Smokette Problem with Ribs

Should've boiled the ribs........??????


I'm running...

(That many hours! Should have been done in 90 mins. Que pasa?)

AC.........

you're suppose to HELP the new people, not scare them away.

WHY or WHY did you bring up boiling, now I'm "boiling". just kidding.

Now I don't want this to be a thread about boiling ribs. If someone wants to talk about that, open a new line,

now BACK to trying to help the new CS Owner.

Don't know if we have all the information on we need to solve this problem. Would be nice to know how many slabs they were trying to cook. Any way, I would suggest raising the temperature to 250.

I'm assuming he got true St. Louis from a reputable source.....3 things come to mind....Leaving door open too long and too often....Overcrowding,or layering slabs on the racks.....It is not unheard of for some disreputable packing houses and restaurants to take 5 to 6 lb. slabs from old sausage sows,trim top and bottom and then run the saw across the center of the slab....This leaves 3 to 4 in. long ribs that look like very thick boned loinbacks or St. Louis cuts....They really take time to finish.

I've got the answer. The ribs were fine, afterall. The problem was the neighbor's father-in-law showed up unxepectedly late in the afternoon. The neighbor panicked, jumped the fence at the 2 hour 55 minute mark in the complaintant's smoking session with a raw St.Louis-cut slab of ribs clutched tightly to his chest. Unobserved, he opened the CS, snatched the perfectly cooked ribs, replaced them with the new meat, made praise to the CS Nation, and hauled butt for the fence.

Acarriii

..hauled butt for the fence? but he was cooking ribs.

AC, you crack me up. Don't change.

Smokin'

I'm not sure I'm reading this comment correctly:

quote:

prepared my 2.45 lbs of St Louis ribs as directed

If that was the total weight of the ribs and the oven really reached 220 222 degrees for six hours . . .

Were the ribs frozen going in? It sounds like they started to cook, just never finished. Could this be the experience of a "mopper" constantly opening the door of the oven?

They're done when they're done. How's that?

You guys are crackin' me up, now you're quoting me back to me.

I'm trying to HELP the guy.

But thanks, you're making me laugh.

Smokin'

The final answer is.... drum roll please....

QUOTE:I started to check them after three hours and every 30-45 mins after that to check for doneness.

Me thinks he was opening the door too often and they just didn't get enough sustained heat. It seems I read somewhere on this forum, ages ago, that opening the door increases cook time by 45 minz to an hour.

Back to you, Chet...ermmm Smokin'

I am the novice with the problem. I was trying to smoke one slab weighing 2.45 lbs.
I cut the slabs in half placing one on the top rack and one on the second rack. When I said I prepared them as directed I was referring to the directions in Ribs 101, i.e., removed membrane, sprinkled w/cs rib and chicken rub, placed in pan in fridge overnight. I followed Oakie's advice to start checking at 3 hrs and then every 30 to 45 min thereafter spraying ribs with apple juice each time. I used 2 oz of apple wood.
I hope the above info will help with a solution. Thanks!

Ask him how many times he opened the CS door.

Double Lazy

Charlie. Please accept my sympathies. Also, please take note that not only Smokin, but Stuart himself is on the case. What you experienced should not have happened.

Seriously. You had two thermometers corroborating one another at 220-225. 3 hours. Boom. Should have been cooked to pieces. At six hours, the ribs should have been applesauce.

Something odd here. And, listen brother, I have not upgraded to your status. I am still here in the offset mode. (Real wood).

Power outtage? The temp gauges maybe gave you a momentary max, then poof... 2.45 lbs ribs will cook to vapor at 225 for 6 hrs.

See what I mean? That's not much meat, and you cooked for a very long time. Something contrary happened to you, and all of us want to know what. I suggested the neighbor, but maybe you have a better idea...

Acarriii

I agree that it was the opening constantly after three hours... the Smokette temp could not have been sustained after the three hours. And at 225, it could take a solid 5 hours to cook a thick slab of ribs. I find that the difference in 225 vs. 250 can mean significant time differences in a cook. Try at 250 next time, and dont open more than once an hour after three or four hours initially. And try to wait til that neighbor is out of the house when you do the next cook......

Well get this solved.

The "issue" of opening the door at a certain point in the cook is that new owners of a CS have no idea how long it will take for the ribs to be done.

That's why the suggestion for the door to be opened so they can be checked, but I don't think every 30 to 45 is constantly. But this is the feedback I need for the 101. I'll make sure I put some notes in there. I've got to figure out how to tell them to open the door, look at them, decided if they're ready, and put them back in and close the door and then start thinking...were those done?

One slab, that size, cut in 1/2, would be done at no more than 4 hours in my Smokette. They're not bronto spares or something funky.

It will extend the cooking time - slightly, but that will be a function of how long the door is open and it's not that big of deal anyway, I've done it many times and as long as the door isn't left open for, say more than a min, it won't suffer. Besides, being an electric smoker, it senses the drop in temp and turns on the heater.

Never open the door on an offset? Sure we do.

I know, the CS nation is stumped for the first time.

Seeeeeeeeeeeee what you did Charlie. LOL and thanks for joining the forum, we'll get ya there.

Smokin, this item gave me an idea. The idea is based on the assumption that Charlie's problem is related to the open door. With my offset, I try not to open the cooking chamber too often, of course, but, if I have plenty of fuel in the firebox, I can recover the cook temp in 6-10 min, easy. Sounds like the CSs take longer, or at least suffer a worse effect. With the Brinkman, I close the cook chamber, and open the airvent to the fire and boost the temp.

Does it matter? Ohh yes. One cultural impact, and there may be more, is that the CS Nation is denied the pleasure and mystery of mopping! Can't abide that. A mopless people is a deprived people.

So, here's a thought. Can CS add a little booster heater element? It kicks in when the door opens and closes, helps jump the temp up to the thermostat setting, and then shuts off.

I can do it on El Cheapo...
Acarriii

Am wondering if the spraying of the apple juice every 30 minutes, helped to further
his problem.

Double Lazy

Charlie,

My suggestion is that instead of us guessing on what happened to your last cooking, let's try it again.

Buy some ribs and prepare them just like last time, then cook them at 250 for 3 hours and see how they turn out.

Also, make sure you are not using a light gauge extention cord.

It's poss-a-bull, it's poss-a-bull.

I've just done many ribs in my smokette and started opening the door at 3, I spray with juice every 45 min and had no problems getting the ribs done in 4-5 hours.

Charlie, we need to run an experiment. Now you have to do all the work and you get the results, but remember you can still eat the results.

Someone (I know, and you know) suggested that you use foil. I don't think you have to use foil, but you can.

For the next smoke, let's try this.

• Find another slab of ribs. (you said you only did one slab, hmm, when I buy the "fresh" ribs at some places, they haven't come out as good either)
  
  
• Let us know how much it weighs. If you're buying them one slab at a time you'll know the weight.
  
  
• Set the temp for 225.
  
  
• Smoke them with 2oz of wood
  
  
• Leave the door open until 4 hours. Open the door, take the ribs completely out and shut the door (I have a huge cutting board and just lay the ribs on it). This way the smoker won't cool off. Look at the ribs, look at the bone ends and see how the slab looks. Pick it up and twist a bone, is it done yet? If not, put it back in for an hour. Warning. Here's the hard part. Look at the rib and see if it's drying out. Some slabs have slim ends and they will tend to dry out, I'd suggest wrapping just that part in foil if you want to prevent overcooking.
  
  
• Repeat process at 5 hours and they'll probably be done.
  
  
• If not, I'd just wrap them in foil.
  
  

In my smokette, if I cook one slab of ribs at 225, for 4 hours, it's falling apart.

The only difference between your and mine:

1. I've calibrated my temp probes and know they're accurate and so is my smokette.
2. The ribs themselves.

All this rib talk...gotta have some for lunch.

Smokin'

Smokin;

Thanks everybody for your comments. I'll try Smokin's suggestion today and report back with the results.

You don't have a digital camera do you????

Photos would be great.

Smokin'

and good luck

Like Double Lazy, I am inclined to think that the additional humidity from the apple juice combined with the loss of heat contributed to this problem.

Charlie, you let us know how your test comes out!

Donna

So, tell me, is there one other forum where a new user can ask a question and get 22 responses within a day, all offering help?

Nope, don't think so, Good on 'ya.

Thanks Forum, keep it up!

Holy Moley! How many CookShackers does it take to smoke some ribs?

All of the above...when deprived of football.

Who smokes the ribs while y'all watch football? Can I get a witness? HA!

Geez, Andi, they don't have football or ribs in Alaska?

Down here we smoke the BEFORE the game and eat them during half-time.

That's why we got CS's so we don't have to tend the fire.

Another CS secret revealed... (and another Market ploy for Donna, new target audience, football people, thanks Andi)

Smokin'

I guess this is the season Andi can be submitting her recipe for moose ribs......I can hardly wait for the pix of how she arranges them in her smokette.

Now there's a PROJECT for Stuart . . . forget the pig, build a Cookshack big enough to smoke a whole moose!

SUCCESS! I tried Smokin's experiment. I prepared 2.35 lbs of St Louis ribs as directed in Ribs 101. Put them in the cs set the temp to 225 and did not open the door until the 4 hour mark. The ribs were falling off done and juicy. Thank you all for your comments and suggestions. Not sure what happened the first time, but Smokin's experiment sure worked!

Good one, Tom! How WILL I get those big babies in there? Stay tuned...

Congrats charlie.

I'll take the comments and add some "clarifications" to Ribs 101 when I update it.

See, it takes a whole tribe to cook one slab of ribs...

If doing one slab you can spray with apple-juice thru the vent hole, if you put the ribs in the middle. No door opening

well, here's my idea.

Get some surgical stainless tubs or something that I can drill holes in and mount on the side, hook them up to a pump and I can "spray" anything. Problem with chunky sprays.

And also a Humidity Indicator.

Like Kingfish and others say" use the venthole".

I've found that if the spray nozzle is set on a wide mist and you are using a fine spray like cider or juice,you will get a pretty good distribution and drip through to the top 3 racks.

It ain't perfect, but after all this is an art.

Smokin', I accept your answer way up above about the fact he was opening the door too often but this is what you said in Ribs 101:

"If you're wanting fall off the bone (most people do) then just shake a rib bone, if they're not ready, put them back in and check them in 30 to 45. Repeat until you're happy. You can always take them out, cut one off, eat it and throw them back in."

Maybe he was just doin' what he learned from the Master...