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In all seriousness, you don't need to soak the chips. They don't absorb water and with the lid on they will produce plenty of smoke as they come.
That seems like a really short cooking time too. I do mine for 8 hours. Admittedly that's for a three rib rack, but I wouldn't do even single ribs for less than 5 hours. Different techniques. Looks tasty though.
How did the cherrywood flavour work? I've only ever done oak smoke for beef ribs.
Aroogah-
Yeah, it wasn't a huge feast, but it was enough for dinner for 3 light eaters. The pack instructions said to soak the chips. I assumed that it's to stop them instantly burning up, because they are quite small. I'll try skipping it next time though.
5 hours cooking would definitely have been better, I needed to get them out onto the plate. The smaller ones were really good and could be eaten really nicely off the bone. For the larger ones I separated the meat from the bone and sliced it. It was tender, but not falling apart.
I don't really have any basis for comparison for the cherrywood. It was quite a mild, fruity flavour (which I liked) and the beef probably could have handled a stronger smoke. The flavour was quite influenced by the fact that I think I went slightly heavy on the garlic in the rub. Next time I'll measure its ingredients, rather than just slinging it together.
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...RIB REPORT!...
I smoked a few beef short ribs on my Weber Smokey Joe. It's about 35 cm, so only enough room for enough ribs for 2 or 3 people. I slathered the ribs in a mustard & oil mixture before applying a rub of salt, pepper, garlic granules, paprika and brown sugar. Once the briquettes were up to speed I threw on a couple of handfuls of soaked cherrywood chips and put a tray under the cool side of the grill with about 1cm of water in it. I put the ribs on the grill for about 90 minutes, then wrapped them in foil with a splash of rapeseed oil, white wine vinegar and Worcestershire sauce, after another 90 minutes I unwrapped them and gave them a final 45 minutes (so 3 hours 45 minutes total).
They were very tasty with a lovely bark and plenty of smoke flavour. Quite rich though so they definitely need something quite sharp to offset that (we had a nice potato salad). The larger ones could have done with another 30 minutes (or more) to really render everything down, but they were still quite tender. I didn't get much of a smoke ring, I think I started them off a bit too hot (probably just over 150C) and didn't baste them in the early stages. Still very much worth the effort though. Any further advice much welcomed. The next ribs are waiting in the fridge!
Pictures below of the setup, then one hour in and the final product.