Father's Day Ribs w/ Q-view (Sort of)

[smoke_chef]

Hello all,

I tried to tackle my first ribs ever on Father's day with six racks of ribs. They turned out okay but not super great. The meat didn't seem as tender and juicy as I would have liked. It was as though it was under cooked? But, at the same time, some of the ribs cooked out of the meat all together leaving me with ribs that were falling apart but still sort of tough at the same time? The only thing I can think of is that I didn't give them as much time as I planned to come up to room temperature? Could that have been it? Seems like such a simple thing to have such an affect on the overall product? Sorry there aren't more pics. I didn't even think of that until after everyone had gone and I was cleaning up. I guess a pretty amateur mistake but the chicken quarters I did on the grill, the beans, and the ABT's were all finishing together plus I was trying to be some sort of a host all at the same time. My biggest lesson from this smoke was how important time management is. Any way, here are the pics and I appreciate any feedback on what you think affected the quality of my ribs.

(The good news is... they still tasted GREAT! --- Jeff's dry rub is awesome!)

I bought a case pack of spares at Sam's. There were 9 racks for right at $62. So, I still have three racks in the freezer to try to perfect my technique before I have to buy more.

http://i252.photobucket.com/albums/hh19/fdharp/FathersDay08Ribs002.jpg

It took me two hours to trim six racks of spares down to baby backs and pull off the membrane. Wow... I hope I get faster at that! It may be worth paying the extra bucks to just buy BB's in the store. But... then again, you wouldn't get all the trimmings if you did that. I guess I'll just work at getting faster. Here's one of the racks trimmed.

http://i252.photobucket.com/albums/hh19/fdharp/FathersDay08Ribs003.jpg

I bought a rib rack that I love. Since my smoker is pretty small I was looking at only being able to smoke four racks of ribs but this rib rack really helped! It came from Home Depot and was about $10. If you don't have one, I highly recommend it. It was easy to put together, take a part, clean and it seemed plenty sturdy enough.

http://i252.photobucket.com/albums/hh19/fdharp/FathersDay08Ribs004.jpg


Sorry there isn't more pics. I'll try and do better with that next time too.

 

[krusher]

hello looks like a good trim job. did you use the 3-2-1 method?
the most I have done is 3 racks, I would move the shelves from top to bottom each hour, I dont know if this helped or I just got lucky, I did 3-2-1 on mine. I highly recommend it if your havent tryed it. the bones were just falling out of mine.

hope this helps

 

[smoke_chef]

Thanks Krusher.

Actually, I read that on baby backs I should do 2-2-1. I ended up doing more like 2-2-45 minutes. On one of the racks, a bone literally fell out of the rack without me even touching it. Several more looked like they could go soon. They seemed to be getting over done at that point so I pulled them. I watched my fire pretty close. I never got over 250 and for the most part stayed steady at 230. Maybe I need to be even lower and slower and do 3-2-1? I just know that these ribs were better than I've had at some restaurants but still not as good as I thought they would be. I look forward to trying again though.

 

[fatback joe]

Yeah, nice trim job.......the speed will come as you do more.

Spares are spares........no amount of trimming will make them BBs, you cut them down St. Louis Style. BB and spares are just 2 different things.

Try maybe 3 (to 3 1/2) then 1 1/2, then 1 (or less) and I think you will be happier.

 

[fatback joe]

Oh......and don't go lower on the temp.......when you get too low, you are just drying/dehydrating more than cooking.

Keep the 230 (or more) and tweak your time/technique.

It doesn't sound like it was a bad first effort..........the tests got eaten.

 

[krusher]

I might be wrong but it looks to me from your pics you have racks of spare ribs, I do'nt think you can make babybacks out of them, spares come from the bottom of the rib cage, and babybacks come from the top, again, that's what I am thinking. what you made are "St. Lois style" ribs and they would still use the 3-2-1. hope this helps

 

[smoke_chef]

Yes... I had spares trimmed St. Louis style. Just figured St. Louis style and baby backs were pretty much the same thing. Live and learn I guess but I should have known better on this one. DUH!

But still... that begs the question of why I had ribs that were cooking out of the meat. Do you think it was the way I pulled the membrane off? I soooo wish I would have taken a pic to show you guys. It was just that there wasn't anything on top of the whole rib bone. The meat pulled away until gravity just let it fall out.

 

[krusher]

foiling probably caused it, they were just to big to get fully cooked ( all of them ) , but they were still good I'm sure

 

[smoke_chef]

They were very tasty. It's just the texture I need to work on.

I'm not following what you mean about "foiling" caused it? You think I should have shortened the foil time or not foiled at all?

 

[fatback joe]

Like Krusher said.........probably the time in the foil.........sometimes it just happens no matter what.

Cut the 2 hours in the foil back to 1 and 1/2 and you will decrease the likelihood of it.

 

[smoke_chef]

Awesome... Thanks to both of you. I can't wait to try again!