Bourbon-Glazed Ribs took way longer than I'd expected to get done

Theophan

I smoked one rack of spare ribs yesterday, used the "Bourbon-Glazed Ribs" recipe from Smoke and Spice, probably my favorite rib recipe, and they wound up wonderful, but the way they cooked was odd. I'd be interested if anyone had any thoughts.

I started them off at 200, figured they'd take 3-4 hours at 200-250, but after 2 hours they looked hardly cooked at all, and I raised the temp to 300, and later 350, finally they were done at about 5 hours, I think it was, by "toothpick test" and "bend test."  Before that time, the toothpick clearly had too much resistance.  I haven't checked the calibration of the thermometer in a while, but my last cook before that went exactly the way I'd have expected, and gave me no reason to suppose it was off.

It was super windy that day, but I really didn't have any trouble at all with temperature regulation, and I don't see how that would have mattered much.  I forgot to take a picture in the Egg, but here's the final product:



They were a little crispy on the bottom, even though they cooked indirect, and I figured that was from the higher heat than I usually use.  I think I've usually cooked ribs around 250 most of the time.

Anybody else take that long to cook a rack of ribs?

SmokingPiney

The ribs look great. 200 is pretty low for ribs and I can see them taking a long time to cook. I use @Mickey's turbo method - 350 indirect for 1 hour, 40 minutes. They come out perfect every time. 

RedSkip

200 some could be 180 at the grate...  Bump to 300 dome or 260-270 grate and then follow 2-2-1, 2-2-0.5, or 3-2-1 depending on the ribs

Theophan

Maybe that's it, then, and maybe I cooked them a little hotter previous times.  Might try them at 350 from the git go, next time.

Thanks!

SmokingPiney

Theophan said:

Maybe that's it, then, and maybe I cooked them a little hotter previous times.  Might try them at 350 from the git go, next time.

Thanks!

I was always a low and slow guy for ribs. I read Mickey's turbo method and was pretty leery about it but decided to try it. 

It works well, and the ribs turned out as good as any low and slow I've ever done. Give it a shot. 

Theophan

I may try the 350 method.  My concern from this time was that it took a longer time than I was used to for the meat to become soft, and by the time it was soft, the outside, especially on the bottom, was pretty crispy.  I thought that was probably because for the last hour or so I had it cranked up to 300 and then 350.  I gather from the recommendations that's not the case.

Thanks!