SLOW Heat Recovery- Effect on cooking time for bb ribs?

[sparks]

I'm new, and thanks to all of you here, we had a great brisket for our first smoke.  No pics-sorry!  But we couldn't have done it without you!  Now we got adventurous and invited the fam over for Father's Day bb ribs.  We have 3 racks with different rubs and we have already made beginner mistakes so I need HELP!!  Here's the deal:

Preheated smoker starting at 5am...1st mistake: only let it get up to 230- didn't overheat enough to compensate for heat loss (I was still 1/2 asleep I guess)
Took ribs out of fridge at 5:15...2nd mistake: only let them sit for 1/2 hour so they didn't reach room temperature
Put ribs on at 5:45, planning for 12pm arrival of fam (planned FTC at 12 for 1pm eats)

As of 7:45...yes 2 hours into my 3 hour smoke, temp had only recovered to 214.

Do I still only smoke for 3, then put in foil w/AJ for 2, then out for 1?  I'm talking timing from 5:45 when my temp plunged so bad.  Or do I let smoke run out at 3, and slow cook for another hour or so before moving on to foil/AJ, etc.?  I have no idea how to compensate for this slow of heat recovery.  Please help!  If successful, I'll even post pics to show you the results of your wonderful advice  ;D

Oh, and do I have to FTC?  Running short on time and already thinking of telling folks to take the scenic route on the way over so they show up late...

[KyNola]

I would stick with you original plan.  You don't have to FTC when finished.  The trick here is the ribs are done when they're done.  Watch for the meat to start pulling back from the end of the bones.  When it pulls back about a quarter to half inch, ring the dinner bell.

[love the smoke]

I little trick could help is heat up the apple juice before you put in the foil then the smoker don't have to warm up the AJ also

LTS

[classicrockgriller]

sparks, Welcome to the Forum.

KN and LTS have given you so great advice.

Also you can bump the cabinet temp up a little, especially after you put them in foil.

[FLBentRider]

Where are you measuring the temp?

What rack are the ribs on.

If you're using the door thermometer, and the (cold) ribs are below the probe, you will get a false reading, since the meat is absorbing the heat.

I'm with KyNola - Stick with the plan.

[sparks]

Thanks for the advice.  I'm actually using a Maverick thermometer since I know the door one is way off.  I've got ribs on top 3 racks, and thermometer on the middle one of those 3.  I'm going with game plan, even though I can't get the temp back up over 220 since I did the foil/AJ.  We'll see, but they sure did look and smell amazing when I was wrapping them!

[classicrockgriller]

You need to move your probe under the bottom rack of ribs or you might get a false reading

if they are between two layers of meat.

[Sorce]

Another shortcut which you can take which I wound up doing with 3 racks (had to cut the end of 2 to make them fit so 4 racks in the smoker) is to finish them in the oven. My oven will go down to 225 so when I foiled them they went into the oven to finish so the bradley didn't have to struggle to get back to temp. I just barely got there before my smoke ended.