Beginning to Get Frustrated with Ribs

[ZILLA]

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

Welcome!

 

[Jacked UP BBQ]

I know a few guys that do temp their ribs and 205 seems to be the popular number. I would say find your mark and stick with it. I always cook the same method for comp ribs down to the time no matter what the ribs look like or where they came from. If they do not turn out right, awwww chit, but if they do they are usually money for what we are looking for. There are some racks no matter what you do will never turn out good or to what you like, could be the rub was off the sauce didn't set right or the rack had no fat or too much. Always cook the same once you hit your mark and you will consistently get the same results 99% of the time and the other 1% if everything went as normal, there was no way to avoid it. If you cook two steaks both of the same grade next to each other, there is a chance one will not be as tender or as juicy as the other. Thats that and the reason people cook four racks. Don't sweat it and over think it.

 

[watertowerbbq]

Found my mark!

Well after some more practice it dawned on my that I was setting my DigiQII probe at the edge of the rack. I knew from cooking chicken that the outer edge was warmer and I figured maybe that was a contributing factor to my problem.

So today I decided to set the Guru probe at the same location I always use and see what the center rack temperature was. When the edge of the top rack read 250º on the Guru, it was 225º at the center rack.

I increased the Guru to 270º and it was a total success. Very tender and very juicy. The neighbor got juice on his shirt when he bit into one. One rack was so tender, I broke it when putting it back on the smoker after saucing it.

Thanks for everyone's input and I can tell you that the racks weight between 2 lbs 8 oz and 2 lbs 15 oz.

I can't tell you how happy I was. It might as well been Christmas!

 

[monty3777]

Good going! It's the simple stuff that can drive you crazy.