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First two cooks on the new AR!! pics incl.

noregard
noregard Posts: 306
edited March 2015 in EggHead Forum
Well my Dad (who I got into egging a short while ago) bought us a pair of AR's!!  He has an XL and got the AR/Woo combo along with a bunch of other stuff from CGS, and I opted for the AR/R&B combo with the add on grids, and extender with sliding D grid for my large.  Love it already!

Quite a transformation for my LGE :)  Went from this…

to this…





to this…





And today I'm doing my second attempt at ribs.  Bought from Costco from what I can tell it is two racks of St Louis, and two racks of rib tips.





They've been on 3 hours, I think I'm going to foil half with brown sugar and honey, and leave half straight up, see which we prefer.
Lethbridge, Alberta         LBGE & MM

Comments

  • noregard
    noregard Posts: 306
    edited March 2015
    The rack on the left is the rib tip, on the right is one of the st louis.  This is after 3 hours and 10 minutes at 250*.  I thought there would be more shrinkage by this point? IT was about 150*.



    I foiled each of these with brown sugar and honey.



    It's definitely going to be a 3-2-1 I'd say, and not the 3-1-1 I was hoping.

    Maybe I should up the temps a bit?
    Lethbridge, Alberta         LBGE & MM
  • noregard
    noregard Posts: 306
    Well, here's the finished products.  They turned out pretty good I guess, honestly don't have much to compare them to.  They seem a bit fatty, the rib tips especially, they are dripping…not great.

    The ribs really didn't pull back from the bone, which leads me to think that's why they were a little fatty still? i.e.. the fat didn't render off the way it should have?

    Good smoke ring, though the pic doesn't really show it that well.  They cooked 3-1.75-1.

    The rib that wasn't foiled seemed a little better to me, it had a little more bend to it also.



    Not really sure what to try different next time,but we'll see.
    Lethbridge, Alberta         LBGE & MM
  • theyolksonyou
    theyolksonyou Posts: 18,458
    If they didn't pull back, and they were fatty my guess would be cook them longer. Looks nice. 
  • noregard
    noregard Posts: 306
    @theyolksonyou that's what I was sort of thinking, but shouldn't nearly six hours be enough?? I don't think I've ever read of someone going longer than 3-2-1.

    A little discouraging I guess.
    Lethbridge, Alberta         LBGE & MM
  • Hawg Fan
    Hawg Fan Posts: 1,517
    I agree with @theyolksonyou and @cazzy.  If the ribs didn't render out and pull away from the bone they didn't cook long enough or the temp was too low.  When was the last time you calibrated your dome thermometer?  

    Any road will take you there if you don't know where you're going.

    Terry

    Rockwall, TX
  • They look pretty good ... each time you try they'll get a little better
    Fred A. Bernardo , owner of Tasty Licks BBQ Supply in Shillington, Pa. 
  • noregard
    noregard Posts: 306
    @Hawg Fan The thermo was calibrated not too long ago.  Actually that was one thing I was very happy with today, I had the egg dialled in at 250* steady.  I've never been able to keep it that low before.

    I'm thinking next time 275* and see how that goes.
    Lethbridge, Alberta         LBGE & MM
  • blind99
    blind99 Posts: 4,971
    @theyolksonyou and @cazzy   speak the truth. Ribs are a great way to start simple. A little rub, a little smoke, and cook until done. Don't worry about internal temp. You can skip all the ratios and foils and stuff too. In any case I bet yours turned out awesome. 

    Thanks for the pix of the AR, and I'll be interested to see how you use it in future cooks. At some point Id like to look into that sort of thing. 
    Chicago, IL - Large and Small BGE - Weber Gasser and Kettle
  • Scottborasjr
    Scottborasjr Posts: 3,494
    Ribs were my first Everest. And I'm pretty confident with them now. If they didn't pull back they weren't done. The fat rendering is what causes the pull back. I'd check your thermometer to make sure you were cooking at the temp you thought you were. Still looked great!!!
    I raise my kids, cook and golf.  When work gets in the way I'm pissed, I'm pissed off 48 weeks a year.
    Inbetween Iowa and Colorado, not close to anything remotely entertaining outside of football season. 
  • Ozzie_Isaac
    Ozzie_Isaac Posts: 18,942
    +1 not cooked long enough.
    My grate temp on my XL runs ~50 deg lower than my dome for a few hours.  Over long cooks you can see them come into sync.

    Judging by your pics I would bet your temp was to low for a 3-1-1 or even 3-2-1.
    A bison’s level of aggressiveness, both physical and passive, is legendary. - NPS
  • bigalsworth
    bigalsworth Posts: 685
    I did some st Louis ribs from Costco last week and they took 8 hours @240
    Large BGE
    BBQ Guru DigiQ II

    Martensville, Saskatchewan Canada
  • noregard
    noregard Posts: 306
    @bigalsworth 8 hours, wow!  Pretty hard to plan eat time when dealing with that.  

    After looking at some older rib threads it looks like the costco ribs I had were quite a bit thicker than some of the others.

    Oh well, live and learn!

    Props to the AR also.  Dealing with CGS was great, the packaging was awesome…now I just need a place to put all this stuff.  
    Lethbridge, Alberta         LBGE & MM
  • bigalsworth
    bigalsworth Posts: 685
    Yeah I totally missed the dinner mark with those.  I think I prefer baby backs anyway so mostly will cook those in the future.  Toss in the st Louis the odd time
    Large BGE
    BBQ Guru DigiQ II

    Martensville, Saskatchewan Canada
  • anton
    anton Posts: 1,813
    I like what you can do with your AR, sadly they don't make them for my medium.
     Using a MBGE,woo/w stone,livin' in  Hayward California," The Heart Of The Bay "
  • pgprescott
    pgprescott Posts: 14,544
    cazzy said:
    noregard said:
    @theyolksonyou that's what I was sort of thinking, but shouldn't nearly six hours be enough?? I don't think I've ever read of someone going longer than 3-2-1.

    A little discouraging I guess.
    Don't cook by time.  Cook ribs with your eyes and confirm it with the bend test.

    Look for the pull back, then see if they bend...

    Awesome photos of the ribs you have hear!
  • Sweet100s
    Sweet100s Posts: 553
    Does that bottom rack of the Adjustable Rig slide forward ?
  • THEBuckeye
    THEBuckeye Posts: 4,230
    Nice Bend pic! 
    New Albany, Ohio 

  • rifrench
    rifrench Posts: 469
    The bottom rack slides out, I rotate my racks top to bottom and front to rear when I do ribs. Cooked indirect around 250* dome, no liquid in drip pan, no foiling. Done is determined by the bend test. No complaints, except my grand daughter would like hers "sticky". I guess I will do that......on one rack!
     1 LBGE, 1 SBGE, 1 KBQ and a 26" Blackstone near Blackstone, Virginia
  • lousubcap
    lousubcap Posts: 32,162
    Great set-up and cook.  I will offer the following for determining when ribs are finished (beef or pork), use a toothpick and probe the thickest meat section-no resistance and you are there.  Just another option for you.
    Louisville; Rolling smoke in the neighbourhood. # 38 for the win.  Life is too short for light/lite beer!  Seems I'm livin in a transitional period.
  • Terrebandit
    Terrebandit Posts: 1,750
    Many times, I will do a 3.5, 2.0, 1.5 on St. Louis style ribs. I much prefer those over baby backs.  The last stage is sauced and it finishes with a nice sweet, somewhat tacky, crust on top. That's a total of 6 hours on a cook thats between 235 to 250 degrees .  There are some guys that choose to go turbo, but I really like the low and slow method best.  They just seem to be more tender this way and I think the anticipation of a longer cook helps convince your guests (and me) that they are better too. If you do it this way, your ribs will also look amazing when you pull them off the egg and show them off. I like mine so that just a small tug with the teeth will pull them cleanly off the bone.   I have the same AR set up that you have. 
    Dave - Austin, TX
  • noregard
    noregard Posts: 306
    Thanks everyone, much appreciated.

    @Cazzy those are some great pics!
    Lethbridge, Alberta         LBGE & MM