# First Smoke in New WSM - Ribs...  Undercooked or Overcooked???



## buckeyebrown (Aug 24, 2012)

Okay,

Replaced/returned my first smoker after a couple cooks because of thermometer/control unit issues.  Bought a Weber Smokey Mountain 22.5.  First attempt was yesterday.  Was around 260 range the whole time give or take 10 degrees.  Did 3-2-1 but went about 20 minutes extra on the 2/foil (was stuck on the phone).  When I foiled I added some butter, more rub, brown sugar and some apple juice.  During the last hour I used a 50/50 of blues hog/tennessee red (good zing).  

They pulled off the bone _okay_ but not as easily as I would have liked.  Great smoke/rub/sauce flavors and all but I prefer them closer to falling off the bone/very tender.  The frustrating thing is I'm not sure if they were over or under cooked and therefore don't know how to improve my technique.  My first thought was that I over cooked them but I'm really wondering if they were undercooked.  I'm curious what they would have been like at 225 or 275 compared Just don't know???  I've got very limited experience but the toothpick seemed to go into the meat between the bones pretty easily.  Not like butter but very easily.  The ribs seemed to bend pretty decently with the bark cracking when I lifted them towards one end but... maybe it could have bent more...  I really don't know.  I think a little more experience and I would have nailed it (thanks to the info I learned online) but I'm still uncertain.  The ribs are from Sams Club and they are labelled as Baby Back but they are really loaded with meat on them which makes me wonder if they could have gone longer???

Any insight?  Some Q view below.  My kid's plate is at the bottom / wife pulled the meat off the bone for him.













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## damon555 (Aug 24, 2012)

Ribs will come out great on the WSM.....when done right. You can't go by what the thermometer on the lid says....they are usually off by quite a bit. The best thing to do is to get a know accurate probe thermometer and place it on the grate you are cooking on a see what the actual temp is. But 260 degrees really isn't all that bad.....if in fact that's what the temp was. My 22.5 WSM lid thermometer reads 15-20 degrees higher than the actual grate temp.

Any way.....here's what has worked for me time after time. Rub the ribs down with whatever rub you plan on using. Put them in the smoker when you get it up to temp. Leave the top vent open 100% close 2 of the bottom vents and control your temps with one bottom vent. Leave the lid closed for 4 or 5 hours before even opening it. After that time you can start doing the bend test. Pick the racks up in the middle and if they bend in half then they are done. If not simply place back on the smoker and check them every 30 minutes or so. If you're going to fiddle with mopping them just do it once or twice at the end of the smoke.....But the key here is to leave the lid closed and let the WSM work it's magic.

This technique works every single time for me.....it took me a while to figure it out and to just leave the ribs be while they are smoking. If I can do it anyone can........

P.S. That top rack doesn't appear to be done yet....and the bottom one is probably pretty close. The meat pulling back off of the bone can also help in determining when they are done.


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## jirodriguez (Aug 24, 2012)

The ribs look pretty good. If you left them in the foil for a full 2.5 hrs. they should be very tender - it may have been due to the extra meat on them, but just keep tweaking your foil time till you get the results you want.


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## buckeyebrown (Aug 24, 2012)

Thanks guys.  I actually did use a Maverick clipped to the grate.  The dome thermo was around 40-50 degrees lower than what the Maverick read.  I just got the Maverick a month ago.  Maybe I should calibrate it.  

When I reheat them as leftovers I'll probably foil them in the oven and see how it goes.  After more time to think it over I agree with you Damon555, I think a little longer might have been all that was needed.  I never used a probe into the ribs themselves but that might have done the trick.  I'll just chalk it up to another step to getting there, but again they did taste good as they were.

Thanks again for the input.


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## s2k9k (Aug 24, 2012)

They look and sound Perfect to me! Next time cook them just like that and then send them to me, I like a little tug to them!

Like Johnny said, adjust your foil time and maybe add a little more liquid so they braise better, if you want them to fall off the bone.


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## cliffcarter (Aug 24, 2012)

Been a while since I posted it but it's worth a repeat- this is when my ribs are done AKA "The Bend Test"-













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IMHO your ribs look done to perfection, fall off the bone(or bone falls out as it should be called) is way over done IMHO.


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## max-paul (Aug 24, 2012)

Ok, first I got to say that I just did my first ribs the past weekend, so no expert. But my ribs did come out falling off  of the bones, moist and tasty according to my wife. So this is what I did and what went wrong but came out right. Friday night rubbed down my ribs with some rub in a jar Wrapped in saran and put back in the refrig. Next morning I started the fire at 6 am and filled the charcoal ring with a void on one side for the starter charcoal. Once the charcoal in the stove pipe is going well, dumped in the fire ring. I have no water in the water pan and it is not foiled or with any kind of sand or flower pot pan in the water pan. After about 30 min I am still at 245 degrees. intakes are closed, except one under door, it is about 25% open and exhaust is full open. Was going to let it go for 3 hrs, but due to the higher than 225 degrees, cut it off after 2.5 hours. So I take the rack off and put in foil with about quarter cup of apple juice. I screwed up and left the lid off of the 22.5" WSM. After getting the rack back on the smoker and the lid on. I discover that now I am at 300 degrees. Even closing down the intakes, The temperature would not drop. I think that all of the charcoal lit up. So instead of going for 2 hrs, I cut it short to 1 hr and 15 min. At this time, I pull the rack back out of the foil and brush on some Jack Danial's BBQ sauce with hickory flavoring. Again I am still running about 300 degrees so I cut the 1 hr down to 30 minutes.

When taking the rack out of the foil. I noticed that I had tonged it in the middle and the rib bones were trying to break out, did a little. We ended not eating them Saturday night. But heated them up in the microwave Sunday night and they where great. Had to watch how much meat came with a bite. The meat was just falling off of the bone and one bite could bring it all at once.

Now maybe this was beginners luck. I hope the next time I have just a slight bit of bite where the whole thing does not come off in one bite. Everything I did was based on reading other people experiences. I realized I was running to hot. So, on the fly I reduced my time. I went from 3-2-1 to 2.5-1.25-.5

I got lucky, had no idea what I was doing for sure. Good luck on your next rack and keep your fingers crossed for me this next weekend (labor day weekend)

Paul
 

I forgot to mention two things. First is that I placed the rack bones down and I have a spray bottle with apple juice and I gave the rack a good spritzing at 1 and 2 hrs into the cook.


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## cliffcarter (Aug 25, 2012)

245° is close to optimum for ribs IMHO, don't get too enamored with 225° temp, if your cooker wants to cook at 245° let it cook.


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## jarjarchef (Aug 25, 2012)

Most smokes I try to keep it at 250-275. I try not to stress too much over the smoker temp, I just adjust my cook times as needed. When the meat is done it is done. Lately mine have gone fast for the most part. I don't want mine to fall off the bone to where you can't cut or handle them. I do want them to be very tender.

From the pics you posted they looked great. Sounds like you need to "Test" your method again...:biggrin:    Oh darn more Q to eat..... Life is rough that way......


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## max-paul (Aug 25, 2012)

jarjarchef said:


> Sounds like you need to "Test" your method again...
> 
> 
> 
> ...


jarjar,

I like the way you think.


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## buckeyebrown (Aug 27, 2012)

S2K9K said:


> They look and sound Perfect to me! Next time cook them just like that and then send them to me, I like a little tug to them!
> 
> Like Johnny said, adjust your foil time and maybe add a little more liquid so they braise better, if you want them to fall off the bone.


Will do.... on the foiling - not one the delivery service! LOL


cliffcarter said:


> Been a while since I posted it but it's worth a repeat- this is when my ribs are done AKA "The Bend Test"-
> 
> 
> 
> ...


That is actually quiet helpful to see how much bend we're talking on the bend test.


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## rhinton82 (Sep 2, 2012)

or you can stick a tooth pick inbetween the bones and it should slide out real easy, then u know they are done... falling of the bone are technically over cooked... ur ribs look great in the pics..


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## buckeyebrown (Sep 2, 2012)

After reheating the ribs as leftovers last week in the oven/low temp, they were even better (in terms of doneness of the meat. They were actually perfect to me.  They weren't "falling off the bone" or falling apart but my idea of "perfect" is very tender meat that (for the most part) "cleanly" separates from the bone when you bite/pull.  But that's just me. 

Anyway, I'm just happy to firmly know that they just needed more time rather than wondering if they were under or overcooked. Thanks again for the comments.


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## flash (Sep 2, 2012)

They do look kinda dry for some reason. You did say Baby Backs, which normally do not go 3-2-1 but more like 2-2-1. I actually do them 2-1.5-1.


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## buckeyebrown (Sep 2, 2012)

I did say baby backs but they were cut very thick. I didn't think they were dry - maybe the picture of the cut up meat for my kid looks dry to you?  I knew baby backs were 2-2-1 (commonly) but I don't think they would have been close to done. My local Sams club has them thick like this all the time. It is tough to tell from the picture but look closely at the ribs from Cliff's bend test pic which look like normal baby back ribs thickness and then look at the cap of meat on the top side of the ones I did. A side view would have shown it a little better but they seem way meatier than any baby backs I've had anywhere. 

I bought them at Sams one attempt prior and they were the same so this time I checked to see if I misread the packaging but I didn't.  Dunno???, but I'm not displeased learning on them this way.


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## flash (Sep 2, 2012)

They look beautiful. Great pullback so the only thing I can think is more time in the foil. You also splashed some apple juice on them when you foiled them up, so very strange. Just might have needed more time in that foil.


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## weberlamp (Sep 2, 2012)

I have to say they look great, and it sounds like the flavor was on point.  I used to get only Baby Backs from Costco, but found that meat at one end of the rack was much thicker than at the other end which made them very hard to cook.  The brand was swift.  I have since switched to spare ribs from Costco from Smithfield.  My theory is that they grow the pigs bigger so that they get bigger (no better) pieces of meat to sell for more money.  I try to find spares that have a consistent thickness from end to end.  Good luck, like jarjar said the more you try the more you get to eat.


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