Tomorrow will be my first attempt at beef ribs. I just have a couple of questions. Do you typically do it the same as pork ribs? A 3-2-1 kind of method, or am I way off base?
I have done a 3-2-1 before, but they were some pretty meaty beef ribs, so it does work ok. That being said, I had better success when I kept my temps low, 220-225 degrees, and just let them smoke without foil. I did mop them occasionally to keep them moist, and they turned out fabulous after a little over 5 hours. Since this is your first time, I would recommend doing them straight at lower temps, so you get a feel for how they cook. Then you can adjust your methods with foil, etc. on later cooks based on your straight-through cooking results.
Are they short ribs or back ribs?
I did my first beef ribs yesterday doing the 321 w/foil and man, WAY over cooked, pegged the 225 for the entire cook i mean id pull the bone and it would come right out not sticking at all. I think the two hours foiled was to much. Even over cooked the St. Louis ribs i did, just the same.
2 hours in the foil is a lot. Try cooking them without wrapping. I sell them (short ribs) every week and how I do them is:
Trim off the hard fat, make some "X" marks on the membrane side, and season those puppies up. Cook them at 300-325 (or lower if you want) and don't wrap. You'll know when they are done when they probe well...no resistance. No wrapping will get you the great bark and they still get tender.