Smoking ribs and chicken for the first time, need tips

[lamrith]

Man, gonna have to try that honey for sure!!

I usually do 3 as well (std costco package)  Challenge I have is that some like spicy, some do not.  I will have to figure out how to divide it up and honey one of them..

92XJ, do you do the foil on your ribs?  babyback or St Louis?  Doing BB, I have yet to give them a full 5hrs.  At this point I am even down to just under 4hrs on heat.  I was having issue with the lengthwise strip of meat getting dried out..

Ned to get a rack here soon and try out the new pellet grill now that I have a bag of pellets thru it!

I will cover my ribs sometimes and other times I won't.  The wife loves ribs to fall apart without the slightest tug. The best way to do that is with foil and some fluids inside the foil.  Personally I, and judges, tend to like a little tug of the meat off the bone.  Foiling takes this tug away so I will just cook them low and slow without foil for the whole cook. 

I cook all ribs, but mostly spare ribs and baby backs.  Ive smoked ribs low and slow for 5-7 hours and have also smoked them super fast for 2.5 - 3 hours on a hot cooker at 300 + degrees.  Both work very well and both are great.  Ribs are forgiving and can be cooked so many different ways and they all can turn out great.  The last ribs I did I cooked super fast for an experiment and I believe posted a thread on them here on huntwa.  I will try and find it. 

Ribs are ribs and will most of the time turn out great no matter how you cook them.  Experiment with all different ways.  I am by no means an expert and don't claim to be.  My way could be totally wrong for some folks so I just say play around.  I think for beginners the best thing to do is start with the 3-2-1 method and modify it time wise and temperature wise depending on your time frame and your own personal touch.

Hope that helps.  Keep asking question, there are tons of great cooks on here that will do all they can to help and answer.

Yeah I pretty much do a 2-2 cook and prefer BB, not been wanting to risk the 3rd stage and dry them out.  might have to try a 2-1-1, or 2-1.5-.5  Be nice to get a touch more char/bark on them.