Rib Questions

[dscarry]

I did ribs for the first time in my BS and they were the best I've ever done (I usually use an offset charcoal smoker).

However, they were still tough. I did 3 hours with smoke and 3 hours without at about 195-205. I had the setting a little higher (210).

Am I too low in temp or too short in cooking?

[KyNola]

After the smoke time, lots of folks subscribe to wrapping the ribs in foil with a spritz of apple juice.

Welcome to the forum!

KyNola

[LilSmoker]

Hi and welcome dscarry  ;)

Ribs can take a lot of experimenting with the Bradley, first of all make sure the membrane is removed, i think nearly everybody will agree, this is a must, otherwise the ribs will be chewy.

You can spritz the ribs every hour or so with some apple juice etc to keep them moist, and rotate the racks, top to bottom, back to front etc.

Usually my ribs are cooked at around 6 hours, but if they'r still not tender enough, i juice them, or sauce them, cover with foil, and place in the oven at 190F until they are just right.
The ammount of time in the oven depends on how cooked they are, and how tender you want them to be.

Alternatively, you can put them in the crockpot with some juice/sauce until tender.

Regards LilSmoker

[brotheryyy]

The most important thing is to make sure the ribs hit 185. Thats the temp that all the fat and collagen will melt and leave tender morsels of meat behind. And true covering them 2-3 hours in will help to keep them real moist , sometimes too moist so folks will uncover for the last hour hence the 3-2-1 method
3 hours smoke(@225ish)
2 hours more wrapped in foil(after a nice spritz)
1 hour then uncovered again(helps to firm things up)

now, this is not rigid, cause when i got time i like to smoke@190(overnight even)

[Mr Walleye]

Hi dscarry and welcome to the forum.

Everybody has a little different idea of "tender" ribs. I prefer mine what I would call fairly tender, not quite falling off the bone but very close. I usually do mine bone side down for about 4 hours at 210 (2 hours 40 minutes of smoke). Then wrap in foil with a squirt of apple juice and back in the Bradlet for another 4 hours at 210. Then remove them and throw them on the grill just long enough to sauce them.

I think because everybody's idea of the perfect rib is a little different it seems to take you a few tries to get it dialed into your own taste. To help, make sure you keep notes because if you're like me the old brain ain't what it used to be!  ::)

Mike

[West Coast Kansan]

Lots of rib variations as said above.  - Also just to mention removing the membrane is important.

Welcome and keep in touch.  ;D

[Consiglieri]

I've saved some links on ribs.  I like Iceman's competition rib technique which has helped me a bunch:  http://forum.bradleysmoker.com/index.php?topic=4290.0   His sauce is the bomb too.

Also, I summarized a bunch of information I've collected (mostly heree) to help figure out various ways to determine when ribs are done: http://forum.bradleysmoker.com/index.php?topic=5631.msg52971#msg52971

Welcome and have fun!