Start by trimming up and removing the membrane from the bone side of the ribs. Removing the membrane is the key to a flavorful outcome. Beef ribs have a thick, tough membrane that acts as a barrier to both the smoke and flavors from the rub. Fortunately, the membrane is very easy to remove. With a blunt knife, start in one corner and gently lift the membrane from the bone. Once you have a good start, grab it with a paper towel to get a firm grip and pull. It may take a bit of strength but if you are careful and pull evenly and firmly, you should be able to lift it off in one piece.
With the membrane off, give the ribs a good wash. Trim off any loose pieces of fat or meat but don't remove too much fat. This is needed to help keep the ribs moist as they cook. Most of the fat will melt away during the cooking anyway. Once cleaned and trimmed, add a good seasoning rub and place in the preheated smoker.
Though, beef ribs can be cooked on a grill it won't have the kind of tenderness and flavor that it will from a smoker. Smoke whole racks, as large as your smoker will allow. Beef ribs are usually cut into racks of 4 or 5 bones, but that's still a pretty big piece of meat. Make sure that you don't block the airflow in your smoker. This might require doing some stacking, but try to give the beef ribs as much space as possible to let the smoke get to them. If you need to stack ribs onto of each other then, you will want to re-stack them during the smoking process to get the smoke flavor to all the ribs.
These ribs should be smoked at around 225 to 250 degrees F. I find that they will be tender and tasty after 6 to 7 hours on the smoker. But remember the longer you go with a lower temperature, the more smoke flavor you will get and the more tender the ribs will be.
I typically put barbecue sauce on the ribs during the last hour of smoking. Cut them into individual ribs and serve on very large plates with plenty of napkins. I like to make extra ribs, but plan on about 3 ribs per person.
