First Timmer

hockeybh · February 25, 2006, 12:46:35 AM

Grill is at 200-210, meat is still around the 145. Its been there for about 4 hrs now, I looked at it and they kinda look dry to me, or is that just the dry rub making it look like that. The meat is starting to pull away from the bones, i rotated the ribs again. Should i just keep an eye on it, i have my prob stuck into one of them. I know I want to FTC it in hopes that if it is dry some moisture will come back into it... any ideas?

GrillinFool · February 25, 2006, 01:18:11 AM

They should look dry, none of the fat has started to melt yet. Later on the fat will melt and come out and make the ribs wetter.

You have a couple of choices now; one would be to let them get a little hotter say 165 ish and then do the foil apple juice wrap thing (I use beer and vinegar instead ). By the way, I always sprinkle white vinegar all over the ribs if I am wrapping them.

If you foil wrap and keep cooking, they will finish faster and you will have very moist ribs.

The other choice is to go until 185 ish then FTC. I would mop every hour after the meat temp hits 165. You can mix a little beer and white vinegar and just brush that on the meat, it makes a great mop in my opinion. It's important to not be messy with the mop and to expect every time you open the door to add about 20 minutes to the cooking time if you get the box temp back up very quickly.

Then FTC with juice or sauce or vinegar or beer (or all of these) and let that bring more moisture into a dry rib (just a big spash per foil wrap).My only concern with this is that I cant see how thin the ribs are and I would hate to have you make dry ribs because of my advice.

The Grillin Fool

hockeybh · February 25, 2006, 01:49:54 AM

The ribs are pretty meatty, Last temp it was 163... I can hear stuff starting to drip now. If i mop it with bbq sauce do i put apple juice in with them when I ftc them? speaking of ftc, do i put the juice on the ribs then rap, or put in bottom of ribs?

GrillinFool · February 25, 2006, 02:08:50 AM

Ribs are tricky to FTC because the bones want to tear the foil and let all the juice out. If you splash juice or beer on the ribs it will quickly run off into the foil. Either is fine.

Sounds like youre getting close!

The Grillin Fool

hockeybh · February 25, 2006, 02:10:16 AM

Thanks, Im getting excited... Of course my Pregnant wife wants them out sooner. Good thing this wasnt our planned dinner, else I'd be in big trouble...lol

hockeybh · February 25, 2006, 03:39:57 AM

Im FTC'ing as we speak yum

hockeybh · February 25, 2006, 11:15:02 AM

Well, not sure if I didnt cook it long enough, or too long. The meat was kinda moist and tuff. I ftc'd it for 2 hrs. Wish it would have been better. Well chalk this one up for practice.

icerat4 · February 25, 2006, 11:44:55 AM

Hi ive have done ribs 4 times in this bs and each time a different kind of rib.I have done country brisket both.They both came out ok i did not take off the membrane either time and they were ok eveyone liked them.TOMORROW i am doing sams clubs spare ribs.All 3 racks with bacon on the top shelf and then rotate them in between time.I do a little mop at the 3rd hour and then ftc them for a while like and hour.I am sure with the membrane off they will be alot more fall off the bone.Here is my thoughts on a newbie doing ribs.The motto here is slow and low so who cares if it takes a little longer when you open up the bs to check the ribs.NOT me better to know then to guess id say. And if it take a few more hours thats just a few more beers to enjoy while waiting for fantatic ribs.Dont get me wrong i only check a few times just enough to see the progress very fast in and out time.So i will let you guys know how my spare ribs do tomorrow with the rats method.O yea i only smoke for 4 hours then just cook. The smoke taste at that point seems to be enough with out the over powering taste.So til tomorrow later.

hockeybh · February 25, 2006, 06:31:29 PM

Good luck, let me know how it works for ya, I smoked mine for 3+ hrs then cooked the rest of the time, I bet if let it cook longer it would turn out better, but it was 1am, and had to work at 7.... GOOOD LUCK

icerat4 · February 26, 2006, 06:59:15 PM

WELL GUYS.The ribbie came out awesome.Very nice .Its about 30 degrees out side with no wind because my bs is in my shed With the bs temp slide all the way to the right it held a 190 temp awesome with just a little play with the vent.I did open it up four times to mop and change racks with bacon drizzilng above.The sams clubs baby backs are real nice .Done with hickory chips.Another bs weekend happy ending..[:D][8D]

GrillinFool · February 26, 2006, 07:46:33 PM

Glad to hear you had success Icerat! Hockeybh, if your ribs were moist and tough, I would guess you just didnt cook em long enough to a high enough internal meat temp. Always shoot for around 185-190. I also set aside about 8-10 hours to make ribs before they need to hit the table. Even though if everything goes right with bradley temp, they can be done in 6-8 hours, I find that with all the messing around, they take much longer. Also, if they finish early, you can always FTC for quite a few hours, 3-4 hour FTC isnt unusual. If you do pull the ribs and they are tough, you can cheat by putting them in the oven at 350, in foil or not, until they hit 190 temp. That shouldnt take too long, and it will make a big difference if you need to get them on the table.

Keep trying and have fun!

The Grillin Fool

bubbagump · February 26, 2006, 09:31:30 PM

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Originally posted by icerat4
 With the bs temp slide all the way to the right it held a 190 temp awesome with just a little play with the vent.<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">
Hey icerat, out of curiosity did you have your slide all the way to the right the whole time, or did you have to back it off as the ribs cooked. From my experience with my smoker, with that temp and no wind having the slide all the way to the right the whole time should have put your temp well over 200 eventually.

Bubbagump

icerat4 · February 27, 2006, 01:00:44 PM

Yes it was all the way to the right the whole time.When the vent was completely open the temps stayed at 190-195ish.With the vent closed it went to 205-207ish.remember about 25-30 outside.I did these ribs and ftc them when i deliver them to the friends that were going to try them.I called them this morning and they said they were to die for awesome job.Here is more of my thoughts on these ribs being smoked.The biggest thing is the cut of ribs you get and how much ya pay as all the old timers know.I did theses sams clubs ribs baby back and man there was plenty of meat and tender So if ya live by a sams club check them out eveyone one swears by them and now so do I .The emrils rubs was good but now i am looking for some thing different .Whats the word on differnt rubs dizzy rub venom rubs etc.Any suggestions on rubs i like to buy not make by scratch.I like it simple make more time to have another beer.

icerat4 · February 27, 2006, 07:08:51 PM

I guess if i would have kept the vent closed it would have been higher on the temps but i am a good watcher OF THE TEMPS and from what i seen around here 190 205 temps seem to to justice on the ribs.I did buy the dizzy rub and the venom rub from bbq shopping i like to keep things in the family.THE BIGGEST problem i think people have is with the meat buying deal.Maybe im wrong but better meat better results and taste.This is just a rookies opinion.O one question my ribs have come out very nice moist.With this being said would apple juice do any more for me .Or if i have achived moist ribs just leave it be and skip the apple juice part.