Ribs, a newbies learning thread w pics. Pls comment.

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ITT 250

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I'm fairly new to cooking BBQ. I am super happy I found this site. YOu guys have been great. I'd love to here your thoughts on my 2nd rib cook.

My first one was a fast rib cook on my Weber with out the smokenator. I had a heat of 250-300 and only used the dome stock temp gauge. did 3 racks, cut up in half racks to fit. We foiled and moped them. We didnt know squat, about cooking BBQ. I literally had an idea about these awesome ribs i get when i go to Minneapolis, and played around..... They came out awesome. How'd we do it, no friggen clue.

Fast forward a few months. I get a smokenator, get the rib recipe off amazing ribs.com, grab some costco very meaty baby backs, and a grillin we will go.

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I used corkys rub, just like last time. Had them rubbed the night before. Set up the smokenator for 250, used Kingsford Blue, minion method, and put on 3 racks.

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After 4hrs I wrapped them in a mop sauce for 20min.

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Put them back on heat for 5 min to sauce them.

Then smokey flavour was there but the were so DRY and Tough. Also no smoke ring.

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What did I do wrong?

Were the ribs to meaty and therefore 2 dry?
Was the temp too low & too Long?
Was foiling them a bad idea?

I just can not put my finger on it. The first ones were very moist, and nice.
 
I'm guessing they were undercooked. I foil my BBs at two hours for one hour, then unwrap and sauce for another 30 minutes. You should have seen the meat pulled back from the ends of the bones more than what I see.
 
Definitely look under cooked. Make sure the temp is measured on the cooking surface, I'm not sure how lot that thermometer is that's shown going through the vent but if it doesn't go all the way to the grates you are actually cooking at a much lower temp.
 
I agree with the others at undercooked. Though it can be done by bending and looking at how the meat pulls back on the bone, a good temp for ribs to be done is 185, or there abouts.
My backs usually smoke at 250 for up to 5 hours with two usually in foil with apple juice and a shot of jack Daniels, don't know why but I like to put jack into my BBQ, primarily pork.
Try searching the 2-2-1 method. I know there are a million purists that say "foil is not barbecue" but with so many awesome styles to cook, find what works for you and what you think tastes good.
G'luck and remember to trust the smoker. The more you open the lid the longer it will take to finish so "times and results will vary."
 
I normally do Spares (larger with more meat (most of the time)) and I cook mine 3 out 1 1/2 wrapped and then another 30-45 minutes out. The meat really doesn't look like it started pulling away much at all.

Also, the bend test that you show is wrong. I know this because I did it too. Although it is bending, you basically want it to be limp. If you look in your picture you can see that it's still poking out a bit. You want it to lay on down. The last ribs I did actually started pulling a part some once I picked them up.
 
1 more thing that I don't see mentioned anywhere ... go buy a spray bottle if you don't have one and get some Apple Juice (this will be your best friend). You don't have to drown the ribs in them, but I spray mine once every hour to give it more moisture.

Also, I don't know about your smoker or the smokeanator thing you mentino, but you may want to see about adding some water in there if you can. That'll also help add moisture to the air/meat.
 
Does not loo0k like you gave them enough time Put rub on an hour before on the grill. When I wrap mine it is with honey and brown sugar for an hour- meat side down. Then unwrapped for the last hour
 
Bump your temp to 275* BB & SLC will go 3-3.5 hrs spares 4-5 hrs No foiling spritzing spraying or mopping Chit, Keep the pit closed and let them cook! When they bend like this they are done.
bendtest.jpg
 
Sometimes loin back ribs are so meaty (a recent trend I've seen in the local grocer) they don't do the bend test very well. So poke test or bone tug test are better options.

Heck I picked up a package of loin backs last week that had almost half of a pork loin still attached. Yes, I bought them, and they were good. No freaking way they would of passed a bend test though, 4.7 lbs loin back rack. They were freakish, but on sale for $2.99/lb.

The ribs in the pics do look like they weren't given enough time for sure. They were dry because the fat didn't quite render out, which is where the moisture comes from.
 
Cack said:
1 more thing that I don't see mentioned anywhere ... go buy a spray bottle if you don't have one and get some Apple Juice (this will be your best friend). You don't have to drown the ribs in them, but I spray mine once every hour to give it more moisture.

Also, I don't know about your smoker or the smokeanator thing you mentino, but you may want to see about adding some water in there if you can. That'll also help add moisture to the air/meat.
Click to expand...



I have one. Funny thing, i used it last time, and it was great!
 
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