Ribs not cooked

Bob923

Yesterday I did some spare ribs on the egg.  I did the 3-2 method, cooked them for 5 hours and they came out very uncooked.  I had to put them in the over for another hour.  Anyone know why this would happen.  My egg temp. was between 225 and 250

Ladeback69

So you did 3 hours of smoke?  What did you do for the last 2 hours?  I like either 4 to 4.5 hours at 275 or a 2-1-1 at 225-250.  Two hours of smoke, 1 hour in foil; with brown sugar, honey, squeeze butter and apple juice and last hour back out of foil on the grill with glazing in the last 30 minutes.

Darby_Crenshaw

You cooked to baby back times. Spares take longer

i find two hours in foil a bit too much to our liking. I rarely foil any more, but for baby backs the standard recipe is 3-1-1. And that can be underdone too

for spares i go six, seven, even eight hours at 225-350. Been turno'ing them lately. 325 or so for a few hours

too many variables to tell you sepcifically. Yours isn't an unusual time. Only five hours? Normal even if it needed another hour

lousubcap

Thermo calibrated?...But at the end of the day, the cook is done when it is done.  Time is only a guide.  I go with the tooth-pick test for the finish-line indicator.  And spares in the 6-7 hour range is certainly not unusual.  FWIW-

gdenby

The average I use for spares at 250, no lower, is 6 hours. Typically, I check at 4.5 - 5 hours to see how tender they are. If still tough, I bump the temp to the 275 - 300 range.

I've been doing more "turbo" recently, and it seems to me that the ribs do need mopping when up to or above 300. Don't know if the faster cook is worth the extra work.

Jeepster47

@gdenby ... in your experience, does the fat render out more with the 250* temp or the 350* temp?

xiphoid007

I go 6 straight hours with smoking at 225. No foil, no mess.

Ribs are juicy, great bark, pull away clean tender. Fat rendered perfectly.

I go for 5.5 hrs and then sauce for the last 30. I'm ok if they're a little overcooked, so I don't sweat a little extra time.