RIBS

msfgroup

Good Afternoon Fellow Eggheads I am extremely new to the BGE I tried baby back ribs yesterday and the taste was awesome.  However, they seemed a little tough and were very difficult to get off of the bone.  I prepared them as follows: BGE @ 250 degrees Ribs covered with RUB on night before.  I cooked the ribs for 3 hours in a rib rack sitting in a drip pan then poured about 1/2 inch of apple juice and covered with foil and cooked another hour.  Lastly I uncovered the ribs removed from rack and pan basted heavily with BBQ sauce and cooked another hour. This Totaled 5 hours at 250 degrees.  I was expecting them to fall off of the bone tender but it could not have been further from that. As I said in the beginning VERY NEW 3rd cooking any help would be appreciated.  I am curious if having the rack sitting in a drip pan was part of the issue being shielded from the indirect heat.  Please HELP

RRP

Tough and stuck to the bone normally means they were undercooked. Rather than cooking to time you will have better results cooking to temp. Granted some people can tell done ness by the bending method but a better method is measuring the meat temp between the bones. To do that you might want to buy a Thermapen. A reading of 196 to 200 is pretty good chance of success. BTW have you checked the calibration of your dome thermometer? Brand new does not always mean it is caliberated correctly.

midwestsmoker

Mfsgroup, when I do FOB ribs I do the 3-2-1 method. 3hrs bone side down, 2hrs wrapped in foil meat side down with apple juice and honey, 1hr back on grill bone side down. I don't use my rib rack anymore and the drip pan is under the grate filled with Apple cider vinegar and apple juice. I also cut my racks in 3rds for better handling

msfgroup

NO I have not calibrated the dome thermometer. I never thought of that.  I have not purchased a Thermapen I have a digital probe and thermometer but I did not use it due to the extremely long time of cooking them.  I will take your advice and get a thermapen would you share with me how you would check the dome themometer.  Thanks so much for your help I love this egg but trying to learn it much different than grilling on gas!  Thanks Again

midwestsmoker

Remove the clip on the back side and pull the thermometer out of the egg and verify correct temp to boiling water, if incorrect loosen back side of thermometer and turn dial to set it correctly tighten and reinstall in egg

midwestsmoker

Oh, most important thing, welcome to eggdom

Mattman3969

Take a pan of boiling water and stick the tip of your dome thermometer in the water. It should read 212*, if it doesn't hold the nut at the top of the stem with pliers and twist the face by hand till it does.

Central_Bama_Egger

@msfgroup Boil water. Stick the dome thermometer in and see if it registers 212 degrees. If not. Adjust till it does.

midwestsmoker

Just make sure the tip is suspended in the water, not touching the bottom of the pot.

Central_Bama_Egger

Didn't realize that had already been said. Sorry for the dito.

billyray

Water boils at 212 at sea level. Subtract 2 degrees for every 1,000 feet in elevation where you live to get the correct reading of your thermometer.

Skiddymarker

I'm bettin' the thermo is wrong, unless the were monster big ribs, Let us know if it was accurate - cook to temp, not time, as noted in the 190-200 range is pretty safe, 

msfgroup

Thanks to everyone for the help.  I am picking up a ThermaPen today and going to calibrate the dome thermometer too.  Oh well! I guess I will HAVE to fix some more ribs on the BGE just for the sake of SCIENCE!

Thanks again to everyone

ChuckChampion

+1 on the boiling water idea. I had the same issue when I purchased mine.  It wasnt off by much, but it was off.

msfgroup

BTW does anyone out there in EGGDOM use the BBQ Guru with their BGE?  Does it work well? Does everyone like it, recommend it?  I have not tackled any "long" cooks such as Pork Butt or Brisket I assume that would be the fit for the Guru.  All comments welcome

Griffin

If you're dome therm is right (which it may or not be), I'd suggest going for a higher temp. I usually go for 250F at the grate level for low and slow cooks. That can be about 275 on the dome at times. Sounds like you were either too low a temp or not long enough. Any second now @Mickey will chime in and tell you to do turbo ribs.

NavalAV8R

In the FWIW category, don't do what I did when I calibrated my dome thermometer.

I put a cup of water in the microwave, boiled it, removed it from the microwave, and took a temperature reading.  It was 20 degrees low.  Figured I had a poorly calibrated thermometer.  A few weeks later I bought a Thermapen and read its instructions for calibration (yes ladies, you read it right, I read the instructions).  The instructions specifically mentioned not boiling water in the microwave, but to boil it on a stovetop.  I figured what the heck, let's check both.  Sure enough, the microwaved water was 20 degrees below boiling temp, and the stovetop boiling water was exactly 212 (I'm just above sealevel).

Lesson learned.

Mickey

Baby Back Turbo Ribs (Sorry but I can't remember who I got this from.) 350 indirect for 1hr 40 min. Pull membrane , rub. Put on at 350 and leave the hell alone for about that time. I opened 15 min early and sauced my half rack. This is called turbo ribs and I will never go back to 4 and 5 hour ribs. Note: with or w/o mustard works .. I like Bad Byron's Butt Rub / I like cherry & pecan mix for wood.

SmokeyPitt

FWIW, I found that for baby backs a formula of 275 dome temp, 3-.1.5-.5 works for me.  3 hours in the smoker, 90 minutes in foil, and half hour or so back on the egg.  I usually sauce them during the final stage.   As others mentioned you may need to adjust based on "the bend test" but those steps usually work for me. 

RRP

Mickey said:

Baby Back Turbo Ribs (Sorry but I can't remember who I got this from.) 350 indirect for 1hr 40 min. Pull membrane , rub. Put on at 350 and leave the hell alone for about that time. I opened 15 min early and sauced my half rack. This is called turbo ribs and I will never go back to 4 and 5 hour ribs. Note: with or w/o mustard works .. I like Bad Byron's Butt Rub / I like cherry & pecan mix for wood.

Those look delicious Mickey, but for baby backs those have more meat on them than I've ever seen! Bet that hog was a big boy when he bought the farm!

Mickey

RRP   I was thinking the same thing. Wonder if I got a package of loin? Or just one hell of a BB mis-labeled?

msfgroup

Good morning
I just calibrated my thermostat on my XL BGE thanks for all of the tips it was right on 212 degrees for boiling water on my gas range. I cooked the ribs above for a good 5 hours but they did not FOB as I had hoped must have needed a little longer I am going to go for 195-200 degrees between the bones next time and I want to do the Turbo seems a lot faster and they look delicious. Mickey I am assuming these fall off of the bone at the end of an hour and 40 minutes?  I am going to try them and test temperature.  Thanks again, for all of the help!  Great Forum for a NEWBY and seasoned egghead! 
THANKS TO ALL

lousubcap

@msfgroup-I may be in a minority here but if you want to get fall-off-the-bone ribs then you will need the foil step as you tried in your original post.  I don't think @mickey uses foil so hopefully he will be along to address whether they are FOTB.  FWIW-

gdenby

They crucial test for a rack of ribs, either BB's or spares, is the bend test. Doesn't matter if they are done lo-n-slo or turbo. When picked up in the middle, they should almost bend in half under their own weight. Or, if one tugs at a bone end, the meat will not be able to hold it, and the meat tears easily. Many people insert a tooth pick, and see if it comes out dry. I have trouble w. that, 'cause I can't be sure I'm seeing still wet or fat slicked picks. So I go w. the bend.

lousubcap

I'm a fan of the toothpick test if I have to cut the racks to fit.  I don't look for dryness but rather the feel as I insert it-no resistance either direction and they are done.  And I use a different variation of the bend test than @gdenby-I pick up from the narrow end of the rack and look for the 90* angle.  FWIW, YMMV-

Mickey

lousubcap said:

@msfgroup-I may be in a minority here but if you want to get fall-off-the-bone ribs then you will need the foil step as you tried in your original post.  I don't think @mickey uses foil so hopefully he will be along to address whether they are FOTB.  FWIW-

Not fall-of-the-bone and no foil.
I like a little bite.