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9 replies

First time ribs - mediocre

FM Former Member
Help!

Today, I used my new smokette for the first time. Cooked three slabs of spares at 2.3 lbs each. They were full slabs (safeway butcher didn't know what St Louis Style was!). They came out mediocre at best, and tougher than I'd like. Here's my log:
Cut slabs in half.
Rubbed with 1/2 cookshack spicy chicken rub and 1/2 cookshack rib rub.
Marinated overnight.
Outside temperature was 31 - 32 degrees througout cook.
Cooked for 3 hours at 225 degrees with meat side down.
At 3 hr mark, turned ribs over and sprayed with apple juice. Looked a little dry and definately still very firm.
At 4 hr mark, mopped ribs with cattlemans sauce. Still not really pulling away from bone so I foiled them.
At 5 hr mark check with toothpick, getting better but still firm.
At 6 hour mark, pulled one slab and cut into individual ribs. Edible, but still not falling off bone.
At 7 hr mark, grew impatient and pulled rest of ribs. Still not much change from 6 hr mark.
My polder has not yet arrived so I do not have any temperature readings. Does anyone have any suggestions as to what happened? Do you think that an outside temperature of ~32 degrees may have lengthened the cook time? At 7 hrs I would have thought they would be falling off the bone. Again, they are edible, but if I bought them in a resaurant, I would not go back. Any suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks! Confused
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G greynMember
Axiom63,
When I do ribs it usualy taked 5 to 6 hours to be done. The thing to remember is that every time that you open the door, you are adding about 20 minutes to the cooktime. I know it is hard, but keep the door closed as much as possible and keep good records so that you have a good reference for when done.

Some people also foil their ribs toward the end of the cook for more tenderness.

With a little more experience, I am sure that you will be making ribs better than you can purchase.

Smiler
FM Former Member
Couple of things.

You're getting some real good suggestions here, couple of points to think about.

Outside temp has not effect on the CS, except when you open the door and let all the hot air out and cold air in.

Guys, guys, guys....FOIL is not the answer every time. So, I'll start a new thread on that, I think we're over foiling everyting...but that's just me.

AX, CSprints..great town!

Welcome.

I need to understand a couple of things. Time and Temp.

First -- temp. How do you "know" what temp you're smoking at? Have you tested the unit? Are you using an extension cord? Also, as they pointed out, every time you opened the door, it adds time to the smoke. I've gotten REAL good at opening and closing the door really fast. But remember, they're done, when they're done.

Time. If you open that door, at each point you did and left it open for say a min. You'll easily add an hour or two because you let a lot of heat out.

We'll help you out.

Smokin'
FM Former Member
Thanks all for the good replies regarding my first try at ribs. Looking back on it, I now think that Smokin' is probably right. I opened the door at the 3 hr mark and every hour after that as I was impatient for some really great ribs and was afraid of them drying out. You know how a kid is with a new toy. I tried to keep the door open for a little time as possible but at 32 degrees ambient temperature, I can see how the heat inside the smoker would be lost very quickly. Especially at the 4 hour mark where I foiled the ribs, I know the door was open for more than a minute - probably two. As I said, I don't have my polder yet and I am not familiar with the time it takes for the temperature to ramp back up after the door has been open. I will need to factor this in next time.

I think that my impatience and lack of familiarity with the smokette were my undoings. Next time I will exercise more patience and "trust" that the smoker is doing its job. I'll just set it and forget it and won't open the door until later in the cook cycle.

Learning is part of the process and I appreciate your suggestions and advice.
Thanks Again!
FM Former Member
AX,

You'll get there. Keep in mind, it usually doesn't take more than about 2 or 3 smokes to get this thing down. On an offset, it might be more like 20 or 30 or even more to get it down.

Be patient, keep good notes and try to learn what the meat is telling you. Is it dry, is it chewy, etc, etc.
FM Former Member
I'm willing to bet your smoker was not cooking at 225�. Probably much lower. That plus the door opening...though you did good to wait for the first 3 hours!

I have to lift the 3 times during the entire cook.....once at 2 hours to mop, then at 3 hours to foil(I do repalce the lid while doing this step) and finally at 5 1/2 hour mark to unwrap and sauce(again, lid stays on while doing this step).

Your Polder will help in this instance to monitor what the true temp was inside.

As Smokin' says..a few practice rounds and you will be the envy of the neighborhood!

Now, about this foiling thin.........
FM Former Member
One more thing, you may want to change butchers if he didnt know what a St.Louis cut is. Did you trim the tips or did you cook with them on?? This will definately effect the finished product. When i buy my spares i get them with the tips on and trim them myself and cook seperately the tips make great appetizers!!!!!!!

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