Rib question

Were they fall off the bone? Or did they have some chew?

Chewy as in not cooked long enough? Or were you happy with the bite/chew?

I'm not sure why but I'm suspicious of the beer.

Indirect or direct? I always hover between 275-310 and never have dry ribs, but I always use my deflector. The first rack I ever did on my Big Joe I did direct and they were very dry.

WilliamKY said:

I'm not sure why but I'm suspicious of the beer.

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This is my thought as well. Whether he steamed them in a foil wrapped pan or he braised them in a tight foil pouch, I suspect the liquid was the culprit. When I decide to wrap, which isn't every time, I put a very small amount of liquid in the wrap if they look dry. If they don't, I may add just a little extra rub and something like Tiger Sauce very sparingly. The ribs will continue to render and release their own moisture if you are wrapping tightly (which you should) and they'll essentially braise in their own juices. So adding liquid really isn't a necessity. Either way, half a can of beer sounds excessive.

razorbrewer said:

This is my thought as well. Whether he steamed them in a foil wrapped pan or he braised them in a tight foil pouch, I suspect the liquid was the culprit. When I decide to wrap, which isn't every time, I put a very small amount of liquid in the wrap if they look dry. If they don't, I may add just a little extra rub and something like Tiger Sauce very sparingly. The ribs will continue to render and release their own moisture if you are wrapping tightly (which you should) and they'll essentially braise in their own juices. So adding liquid really isn't a necessity. Either way, half a can of beer sounds excessive.

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When I wrap ribs I usually put about an ounce (shot glass)of apple juice in the pouch. I know alcohol evaporates and I'm wondering if a half beer could have pulled moisture out of the ribs as they cooked.

I'm going to say there is such a thing as a bad rack.

A couple weeks ago, my brother called and said Meijer had the so called "back ribs, buy one get one free. My wife picked out four really nice looking meaty racks. I told her I didn't think she could have done a better job picking them out.

I went about making them like I always do, cooking at 250-275 degrees on my over and under. Wrapped two when color looked good, a little over two hours in. The other two I left unwrapped and spritzed every hour because my family likes both.

Checked the wrapped ones after 45 minutes and had some bone pull back but they weren't as close to the bend and toothpick test as they usually are at this point but I unwrapped them anyway because I didn't want to braise them.

After five hours total cook time, none of the racks were close to passing the bend, toothpick and bone twist tests. I finally pulled them after 6 1/2 hours because they were getting way too dark. None of the tests got any better.

They were all stiff as a board, kind of dry and wouldn't let go of the bone for nothing.

Never before had a rib cook go this way. I always have to watch and make sure I don't over cook them into fall off the bone mush.

My brother stopped over a few days later and asked how the ribs turned out. He wouldn't say a word about his until I told him about how mine were.

He then said his turned out pretty much the same way cooking them on his gasser.

I'll never buy " on sale " ribs again.

Looks like you said they were tough, chewy and dry. That means undercooked to me.

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Every now and then, I'll turbo a rack of ribs at 350 - no flip, no wrap. They go for about 2 hours to done - not chewy, not "fall off the bone" overdone...just done right.

At 1.5 hours at 350 and then wrapped for an hour, they should have been pure mush.

What are you using to gauge temperature?

Smoking Piney said:

Every now and then, I'll turbo a rack of ribs at 350 - no flip, no wrap. They go for about 2 hours to done - not chewy, not "fall off the bone" overdone...just done right.

At 1.5 hours at 350 and then wrapped for an hour, they should have been pure mush.

What are you using to gauge temperature?

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I had the same thought. 3.5 hours at 350 might be too long. Direct would be done in 90 minutes, indirect 2-2.5 hours. Never tried beer in foil.

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chilidog said:

Used a thermoworks grate probe with a dot. Know the temp was 350. Probably over cooked?

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Yep.

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I think part of the problem might be cooking too hot and fast. I've always had my best luck at 275 or lower. But, there are many ways and I'm not professing to be an expert. There are no bad ribs if they're within arm's reach.

chilidog said:

So, what is the bend test if I might ask?

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Pick up with tongs about 1/3 of the ribs. If it starts to tear between the bones it's done.

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I did 2 slabs of beef ribs and 1 slab of baby backs over the weekend. Both were done in about 3½ hours with a water pan. The temp ranged between 266 and 280. Before the BB's were wrapped, they were stiff as a board. After about 45 minutes in foil the had a nice bend and looked good to me. (I do the bend test with my hand. I get a better feel of them that way). The temps on all three were coming in as done. But yeah. Time to cook always amazes me. The beef ribs were really lean so that didn't surprise me much but I was expecting about a 5 hour cook in total for all 3 racks. Wrong! They were good though. I used a rib rack for the first time ever. I'm not sure if that had anything to do with it. I'm new to the rib rack world.