Baby Back Question

Ribs cooking on grate/wrap ribs in foil or paper/unwrap and continue cooking.

The numbers refer to the length of time (hours) at each stage.

Welcome aboard.

As @saluki2007 said. 

You can get a lot of debate/opinion about whether or not to wrap, and if so, for how long.  One thing that's pretty clear is that 2 hours in foil is too long and turns ribs a little (or a lot) mushy. 

One thing everybody agrees on is that the bend test and the toothpick test are the end point - although some ribs inherently bend more than others so some of us have found the toothpick (toothpick or other sharp object probes through the meat like "buttah") test seemingly more reliable.

So, how you get there is less important than where you end up.

Enjoy the journey.

I cook them underwater for about 36 hours, then an hour on the egg to finish up.

I find 3-2-1 to be way overdone on the egg. Everything cooks faster in the egg imo. This is due to the consistently moist environment. I go 3.5 to 4 bones down. I have done the foil in the past with mixed results. It is too easy to overlook them imo. Plus I am a dry or semi- dry rub guy these days.   

Enjoy the ride. 

For me with baby backs on the egg 2:1:1 at 250 - 275 works well. I wrap (tight enough so they really steam) with a little 50% apple cider vinegar and 50% apple juice. Light sauce on for the last 30 - 45 min seems enough for our palate as well, sauce for the full hour likes to carmalize too much for our taste. For spare ribs we like either 3:1:1 or 2.5:1.5:1 for normal racks and 3:2:1 when thick/big.  Hope you find some of this helpful!

Hans61 said:

kweitz said:

OK, so if I foil the ribs using a rib rack, should I take each individual rib section and wrap each one? Or just tent the foil over the whole rack of ribs?

Take the slabs out of the rack and wrap individualy - add squeeze butter honey and brown sugar during the wrap for a little boost 

Yes to what he said. But once I wrap them I just stack them on the grate. Its all about steaming and softening up the meat at this point.

I use butter (squeezable), honey and a teaspoon of apple cider vinegar. Experimenting with flavors here is another part of the fun.

kweitz said:

Good Mornin' Folks! I'm planning on my first Baby Back cook this weekend. Was going through some of the posts on how Ya'll cook 'em. Some of you were stating numbers, like 2/1/1, or 2.5/1.5/.5. Looked through many posts trying to figure that out, but haven't been able to break the code :-(  Would you folks please enlighten a Noob please?

if you are going with this method theres two important things mostly left out in the technique. the middle stage is the foil stage, start checking for tenderness after 45 minutes, the 1 hour or 2 hours is a guide, you need to check or they turn to mush.  second is meet side down in the foil, meat side up and they dont braise, you need the meat side down.