Rib help!!

Do you use a water pan?

What kind of ribs? Baby backs? Pork spares?

Had this issue after switching from my vertical wet box smoker to my LGE. Use a pan under them with some sort of liquid in it. I prefer apple juice and apple cider vinegar (about 75/25) and I  also use a spray bottle (bought new in the cleaning section of local store and labeled for smoker use only) to spray the ribs with apple cider vinegar, water, and EV olive oil. After the first 45-60 mins I open long enough to spray a mist of the ribs and close it right back. This works great in you are going to finish them on the grill with sauce. if you want them dry rubbed only do this a few times. I dont do it the last 90-100 mins if i plan on reheating them and adding sauce later.

Oh and the spray is 1/2 cup apple cider vinegar, 1/2 cup water and 2 table spoons of EVOO. pour in spray bottle and shake the hell out of it to mix it all up.

Good Luck...

I did this Sat. Turbo Ribs: 350 for 105 mins and don't open the lid. You pull the membrane off rub, (i add mustard / not a must) then rub once more. Indirect, raised up ((no water pan)) and used some cherry and some pecan wood chips. No problem with dry....

Sola how is tricks my friend. They are sooooo simple. 

I usually do 300-325 grate and start checking at 2 hours. 

chad408 said:

Alittle help please

Chad, chill out. People will continue to chime in, but being pushy will only turn us away.

With that said, your ribs were undercooked. I never need to use a water pan or any liquid to make my ribs juicy.

All I do, is peel the membrane off, sometimes rub with yellow mustard, then rub and then on to the grill. I like my ribs at 225 grid and smoke for about 2 hours. After that, I will remove them from the grill, wrap them and place back in the grill at the same temp for another 1.5-2 hours. Then remove foil and place back on the grill for the final hour or so. In the last half hour I will start to baste with sauce if that is the way I am serving them and every 15mins till done. When they are pulling away from the bone nicely it's time to grab your tongs and lift from the middle. You want the whole rack to lift up and not break, but have a nice bend to it. You should be able to take a bite out of the rib without all the meat pulling from the bone. If they literally fall off the bone when you try to lift off the rack, they are overdone, but still ohh so good!

Sometimes I do add apple juice and apple cider vinegar, but you really do not need it in the egg. If you insist on a liquid, when you wrap the ribs, add some honey and or brown sugar with some apple juice in each pack, wrap seal and back to the grill. Depends on the flavor profile you are trying to achieve.

nolaegghead said:

AleBrewer said:

well....I had a nice reply typed out....but it has to be approved!.....I will not waste my time doing it again! Sorry.....but this sucks!

I've started to cntrl-a, cntrl-c (highlight all, copy) before hitting the post button, if I've written a long diatribe.  Then if I get that stupid message, I can paste it, edit out what I think they thought was offensive and try again.

great idea...thanks.

Dry sounds like over cooked. Are you sure your thermometer is correct?

chad408 said:

gdenby said:

Dry almost always means undercooked. Did the ribs past the bend test. No matter what kind of ribs, or cooking temperature/time, the ribs are not done until they begin to fold and tear under their own weight.  (...etc...)

I am pretty sure they are not undercooked. They are cooked for about 5 hours and have a great bend in them when i pull them off the grill. They also are almost fall off the bone. I was think over cooked if anything. Like I said just really have to find the happy meadian for this cook off on feb 16. I think that I might try and back off on the time some. I am going to be cooking ribs atleast 2 more times before the cookoff hope i find something that works.

Here's some speculation. If meat is overcooked, even in water as in a slow cooker (the ones I've owned top out at 212), it will feel dry and mushy in the mouth. Looking at your original post, I see you do not say if you add liquid when the ribs are foiled. If you are not, I suspect there is a very good chance that when the ribs are in their foil jacket, they are getting quite hot, most of the water is coming out of the muscle, and the last period just dries tissue that can no longer hold moisture. As you said, overcooked if anything.

Here's a suggestion. Don't use mustard as a base, use neutral flavored oil, and do not foil. Add more oil towards the end. It seems to me that the oil helps hold moisture in the meat, while helping the outside get crisp.

Good luck on your cook off. Relax. Have fun.

Best ribs I ever cooked I rubbed with Mickey's coffee rub, threw them in a sous vide bag, cooked them 48 hours at 145F, then added more rub, threw them on direct for 15-20 minutes at 400 with a handful of apple wood.  Super moist.  Threw them in the mix at thanksgiving and at least two people said they were buying sous vide equipment afterwards.