Beginning to Get Frustrated with Ribs

I need to vent a little. I'm getting frustrated with my ribs. Last summer, I competed with a team up in Mason City in late July. It was my first time with this team and wanted to show what I could do, so on Friday night, I cooked 2 racks of spare for dinner and an "audition". They were the best darn ribs I've ever cooked. Hands down, the best ever for me. The guys I was with told me they were great.................and now that's my problem. I can't seem to get back to that moment.

I keep records of each cook making sure to write down, what temp, how long, woods, rubs, bastes, etc. I'm cooking on a WSM is a DigiQII. Cook temperature is 250º on the top rack. I've tried them with and without foil and I think the ones without the foil are slightly better.

I know that consistency comes with repetition (practice) and I've been doing my share this winter, but it seems that I'm missing something. I'm replicating the same thing between practice sessions, but I'm not able to repeat what I did that one time using the same recipe.

Today, I cooked 3 racks of St. Louis ribs on my WSM at 250º with the DigiQII. They looked really nice, but after 6 hours, they weren't quite tender enough. I did not foil any of these racks. My wife said they were good, but not perfect and I know she was right. I was afraid that if I let them go much longer, I was going to risk them drying out. In the "memorable" cook, I only cooked them for 5:15 minutes, not 6:00 hours.

Since insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different outcome, I've decided that I'm going to increase my temp from 250º to 275º and try and cut down some of the time on the smoker. Am I crazy for doing this?

Thanks for letting me vent. Any and all advice is welcome. Thanks

Thanks to everyone for their comments. It sometimes helps to hear that others are finding similar results.

I hadn't given much thought to the weight of the ribs. Looking back on it, it makes a lot of sense and sometimes you just need someone to point out the obvious. That is one variable that I don't write down in my cook notes, but I think it will be for future cooks.

I do have one other question that might seem a little off, but do any of you temp your ribs? The reason I ask is that I read on that other forum that ribs were perfect when they hit 205ºF. Just wondering out loud.

Thanks again for everyone' responses.