British BBQ Society Forums

on Saturday I smoked 8 racks of ribs in the WSM, I rubbed them the night before at 11pm, and they went on the smoker at about 1pm, so they had been rubbed for about 13 hours

when I took the racks out of the tray I had them in, to put them in the smoker I noticed the bottom of the tray was wet, not a lot, but it got me thinking, has the salt in the rub drawn moisture out of the meat, and if so, is a short time between rub and cook preferable ?......to make sure im not losing any moisture out of the meat ?

could it be a combination of the salt in the rub, and the coldness of the fridge ?

As far as I'm aware, yes the salt would be drawing the moisture out of the ribs, whenever i do ribs i put the rub on around 1-2 hours before i chuck them on the smoker

It will depend on the salt content of your rubs but generally a couple of hours on even the meatiest ribs will suffice.

I might be doing something wrong then,I leave mine for atleast 12 hours and pour the juices over them as I put them on the bbq.

I put my rubs on all my meats, just prior to starting the smoker up. So probably not more than an hour.

When I've done my two experiments on oven-baked pulled pork the second time I used a packet rub and noticed a lot more water in the pork tray than the first (home-made, limited salt) rub.

Chaps,
As has been touched on depending on your salt content you may begin dry curing the ribs if you put the rub on too far in advance. As with all things Q there is no right or wrong answer, yes it will draw a little moisture out but curing is not a bad thing as most of us bacon lovers will testify.

Personally have tried overnight and just a hour before and my preference is the latter.

Perhaps next time rub 8 the night before and 8 just before and then you can do a compare and contrast until you are overwhelmed by the meat sweats!

Cheers
Tiny

with ribs you only want to rub a couple of hours before you put them on, any longer and you will be starting the curing process. Even in that time you will see some moisture depending on your salt and sugar content when it solidifies.

Cheers guys, it wasn't a lot of moisture but it got me thinking

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bumping an old thread, but what would the advice be on a brisket ?

should I rub it tonight or just before it goes on in the morning