Temperature Frustration

Eightythree

I've been practicing with both baby backs and St. Louis style ribs and am having a little trouble with the ribs taking too long. I have a BBQ Guru DX2 which is an amazing piece of equipment. and it seemed to be accurate and held 225 perfectly at the grid.

My single rack of ribs I pulled at 7.5 hours and they still didn't seem that tender and juicy. With my Thermopen I was getting temperatures around 175ish down to 165. I know that temp is not as accurate with ribs, but I would expect a lot closer to 190+ with 7.5 hours in on a single rack.

The rack was a Smithfield spare ribs which I cut to St. Louis style. It did say on the package it was previously frozen, not sure if that has any bearing on the final result.

Any suggestions? Should I kick up the heat some more with the Guru? Should I be buying from a different source? Thanks!

U_tarded

kick up the heat.  250-275 (doesn't have to be exact) and you will kick it down to 5-6 hours.   Your finished product temp is too close to what your cooking at making it take forever!!!!!

Eightythree

Awesome! Where do you guys get your ribs? Any specific brands to look for or do you take a trip down to the local butcher?

Eggcelsior

I get mine from Costco. Hard to beat their price around me.

Eightythree

Do you cook all yours at one time or freeze? If I recall correctly, the Costco ribs are a 3 pack.

Eggcelsior

I typically cook all mine. I usually make ribs for a group.

takosito

Also, if you go smoke, the left over ribs have a better, more accented smoke flavour...

jaydub58

Exactly!  St Louis SRs at about 250-260 for appox 5 1/2 - 6 hours, just spritzing with apple juice and apple cider vinegar during the last hour and 1/2 until the rack passes the bend test and you will have some great eating.

Skiddymarker

Costco - and I split the rack if they are BB, one end is often larger (thicker) so I freeze them two thicks and two thins. makes for an easier cook. STL style are ok as is. Have never had an issue freezing them, but I do cook at 250-275º,

Eightythree

Are you guys measuring at the grid or at the lid? Any of you using a BBQ Guru, and if so where are you clipping your pit probe?

Thanks to all that have replied so far!

nolaegghead

Typically, all temps quoted on this forum are dome temp unless specified otherwise.  Using a stoker like the DigiQ usually infers grate temp.  The standard setup incorporates clipping the stoker grill probe to the grate the food sits on, not too close to the food, but also not directly over the coals. 

Dome temps are usually higher, at least while the cook starts and there's a cold chunk of somefin on the grate suckin away da heat.

I find it really doesn't matter too much.  Get in the ball park and make minute adjustments or gross adjustments to finish cooking on your schedule.  If it's cooking slow, raise the temp.  And vice versa.

TFols

Eightythree said:

Do you cook all yours at one time or freeze? If I recall correctly, the Costco ribs are a 3 pack.

I buy from Costco and cook them all at once. Any leftovers get trimmed off the bones, sealed in a food saver bag and saved for rib sandwiches.

R3K

I'm fairly new to Egging, but I'm slowly starting to figure out what works for me and what doesn't.  The guys/gals on here have been an excellent resource.

For me, I usually do my BB pork ribs at about 250-275 (as previously mentioned) for about 2 hours, indirect, with an empty drip pan underneath.  After 2 hours, I wrap in foil (I put a little squeeze butter, brown sugar, and honey on the foil and put the ribs meat side down into the butter/honey mixture) and put back on the Egg (meat side down) and continue to cook for another hour at 250-275.  After that, FTC for about an hour then unwrap and enjoy.  I've only done two rib cooks so far, and both have turned out great.  Nice, tender, and juicy.  Haven't even bothered to sauce them yet because they're already so juicy, and the whole process only takes me about 4 - 4.5 hours!

Eightythree

Do you guys put water in your drip pan?