St Louis style BBQ

St. Louis-Style BBQ Ribs

Drum Smoker Edition

🔧 What You’ll Need:

• St. Louis-style spare ribs (1–2 racks)

• Your favorite wood chunks (fruitwood like apple or cherry is 🔥 for pork)

• Lump Charcoal

• Spray bottle with apple cider vinegar or apple juice

🧂 Dry Rub

Mix together:

• 2 tbsp brown sugar

• 2 tsp kosher salt or fine grain salt or flake salt

• 1 tsp garlic powder

• 1 tsp onion powder

• 1 tsp smoked paprika

• ½ tsp black pepper

• ½ tsp chili powder

• ½ tsp mustard powder

• ¼ tsp cayenne

Rub this into your ribs generously and let them sit for 30–60 min.

🍖 Smoking Instructions

1. Fire It Up:

• Get your drum smoker to 275-300°F. Ashes to Ash's drums love cruising at this temp—great bark, perfect tenderness.

• Use a chimney of lit charcoal, then add a couple of small wood chunks for that St. Louis sweet-smoke character.

2. On the Drum:

• Trim + Rub (Optional: Night Before)

  • Remove the membrane on the bone side of the ribs.

  • Pat dry.

  • Generously coat with the Dry Rub (get into all the nooks). Use a binder to get good rub adhesion, American yellow mustard works well with pork.

  • Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight if you can, or at least 1 hour before cook time.

• Place the ribs meat side up on the center grate.

• Let 'em cook unwrapped for about 1.5-2 hours, spritzing with apple cider vinegar every 30-45 min.

3. The Wrap:

• After 1.5-2 hours, check for color and bark development.

• We are looking for a internal temp of 170°F and rub to be set before wrapping.

  • Rub should not wipe off with your finger

• Wrap tightly in foil with a little drizzle of:

  • Butter

  • Brown sugar

  • Honey

  • A splash of apple juice

  • Sprinkle of your rub

Place them back on the smoker, meat side down, for another 1 to 1.5 hours. We are looking for a internal temp of 200-205°F before moving to the next step.

4. The Finish:

• Unwrap the ribs and place them back on the drum.

• Brush with your homemade or favorite BBQ sauce.

  • Try using the buttery sweet juicy goodness from the wrap process as a flavor enhancer

• Let them set up for 10–15 min, until the sauce is tacky and the ribs are bendy but not falling apart.

5. Rest & Slice:

• Rest the ribs for 20-30 minutes, then slice between the bones and serve 'em up.

🔥 Bonus Tips:

• You can cook two to three racks at once without crowding.

• If you like that deeper smoke ring, toss add a extra piece for the short cook—but don’t overdo it.

• Want competition-style “bite-through” ribs? Aim for the wrap to be closer to 170°F temp, not to time.

• Cut the ribs hard against one bone so you have a meat portion and not all bone. Another serving solution is to cut 2 bones together like old school split ice-creams!!