next cook!!
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