Ribs. My nemesis.

Botch · January 2015

Ruined another rack of ribs today. I see in all the "how-to" videos, ribs are done when the bones stick out the ends, and when the whole rack bends to almost-breaking when you pick them up from the end. Today's cooked at about 275 for four hours, no bone peekage and still stiff. Let them go another hour, same thing. One more hour, still no peekage but I pulled them. Some portions of meat were soft and juicy, but a lot of it was dried out and tough.

I have gotten good ribs off the Egg before, but more often than not, they're sub-par. It's funny, so many here have trouble with beef briskets, I've only had one bad one and it was a bad piece of meat (I had cooked two that time and the other was perfect). But ribs kick my butt almost every time.

:-??

MadcapMagician · January 2015

Please try the 3-2-1 method. 3 hours on the egg, temps at 250degrees, wrap in foil for,2 hours. Let them rest in the foil for an hour. You will be happy

GalanteNate_OneEa · January 2015

Are you doing baby back? I hate them because of the unevenness through the rack. St. Louis all the way. Cook every evenly and a no brainer for someone like me.

Botch · January 2015

@GalanteNate: this package was marked "Loin Back" but they looked like babybacks. I've ruined St. Louis' and spareribs too...

jcaspary · January 2015

I've used the 3-2-1 several times and they come out great but fall apart at the end. Going to adjust the time to shorten it up so they bend but don't break. During the 2 I add some type of marinade. (apple juice or pineapple juice along with some honey) During the 1 I take out of foil and put back on the grate so that I can sauce them up. Come out fantastic every time. Rarely any bones though or just a few.

Ozzie_Isaac · January 2015

I only use 3-2-1 or 3-1-1 depending on where my smoker settles on temp.

Much easier than neked the whole cook. And I second St. Louis style. More fat than baby backs. Also I try to keep ends in heat shadow of plate setter or pizza stone. Ends that stick over tend to over cook.

I leave the BBs for people who boil their ribs.

Carolina Q · January 2015

I used to do ribs once in a while. I like em but no more than other, easier cooks. They are terribly unhealthy anyway so I haven't even tried in a year or more.

theyolksonyou · January 2015

Ozzie_Isaac said:

I leave the BBs for people who boil their ribs.

boiled ribs!? :-&

Zmokin · January 2015

I also like the 3-2-1 method, however, I like my ribs sauced and the sauce to turn into a glaze, so my last one hour is glazing the sauce covered ribs. I also like not having to slice the rack when it is cooked, so I slice my racks into individual ribs prior to adding rub & cooking. So I have a much larger surface area of meat to absorb smoke as well as rub and sauce goodness. If you don't want to sauce, after the braising effect from foiling them, you might want to only go a 1/2 hour in the end to give a little bit of exterior crisp without over drying out the ribs.

Chubbs · January 2015

3-2-1 is a long time in foil. I rarely use foil but if I do I go 1 hour max. And I don't add any liquid other than some butter to accompany the brown sugar of I choose that flavor profile. I usually go more of a 4-0-1 and get super soft but not falling apart.

@Botch‌, do you remove the membrane on back if ribs? If not maybe that prevents the "pull back" effect on the bones as it is "tighter"?? Just a thought.

loveTheEgg · January 2015

I have done my last 5-6 BB racks at 240 for 4.5 to 5 hours. At 4.5 hour I squirt a little own's on sauce on them and cook for 30 min. I use a mix of salt pepper onion powder garlic powder paprika chili powder and a little brown sugar. Turns out perfect every time. No foil no flipping no nothing!

jhl192 · January 2015

I never foil. 225-250 and I wait till they bend at 90 degrees. I am not as concerned about the bone pull back. Sauce for the last 15-30 minutes. I also probe to see when I'm getting close. Almost always a home run. Not as fool proof as a Bone in Boston pork butt but close. I do remove the membrane, and if I and doing multi levels I rotate.

grege345 · January 2015

Maybe try from a different source? Sounds like your doin everything right

Carolina Q · January 2015

theyolksonyou said:

Ozzie_Isaac said:

I leave the BBs for people who boil their ribs.

boiled ribs!? :-&

Try this sometime...

http://eggheadforum.com/discussion/968544/i-boiled-some-ribs/p1

Jeepster47 · January 2015

Thanks Michael ... your link is bookmarked.

@Botch ... I've been very lucky with St Louis style ribs. Maybe one of these ideas will resonate with you. I cut the rack in half to make sure nothing hangs over the edge of the plate setter ... have only cooked one rack at a time so they lay flat on the grill. Rotate the ribs a time or two to even out the cooking. Also measure the temp at the grill level with a DigiQ set for 250 degrees. Twice my dome temp has taken off and gone up to 350 degrees with the grill still at 250 degrees. Five and a half to six hours seems seems to be the norm for a bendable rack.

theyolksonyou · January 2015

Carolina Q said:

Ozzie_Isaac said:

I leave the BBs for people who boil their ribs.

boiled ribs!? :-&
Try this sometime... http://eggheadforum.com/discussion/968544/i-boiled-some-ribs/p1

Not what I think of as boiling ribs. I pictured meat floating around in a pot...this looks more like a turbo sous vide.

EGGjlmh · January 2015

I like 2-2 then 20 more mins direct with sauce, makes great texture for me.

blind99 · January 2015

I think theres more variation from rack to rack than I originally would have guessed. I like BBs best. Sometimes they turn out juicy and delicious, sometimes they dry out. Yesterday I tested one about 4 hrs in when the meat was retracting and they were getting tender but dry, so I finished with sauce and in foil for the last hour. Usually no foil for me though.

stv8r · January 2015

yep lots of haters on the 3-2-1 method...but no denying it yields results. I've found after foiling, my finishing time is open to adjustment

SkinnyV · January 2015

loveTheEgg said:
I have done my last 5-6 BB racks at 240 for 4.5 to 5 hours. At 4.5 hour I squirt a little own's on sauce on them and cook for 30 min. I use a mix of salt pepper onion powder garlic powder paprika chili powder and a little brown sugar. Turns out perfect every time. No foil no flipping no nothing!

This , no need to over think, turns out every time.

Zmokin · January 2015

My 3-2-1 method is 3 hours at 225.
When I foil, I do not add any liquid, but there is always liquid in my foil after 2 hours.
I usually double foil wrap. Wrap once one direction, rotate 90 degrees as view from above and wrap again. My egg usually climbs a little in temp from being opened, so it's more likely at 250 while foiled and sometimes a little higher when glazing.
Then from the foil go a few at a time into a container of sauce, pulled out, shaken to remove excess sauce, and onto the grill for glazing. so my ribs are thoroughly submerged in sauce before glazing and as they are individually cut, that's sauce on all exposed meat surfaces.

travisstrick · January 2015

STOP!!!!!!

Pull the membrane.
Rub
Cook at 250-300 4-5 hours for baby back and 5-6 for spares.
Sauce 20 min before done.

No foil. No flipping. And no worries.

Botch · January 2015

Chubbs said:

@Botch‌, do you remove the membrane on back if ribs? If not maybe that prevents the "pull back" effect on the bones as it is "tighter"?? Just a thought.

Every time, especially since learning that letting the rack come to room temp first makes pulling the membrane off very easy.

Botch · January 2015

jhl192 said:

I never foil. I also probe to see when I'm getting close. Almost always a home run.

What temp are you looking for? I hadn't been temping my ribs but that might be the thing to try next.

Botch · January 2015

Jeepster47 said:

I cut the rack in half to make sure nothing hangs over the edge of the plate setter ... have only cooked one rack at a time so they lay flat on the grill. Rotate the ribs a time or two to even out the cooking.

I do cut in half (one rack at a time here too) but I haven't been rotating them; thought the Egg negated that.

Jeepster47 · January 2015

Botch said:

Jeepster47 said:

I cut the rack in half to make sure nothing hangs over the edge of the plate setter ... have only cooked one rack at a time so they lay flat on the grill. Rotate the ribs a time or two to even out the cooking.

I do cut in half (one rack at a time here too) but I haven't been rotating them; thought the Egg negated that.

On a low-and-slow with a plate setter, I've noticed the center of the fire moving towards the front of the egg as the cook progresses. That moves the hot gases towards the dome thermometer. If all you're monitoring is the dome temp, you'll start choking it back at that time, when in fact, the grill temp hasn't changed. The hot gases do create a turbulent atmosphere inside the egg that will create hot spots. Again YMMV.

jhl192 · January 2015

Botch said:

jhl192 said:

I never foil. I also probe to see when I'm getting close. Almost always a home run.

What temp are you looking for? I hadn't been temping my ribs but that might be the thing to try next.

I don't probe them for temperature. It's too hard to get a true reading with all the bones. I probe them to see when they start to poke easily in and out with a toothpick. It lets me know when I'm in the ballpark. I almost always cook a full slab and do the bend test to know when they are done.

henapple · January 2015

I use the 1-.45-.75-.75-.25-3-.25-.60-2

Perfect every time. Sure I use a lot of aluminum foil but it's worth it.

Jeepster47 · January 2015

@henapple ... I liked your other cook where you finished with a .308 ... you said it was done when the bone shot out.

Grillmagic · January 2015

travisstrick said:

STOP!!!!!! Pull the membrane. Rub Cook at 250-300 4-5 hours for baby back and 5-6 for spares. Sauce 20 min before done. No foil. No flipping. And no worries.

Preach On!!! This method is not only easy but the finished product is always excellent.

Brisket_Fanatic · January 2015

I have had great results from loin backs going 250 indirect for 6 hours with no foiling, spritzing or anything else. Sauce the last 30 minutes. Pull the membrane off, rub with canola oil and coat liberally with rub, set it and forget it.

Ribs. My nemesis.

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