Ribs fell apart

Rplatt2 · June 2014

I cooked ribs for the first time smoked them for 3 hours and wrapped them for another hour. the taste was great but they fell apart. what did I do wrong?

Ktim · June 2014

You wrapped in foil.

Rplatt2 · June 2014

What do you suggest?

JRWhitee · June 2014

You can just smoke them at 250 until they are done. At the 4 hour mark pick up a rack with the tongs and if they bend at 45 degree they are done.

nolaegghead · June 2014

overcooked. Cook them less.

FearlessTheEggNoob · June 2014

Oh Pooh. Foiling works fine if done correctly.

Define, "fell apart." What temp did you run and what if anything did you put in the foil?

Doc_Eggerton · June 2014

An hour in foil is too much. Get them done, then foil for 10 minutes of so while you get everything else ready to go.

Rplatt2 · June 2014

I added brown sugar, honey, and butter. I cooked them at around 250 for four hours.

nolaegghead · June 2014

Anything will cook faster wrapped in foil, but the speed at which it was cooked is not the reason it is overcooked. The reason, regardless of how you cooked it, is you cooked it past the point where it was done. Listen to the folks that have methods to help you tell when it's done. Time, temp, foil, boiling, frying, however it cooks is immaterial.

The time and temp and other methods (like "3-1-1") are general ways/guidelines of cooking (example - turbo "2" (hours hot), low and slow and no foil "5" (hours low)).

henapple · June 2014

There's nothing wrong with foiling. You'll just have to figure out the times and temps. Try different methods. Everyone on here is right and wrong.

Ktim · June 2014

Set the Egg at 250 indirect put your favorite rub on ribs cook for 3 hrs. check with bend test if they are close to done wait another 30 mins. then sauce for 30 mins. then pull off and enjoy.4 hours total. That is for baby backs, St. Louis cut will take about 6 hours.

FearlessTheEggNoob · June 2014

Rplatt2 said:

I added brown sugar, honey, and butter. I cooked them at around 250 for four hours.

That sounds about right if your thermometer is correct.

If by "fell apart" you mean that they will hold together while eating, but the bone will pull out cleanly, and they are thoroughly tender, then foiling might not be for you.

henapple · June 2014

Cook 1.5 hours at 250, foil with any variations you like...butter, brown sugar, honey. Cook about 1 hour and check. Pull when close and sauce or just finish.

chainsaw19 · June 2014

I did turbo ribs last night....350/370 for two hours, flipped them after an hour....perfect. Ill still do a long cook occaisionally, but I have found if you don't have the time it really isn't necessary.

legomyeggo · June 2014

I generally do a 4-30-1 method. ~250. I smoke 4 hours. Foil with some mango drink mix (the kind you use for bar drinks like Master of Mixers. It is sweet.) After 30 mins or so in that, I pull out of foil and smoke till done. I save the liquid in the foil and thicken it in a saucepan for the glaze lat 30 mins... The main reason for the foiling is to get a bit of mango taste on the ribs but also to get some of the rib drippings and flavors from rub into the mango mix for the glaze. If I did not want that I would not foil. As stated, done right it is ok to foil.

Rplatt2 · June 2014

Looks interesting I might try this

legomyeggo · June 2014

I do that with Spatchcocked chicken as well. Foil it for a short while with mango. Wife loves mango. I think you foil anything too long you run the risk of steaming it, but there is a benefit in that it does contribute a bit of moisture - Me, as stated, I do it more to add the flavor of the mango and I use the drippings in the mango from the foil process to make a glaze. Have used pineapple juice as well.

jfm0830 · June 2014

When I cooked ribs on my first smoker I use the so-called 3-2-1 method. Three hours on the smoker, two hours in foil, one hour back out of the foil on the smoker. When I took the ribs out of the foil, they were already way past done. I had around an inch of bone showing and the ribs were falling apart like you mentioned. For that smoker, after a few more test runs, I found the ideal time for St. Louis cut ribs was 2.25 hours on the smoker uncovered, 1.5 hours in foil and 0.5 hours back on the smoker. I am still fine-tuning the times on my new BGE, but they are in that same ballpark.

Several other comments. There is nothing wrong with using foil, just ask Johnny Trigg. You do need to be careful with the amount of time spent in foil because that is where they cook the fastest. Also be sure the recipe you have is written for the the cut of rib you are using. Recipes for spareribs or St. Louis cut spareribs are going to take longer than a recipe written for baby backs which are smaller. So if you were doing baby backs and the recipes are written for spares, you're going to have to reduce the time or you will overcook the baby backs. It may take you three or four cooks, but you will quickly hit on the correct amount of time. Take notes and record the times you used so the next time you make ribs you will be able to easily look up what you were done in the past. Good luck and remember the nice thing about ribs is unless you really really overcook them, you still get results that are reasonably edible.

Ribs fell apart

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