Repeated BB Failures in OBS -Need Criticism

[Majes]

Hello all.   I've attempted 4 smokes in my OBS, one of which produced nicely tender ribs with the remaining 3 attempts producing tough meat consistent with grilled pork chops.   I'd like some help determining what I'm doing wrong.

What I'm Consistently Doing:
-Purchasing non-enhanced baby backs at Sam's
-Removing membrane
-Applying a store-bought rub one hour prior to smoke (Famous Dave's or Kroger's Private Selection Sweet and Spicy)
-OBS placement is shaded from direct sunlight
-Pre-heating OBS to 220 with water in the drip bowl
-Using digital temperature probe wired to the 2nd rack shelf down from top
-Smoking for 3 hours with damper almost closed
-Foiling with 2 oz of apple juice
-Each smoke is three ½ racks (one on each rack shelf)

What I've Varied Each Time:
-Foiling duration.  Two failures were 3-1-1 so I increased to 3-2-1
-Foiling method.  Two failures were pouches.  One failure used tin trays with foil lids.

This is becoming extremely frustrating, and other than critiques/suggestions, my only question is:  do I fight temp drops by maxing out the temp control when opening door or do I leave it alone and let cabinet temp rise slowly on its own?    In other words, after my pre-heat do I max out temp control when I open the door to place ribs inside and leave it maxed out until cabinet temp rises to 220?

The one thing I'll admit I'm not doing correctly is letting the ribs sit at room temperature for an hour prior to smoke.  They are probably slightly chilled by the time I'm placing them into the OBS.

Thanks in advance.

[mow_delon]

Looks like you are not letting the ribs get done.  When I do ribs, vent is always wide open (as with everything I smoke) and I turn the Bradley as hot as it will get (I only have one element so cabinet only gets to about 240).  Also I do not go much by time.  I use the 3-2-1 method, but don't get too concerned about times.  When smoke finishes, I will foil with a splash of apple juice (maybe 1/4 cup in each foil pack) and wrap up so it can't leak.  After a couple hours, I take out of foil and check if the meat is pulling back from the bone.  If it is not on most all then I put bare ribs back in smoker, unwrapped, for another hour before saucing and letting sauce firm up for about 1/2 to 1 hour.  If meat is already pulled back then I will put bare ribs back in smoker and proceed to sauce them like before.  The main thing to remember is that meat is done when it decides, not in a set number of hours.  Some racks are done with 3-1-1 and some take 7 hours to fully cook, it is up to the meat.

[richardvoyageur]

Hello all.   I've attempted 4 smokes in my OBS, one of which produced nicely tender ribs with the remaining 3 attempts producing tough meat consistent with grilled pork chops.   I'd like some help determining what I'm doing wrong.

What I'm Consistently Doing:
-Purchasing non-enhanced baby backs at Sam's
-Removing membrane
-Applying a store-bought rub one hour prior to smoke (Famous Dave's or Kroger's Private Selection Sweet and Spicy)
-OBS placement is shaded from direct sunlight
-Pre-heating OBS to 220 with water in the drip bowl
-Using digital temperature probe wired to the 2nd rack shelf down from top
-Smoking for 3 hours with damper almost closed
-Foiling with 2 oz of apple juice
-Each smoke is three ½ racks (one on each rack shelf)

What I've Varied Each Time:
-Foiling duration.  Two failures were 3-1-1 so I increased to 3-2-1
-Foiling method.  Two failures were pouches.  One failure used tin trays with foil lids.

This is becoming extremely frustrating, and other than critiques/suggestions, my only question is:  do I fight temp drops by maxing out the temp control when opening door or do I leave it alone and let cabinet temp rise slowly on its own?    In other words, after my pre-heat do I max out temp control when I open the door to place ribs inside and leave it maxed out until cabinet temp rises to 220?

The one thing I'll admit I'm not doing correctly is letting the ribs sit at room temperature for an hour prior to smoke.  They are probably slightly chilled by the time I'm placing them into the OBS.

Thanks in advance.

A few things I've noted from your comments that I believe are causing your troubles:

- Not letting the rub process sit for a few hours at least, preferably overnight
- Not letting ribs sit out for at least an hour to come up to room temp
- Damper should be 3/4 to fully open during the smoke in my opinion
- Thermometer should be placed under your lowest rack of ribs to get a true temp.

Other questions:  Are you rotating from top to bottom and front to back?  The lower the ribs are, the faster they will cook.  Also, the back of the smoker seems to cook faster than the front.  How much bone are you seeing poking out when you are pulling these off?  The ribs really tell you when they are done and you can't rush them.  You also didn't mention any rest period, are you in fact doing an FTC (foil, towel, cooler) for at least 30 minutes prior to eating them?

I think you have very close to the winning formula, just need to pay attention to a couple of small details to hit them out of the park.

As for heat recovery, try putting a preheated (throw it on the grill) and foiled brick in the smoker, it seems to help with evening out the heat recovery when you have opened the door.  Speaking of that, you're not spritzing or anything during the cook, are you?  Keep the door closed as much as possible would be my suggestion.

[KyNola]

Preheat your Bradley as high as you can get it.  When you open the door to put the ribs in, get the door closed as quickly as possible.  When the box temp gets back to where you want it, decrease your setpoint to where you want it.  Open your vent!  Mine is pretty much stuck in the 100% open position.  With the vent closed, the moisture can't escape and that will hold your temps down, not help to increase them as you might think.  I can't see a lot of other issues with your method.  Sometimes it's just the pig.

Sorry, RV types quicker than me.

[muebe]

Well first off I have never personally made a tough grilled pork chop :D

As far as your ribs Mow, Richard, and KyNola gave you some spot on info. There is some guidance with the 3-2-1 method but you also must acquire a keen eye on when they are done. Ribs can have different fat content, been previously frozen, or even past their freshness date. A visual inspection of the meat pulling back from the bone at the ends of the ribs is what you want to see.

You have any pics of the finished ribs so we can see how they look?  

[Majes]

Muebe, KyNola, Richard and Mow <--thanks to you all for responding.

No pictures (sorry) and I can say there has not been any significant pulling back of the meat from the bone.  Maybe 1/16 inch.   So what I'm interpreting here is there shouldn't be any concern for temp control position as long as box temp stays consistent.  I will try the brick to help the residual heat.   Here are other notes:

-I am not rotating, but now I will
-I am not spritzing, so the door is only open during foiling/unfoiling
-I am not doing FTC.   I am taking the "Law of Deminishing Returns" approach on this one.   If my ribs aren't tender out of the box then FTC is probably not going to make a difference.   Once I get tender results, then I am willing to try FTC to get that extra "oomph".  But I do let them rest in wrapped foil.
-I will certainly try rubbing the nigh before, but I did this once last year (in my greenhorn Brinkmann Smoke-N-Grill days) and got hammy results

Sounds like I need to open up the vent, rotate and adjust thermometer position, while starting with room-temp meat.    Mow, your response confuses me as I thought once you get to a certain toughness the meat can't revert back to being tender.  But can certainly go longer if needed.

Thanks again!

[GusRobin]

In slow cooking, most meat gets more tender as you go along. Take an pork butt and pull it from the smoker at an IT170*. It will be on the tough side. Put it back in and cook it until temp is about 195-200*. It will be fork tender (in most cases).
As the guys said, times are just a rule of thumb. The meat will be done when it is done.

[FLBentRider]

How many racks are you doing each time?

[mow_delon]

Probably a little late on this, but haven't checked here for a while.  As far as my experience goes, tough pork out of the smoker means undercooked.  As Gus said, a pork butt will be on the tough side at 170, but at 200, is so tender it will almost melt.  Ribs are the same way.  If the meat is not pulling from the bones, the ribs are not done (there are some stubborn ribs that will never pull back, however).  Some meat, such as venison, can get too done and will dry out and therefore get tough, but I have never made a batch of dry ribs (even though I have heard here of people doing it).

One other thing, if the 3-2-1 or 3-2-2 methods are not working well for you, try smoking the ribs without foiling (I have quit foiling most of the time due to laziness).  Let them smoke and cook for 4 to 5 hours without ever looking in on them and once the meat pulls back from the bone (about a 1/2 inch) sauce or spritz or whatever you want to do with them.  As long as I sauce them, they never have turned out dry or tough.  Just my 2 cents.

[Majes]

Thanks and I will admit I was associating toughness with being overdone (in lieu of under-done).   I'm looking forward to another attempt this weekend and will be sure to report back with a pic of some awesome ribs or a link to my Craigslist posting with a smoking deal on a slightly used OBS (pun intended).   I'm only kidding...........I'll keep trying until I get it right.

[Habanero Smoker]

Thanks and I will admit I was associating toughness with being overdone (in lieu of under-done).   I'm looking forward to another attempt this weekend and will be sure to report back with a pic of some awesome ribs or a link to my Craigslist posting with a smoking deal on a slightly used OBS (pun intended).   I'm only kidding...........I'll keep trying until I get it right.

It is not the issue in this case, but with tough cuts of meat if you cook them at too high of a temperature they will be tough not matter what your final internal temperature is.

[thirtydaZe]

i've been having really good luck with the 3-2-1 method, and as someone said above, use the method, but not much concerned with the times.

i've been smoking for 3 hours uncovered.
then, i've been boating my ribs for the 2 hour duration.
then i add sauce to please and then foil till done.