For the first 3 hours of the smoke, all went well. I was able to maintain close to 250 degrees with minimal tweaks of the vents. But then the temp kept dropping and more air wasn't helping. The ribs looked like they needed about another hour, so I popped them out, threw more lump on the fire rack along with a fresh starter and restarted the coals. A half hour later the ribs are back on the grill (with a glaze of SB Chipotle Sauce) and the temp is stable again.
Finally they're done after about 4 hrs cooking time:
They were pretty good, even though they had an odd consistency and were fairly salty. Then we realized that these were brined ribs! That's one way Aldi keeps the price low: add salt water to the meat. It did make for very juicy ribs and it would be really difficult to overcook them. Still, the next time I'll skip the brined ribs and go with the usual ones. Of course, we still ate several of them anyway and froze half of the rack for Christmas.
That will teach me not to read the fine print on the package while still in the store.
