Frustrated with the rib guessing game

boogiesnap said:

spritz with juice every 20 minutes after first hour is killing you. them ribs ain't cooking.

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Agree. No need to spritz every 20 minutes. I cooked spares unwrapped for two hours at 270 and I may spritz once after the first hour. Then I wrap with the usual stuff for about 1.5 hours, unwrap, sauce and put back on for another 45 minutes. I cook mine on a 22" WSM with just a foiled pan with no water and they usually come out at the right tenderness.

Are you using a water pan in the Onyx or the board? I've used the Onyx before and got very good results using water and apple juice in the water pan. I think that would eliminate the need for the spritzing.

Might be a good idea to pick out an ideal rack of ribs, then take a picture of them raw, before you do anything with them. post the pic, with the brand and weight of the ribs. You many not be picking out good racks and could use some tips.

Try less rub and leaving it on for less time. If your rub has lot's of salt in it and you leave it on too long (2 hours), that will suck the moisture right out of your ribs.

Stop spritzing with juice, you are extending your cooking time. This is drying your ribs out on the surface and not cooking the meat/tenderizing and not rendering the fat. It sounds like you have moist environment cookers if you are using a water pan. Usually people who spritz are using stick burners where a lot of air is passing by the food. Your smokers are not passing air, you don't need to spritz.

What about a little more liquid in your foil pack? What about wrapping earlier? After 45 minutes in foil, start looking, feeling and checking with toothpick.

I think returning sauced ribs to the smoker for longer then 10 minutes causes a tough layer on your ribs. Just my opinion.

I think with ribs as long as you have a good recipe, just stay consistent and practice your timing until you get it right. BBQ is about watching and reacting to what you see, not a specific timeline. Every rack of ribs cooks slightly different. That's why it's challenging. You will get it! Good luck!

Eggspert

We have had similar problems, just not as bad, 10th last weekend, but I have come to the conclusion that our problem and it sounds like it might be yours is the quality of the ribs to start with. As my mom always said, "you can't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear", no pun intended. If you start with poor quality ribs they will stay poor quality, and I think the quality has been declining lately for some reason.

We spritz or apply butter at 30 minute intervals. Dry may be the rub pulling the moisture out. Switch rubs for one cook and see if the dryness problem is cured.

Tough, just not cooked enough. Go ahead and overcook a slab (fall off bone) then back down cook time just a little. Fine line between fall off bone and undercooked.

Tough, just not cooked enough. Go ahead and overcook a slab (fall off bone) then back down cook time just a little. Fine line between fall off bone and undercooked.
Spot on advice.
I think returning sauced ribs to the smoker for longer then 10 minutes causes a tough layer on your ribs. Just my opinion.
Learned this after lots of trial and error.
Try cooking on just one pit as another mentioned till you get it consistent enough for your liking.
Again, spot on. Learn how to cook them on one pit, master it and stick with it.

I pull ribs at 196. Just like butts, at a certain temp, the pork will get tender.

WineMaster said:

I pull ribs at 196. Just like butts, at a certain temp, the pork will get tender.

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Do you think your temp reading is accurate with such little meat and all the bone on both sides? I don't trust temp reading with ribs, I go by feel and toothpick personally. Whatever works for you!

Eggspert

Eggspert said:

Do you think your temp reading is accurate with such little meat and all the bone on both sides? I don't trust temp reading with ribs, I go by feel and toothpick personally. Whatever works for you!

Eggspert

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We'll see this weekend ! :thumb:

WineMaster said:

I pull ribs at 196. Just like butts, at a certain temp, the pork will get tender.

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Not that I do great at ribs, but I always look at the temp when probing them. My temp is always higher than this. I think one would need to establish their own baseline.

Atlasman said:

Water pan always. I think cutting down on the spritz will help because a lot of times when I go to spritz they are not even close to dry. I might be over doing it.

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Keep in mind that moisture on the meat does not equal moisture in the meat.

You want a moist cooking environment, but often times opening the cooker door just to spritz has the exact opposite effect intended. More steam and moisture escapes the cooking chamber upon opening than is put back in with the spritz.

boogiesnap said:

knock that nonsense off and cook some ribs, if you aren't happy, i'll give you a fool proof(don't drink with smokin hoggz the night before though)recipe.

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I have seen the results of this first hand...