A Bunch of Ribs

You may want to open the door periodically to let out excess moisture.

You might consider cooking them closer to a certified 250º at the cooking surfaces.

Tom, I'm curious about the moisture content. I have been cooking ribs with a dry rub on a sheet of foil to hold moisture. What makes them the most tender. I've been alittle disappointed.

And for the Preacher, use Cookshack Brisket Rub, and cook it till it begins to break apart. My FE100 says 12 hours for it, but I never cook one in less than 16 (unless it's a flat).

Good luck with your ribs!

Never known anyone to cook ribs on a sheet of foil,but if it works for you-it works.

I know there are approaches using foil,for speed,or flavor layering,at certain points in a comp process.

The FEC does not cook nearly as moist as a traditional CS.

Thus ,the opening door approach.

As to brisket,I know nothing about the brisket timing recommndations on an FEC.

I have cooked on a bunch of different models,and briskets still cook like briskets.

So Tom and Preacher,
Do you hang ribs, lay them on the racks, what? Do you just wait for the bones to poke out to know they're done? Seriously, I want to improve my ribs. Not sure how to do them. Foil is NOT working so good, but don't want them dry.
Thanks for any help.

maybe i could help, cook at 230 to 250 degrees and place ribs on racks. door shut for @4 hours, then pull and wrap in foil,could put a spoon or two of water in it. double or triple wrap foil,poor quality nowadays.put back in 1 to 2 hours,bones should be showing ,probe them they should be tender AND moist. just my 2 cents.

Smokin's Ribs 101 gives you a pretty good technique.

The AQ cooks moist,so I like to recommend learning to cook ,the way cooker cooks-rather than starting out with tricks.

You can do all kinds of tricks on a slab,but what about those days you are cooking a couple dozen racks.

Depending on number of slabs,I lay them flat-or for greater number,go to the rib racks.

Ribs 101 covers running a toothpick,or temp probe between ribs to check for tender.

Pick ribs up in the middle with tongs,and see if they start to break.

Pull off the end bones,to see how tender.

Looking for meat pullback from the ends of ribs,is sometimes an indicator.

Yes, cooking several times,and taking good notes,gives you the experience to judge your timing much better.

If cooking at 250º doesn't work for you-try the next slab at 275º.

Many FEC cooks think their cooker does ribs best at 275º.

Be sure you know the cooking point temps-NOT settings.

I just realized I never reported back on this little venture.

I have a business that services contractors and commercial accounts with roll-off dumpsters. At Christmas, we cooked 150 racks of baby backs over a week. I cooked 15 racks at a time in my Amerique. When a load finished, we wrapped in foil and a Christmas bag and delivered to our customers.

The response was unbelievable. Even now in July, my customers still comment about the ribs and asked if we are doing the same for Christmas this year.

You bet we are!

The Amerique is awesome.

Yep,some of us do the same with cases of butts,and turkey breasts.

A small printed instruction sheet and a small bottle of sauce stands out amongst all the cookies and candies and is rarely forgotten.

I have folks that bring it up from 8-10 yrs ago.