My first attempt at Smoking (Baby Backs) - Need advice

jbowles3 · June 01, 2009, 07:12:08 AM

Hi,

I just got my Digital Six Rack on Saturday as an early Father's Day present. On Sunday, we tried ribs as our first attempt at using a smoker with mixed results. I was hoping to get some advice from the experts here before I try again.

The major problem I had was that the ribs were TOUGH. I mean very tough. They were hard to even pull apart, and far from falling off the bone. They tasted great, so no issues there, but I need to figure out what I did wrong to make them so dry, tough and chewy.

Here are my steps with as much detail as possible:
1. Bought 2 slabs of baby backs from the grocery store. Refrigerated overnight.
2. Removed the membrane (yes I did try to do my homework ;-))
3. Used a rub that I bought from the store where we purchased the smoker. Used a pretty light coating.
4. Preheated the smoker to about 225.
5. Put the ribs in (1/2 slab per rack), sort of in the middle.
6. Smoked for about 2 hours at 225. Top vent was slightly open.
7. The ribs looked dry at this point. We took them out, wrapped in foil, slathered with apple juice, put them back in.
8. Ran for about 2 hours at 225 with no smoke.
9. Took them out of the foil, back on the rack for about 45 minutes with smoke. They still looked dry, and didn't bend.
10. Tried the FTC thing, wrapped in foil, wrapped in towel, put in cooler for about 45 minutes.
11. Ate

Again, taste was great. They seemed cooked, but were very dry, tough and chewy.

Thanks in advance for any advice you might have.

James

KyNola · June 01, 2009, 07:56:25 AM

James,
Don't see anything in particular that would have made the ribs tough. What were you using to monitor the temp in the smoker? If you were relying on the Bradley temp gauges, that may have contributed to the issue, They are badly unreliable in my opinion. I have the digital 4 rack and monitor the box temp with a Maverick ET-73. Other thing I noticed is you said the vent was slightly open. While that most likely didn't contribute to the toughness, you want to run the vent more than slightly open in most cases. Can lead to moisture buildup in the box and also cause the smoke to back up in your generator and effectively destroy it.

Baby backs are notoriously leaner and can sometimes simply turn out tough. My guess is you can blame it on the pig. Next time try the St. Louis cut of ribs. Meatier and fatter.

KyNola

Caneyscud · June 01, 2009, 08:03:26 AM

Welcome jbowles

And sorry to hear about the lack of success on the first smoke. Dry, tough and chewy to me would mean way overcooked, but not likely with the other clues. Vent barely open - would slow down the cook considerably. They probably weren't cooked enough. You were using a modified 3-1-1 method that is successful.

Next time do this

1. If you don't own one, buy or borrow a remote reading thermometer, such as the Maverick ET73. There is a possibility - strong possibility - that the door thermometer or the digital readout temps are not correct. Need to establish if the 225 reading is correct - and the only way is with an independent thermometer. Or the level where your meat was wasn't 225 deg. The cabinet temperature of just about any smoker, including and especially the 6 rack varies, top to bottom. So have to establish if the racks you had the meats on were around the 225 deg mark.

2. Have the vent at least 1/2 (preferrably more) open.

If your temp is ok, and the vent is open, you did the right things to have wonderfully done baby backs. Quite often it is 3 hours of smoke, then one hour of wrapped cooking, then 1 hour of FTC. But 2-2-.75 should be fine.

******* Sorry, KyNola was faster on the keypads than I was - sorry about the double up! and ditto on trying the spareribs or St Louis cut next time - IMO not only better, but less expensive to boot!

ExpatCanadian · June 01, 2009, 08:12:05 AM

Hi James, looks like you've done everything right.... but it's kind of tough when your first experience isn't quite what you expected. I was lucky, my first ribs in my DBS a couple months ago turned out VERY good and tender, except that I too thought them slightly too dry, but I did what you did and after boating them with apple juice stuck them back in for around an hour. I think this dried them out. As you said, they were still very tasty, just not as moist as I like my ribs.

As Kynola said, baby backs are pretty much the leanest of the rib cuts... and juicy tender meat tends to need a bit of fat to make it that way. Don't worry too much about it though... try again. I've only had one batch that didn't turn out to my liking, but I realised after the fact that it was because my heating element had died sometime during the cooking time. I had gone out for a few hours expecting to come back home to fully cooked ribs once the cooking time had finished. They were chewy and tough as anything.... but tasted ok. Didn't mention too much about it on here though... thought I wouldn't get much sympathy for leaving my smoker unattended!!! :D I only actually realised what happened a few days later when i tried to smoke a chicken.

Anyway, welcome and good luck...

Jeez... Kynola and Caneyscud.... I seem to be shadowing every post you guys are making today :P

James... listen to these guys... they're far more experienced than I am!

Tenpoint5 · June 01, 2009, 08:17:14 AM

All I can add is Welcome Aboard James!!

FLBentRider · June 01, 2009, 11:27:08 AM

W E L C O M E to the Forum jbowles3!

Ribs are one of the harder items to master in the Bradley.

Gizmo · June 01, 2009, 09:09:20 PM

I would offer the other end of the spectrum from Caney and say the ribs may not have cooked long enough. Was the meat pulled back from the end of the ribs? Mine usually cook for about a total of 6 hours with most of that being in foil.

Sometimes the ribs are just going to be tough due to the animal it came from, but wrapping in foil with some moisture inside has always been a tenderizing process for me.

Here is an example of the bone being exposed and the ability to pull one out clean with a slight twist and tug.

IKnowWood · June 02, 2009, 06:56:24 AM

I concur with Gizmo on this. Might need more time in the smoker. I normally do 2 racks at a time. I use two trays, 1 1/2 on each rack (all cut in half). Total cook time is 6 to 6 1/2 hours. Within the last three hours I am adding moisture to them every 30 minutes (instead of wrapping or boating them, just the way we like them). But no much less, any less makes them more chewy and tough on the bone.

jbowles3 · June 02, 2009, 11:22:40 AM

Thanks for the advice everyone. My Maverick ET73 is on order. I think next time I will try the St. Louis cut, leave the vents more open, and experiment with the times. Maybe I will do some at 2/2/1, and others at 3/2/1 just to see what happens...

By the way, even though they were a little chewy, we ate every single bite!!

Thanks again,

James

jbowles3 · June 22, 2009, 04:45:53 AM

I wanted to update this thread with results from my second attempt.

This time, I went with St. Louis cut spare ribs. They were outstanding. Great flavor, and falling off the bone. I used the same 3-2-1 method that I used the first time, but stuck closer to 3-2-1 since they were a little meatier. I also did the FTC thing after, since they were done before my wife was ready with sides.

I think that the major difference was using the external thermometer. The aftermarket thermometer was reading between 220-230 the whole time, but the internal thermometer was saying over 250 degrees. I bet the first time I was cooking at way too low of a temp, which is possibly why the first batch was undercooked.

Again, thanks everyone for your help!