Difference of 225 and 275 degrees and moisture

I have an AmeriQue. Smoke a lot of baby backs. I use 225*-235*, they come out great.

I smoke at 235* and like tigerfan produce great ribs. At 275*, the ribs may get a little better bark. Has to be a reason why some of the seasoned vets do the ribs at that temp.

It is my understanding that some cooks believe that cooking at 275* will heat the bone and it will cause some inside out cooking.This is to get some release from the bone...sorta like a microwave cooks.

Then again, I could be wrong!

To be honest I cant tell the difference I have done both temps I like cooking starting them at 180 for a hour of so then kick it up to 275 as to get them done a little quicker.

Baby backs/loin backs I do at 235. Always come out perfect. St. Louis I've experimented with various temps. 275 seemed to work out best except for the last few batches which seemed somewhat greasy.

I've had the same experience with the greasiness. Spares have more fat than loin backs, and that's where the grease comes from. It's also why I like the loin backs better. That said, maybe we're not cooking the spares long enough to render more fat, however, I don't pull them until the toothpick approves.

Years of practice is how I know. I tried all the temps and 275 is what works for me and my FE.

Just experiment. It's all fun and you get to eat at the end of each experiment.

Can't prove it's the best temp. Will vary with cooker, your taste buds, size of the ribs, fat, humidity, rub, etc, etc.

One thing I'm NOT a fan of and this isn't aimed at your Terry; it's a good question.

There is NO magic temp. 225 for example. Where did that come from? Progably someone with a dial thermometer they never used and it had a 225 on it.

Just use what works for you.

Thus ended the Smokin' Post

quote:

Originally posted by Terry Sandlin:
If using 275, do you need to spritz the ribs each time you open the door after 2 hours to check on the ribs? The 101 guide mentions 225 as a temp.

In an FEC100; yes. In a 025; no. It's a moister cooking environment.

For me, I prefer 275 ribs in a pellet smoker; 250 in the AQ. That's just what works for me.

I'm certainly no expert,but a couple of thoughts.
I have worked as a pitboy for larger cooks.
One might cook Thurs thru Sat - all night and the last customer had to pick up their meats by 10AM Sun morning.
You don't worry about changing wood for every product,temps,or time.You tried to keep the hickory coals at even temps and moved the product to hotter,cooler areas.those that were about done may go way over to the corners where they stayed warm.

The feeling was the longer big meats stayed in the plateau,the better they broke down collagen and rendered fat.
We could have shoulders,pork slabs-whatever came in mixed cases,hams,shoulder clods,sausage,venison,turkeys,etc.

Bbq cooks for many years figured out that low and slow would work on most anthing and rarely mess up anything.

Where we might obsess for days over a 2 lb rack of loinbacks,a restaurant/caterer/vendor might be cooking a half dozen different products at once and pulling them out as they come done,or are needed.

Most things can stay in the smokehouse/pit a longer time without damage.

Like cal says,a comp cook may be looking for bark.

Also,all cookers cook differently.The same brand /model may have different sweet spots.

My smokette liked 235º.

The CS electrics are very moist cooking and don't recover heat quickly,the FEC may cook more dry and recovers heat more quickly.

The FEC may like a couple butts at 250º,16 butts at 225º.

It might like a few heavy loinbacks at 250º, a couple cases at 225º.Three racks of spares at 275º,a case at 235º.

Eddy work on countless variations to get the FECs cooking well for us and knows why all the tricks that come to mind don't work.

After doing lots of ribs,he found that 275º worked best for St Louis.

Toothpicks work great to check ease/tender-but remember fat on a brisket is different than the flat.
WE look for ribs with more fat for flavor-but have to render out the fat!Eyes and experience.
They can still be very greasey.

As far as whether to spray or not,is whether you might be changing flavor profiles/adding layers-after the rub is set and won't wash off.Just spraying for moisture means you may need to open the doors more to let out the moisture.

Just a couple of thoughts.

We cook our ribs at 250 in comps since that's the best temp we have found for ribs in the FEC with our method. We've cooked 100's of racks in the FEC to try and figure out a temp that worked for us. 225 is too low and we found the final product was drier and it took a loooong time to cook the ribs. 275 works great as well but it didn't work with all our other meats nor did we find we liked it more than those cooked at 250. If I were you I would spend a Saturday and cook ribs at 225 and immediately cook some ribs at 275 and see what the difference is.

To answer your first question, we never spritz our ribs since it will drop the temperature of the meat due to additional evaporation, it will lower the temp of the smoker, and it extends the cook time. We also foil after 3-4 hours with minimal additions.

Thanks for the information. Part of the reason for my question had to do with my undergraduate and graduate courses in biochemistry. I am interested in just what temp differences affect the chemistry of cooking. Sometimes the knowledge of the chemistry doesn't make any difference in cooking technique (for ex.,the plateau in brisket). On the other hand, I feel the success of cookshack cookers is due to how they affect the chemistry of cooking and that may affect technique.
Really, aren't we and our varied techniques in smoking just grown up kids playing with our chemistry sets (smokers)? Where else can you have so much fun and eat your experiment?

quote:

Really, aren't we and our varied techniques in smoking just grown up kids playing with our chemistry sets (smokers)? Where else can you have so much fun and eat your experiment?

Dang. That's hard to argue with.

chemisty?

Now you're taking the fun out of BBQ, making it sound like school, although I'm the HeadMaster at BBQ 101 University (I have a real teaching degree also).

Next you'll be telling me Brining 101 is chemistry too.

I'm outta here, going to the BBQ class but we won't be talking chemistry there.

I always interject in these "science" discussions that I never seen a steer or a hawg what could read a thermometer ,that we are all so hung up on.

Now,wouldn't ya know it ,they got therms that can talk to the animals.

I can see the "chemistry" and humor of reactions are taking place. :-)

Besides being the most helpful, this must be one of the most fun forums on the internet.

PS
As a former superintendent of schools, and having taken a Cookshack Workshop, I can assure you that Smokin Okie not only has the degree, HE CAN TEACH! If you get the chance, don't miss taking a workshop from Smokin. You will value it the rest of your smoking career.

Thanks Terry!