Talked to a Pro

[DesertRat]

Last night I went to Pete's Meats to order a couple sandwiches. He has 20 foot trailer with a huge smoker on the back of it that he pulls with his pickup truck. He is in the same location with regular hours and has been for the years that I've been in this town. I told him that I still considered myself an advanced beginner and had some baby backs in the refrigerator that I plan to smoke today or tomorrow. Asked how he smoked his. He put his dry rub on about four hours before he puts the ribs on the smoker. Then he puts them on the smoker for approximately four hours at 240 degrees. Longer for St. Louis. I've almost always used a shortened 321 at 225. So I think I'm going to give his method a shot. Any comments are welcome.

 

[Roaniecowpony]

It's likely you'll be disappointed if you simply set your temp to 240F and cook 4 hours.

Unless you have the same smoker, same temperature measurement locations, calibrations, and use the same techniques as this guy, the cooking times and results will be different.

For example: I smoked some babybacks yesterday at 250F for the first 4 hours. They had a good looking mohogany colored bark and were thoroughly cooked, but not tender. You could have eaten them, but you'd be chew'n meat off the bone. It took another hour wrapped at 275F to make them tender. That's on my RT700, using my calibrations on the temp probe.

You will get much closer by using information with people cooking on the same equipment, IMO.

Best to develop your own times, temps, techniques, using your equipment and observation of the meat itself. In my example of the cook I did yesterday, I didn't decide, before I started the cook, I was going to pull them at 4 hours and wrap them. I cooked them until I was happy with the bark buildup. Then I wrapped and cooked until I observed they had reached the tenderness I wanted. It just so happened to be at about 4 hours for the initial smoke and an hour of being wrapped.

In all the activities I've been involved with like aerobatic flying, horse riding/training, dog training/hunting, I've had experts tell me that I had to "read the ...." (airplane, horse, dog, etc.) in order to make the next decision. I think it relates to cooking/bbq as well. Read the meat.

 

[Gonefishin]

Be interesting to try it and find out.

 

[DesertRat]

It's likely you'll be disappointed if you simply set your temp to 240F and cook 4 hours.

Unless you have the same smoker, same temperature measurement locations, calibrations, and use the same techniques as this guy, the cooking times and results will be different.

For example: I smoked some babybacks yesterday at 250F for the first 4 hours. They had a good looking mohogany colored bark and were thoroughly cooked, but not tender. You could have eaten them, but you'd be chew'n meat off the bone. It took another hour wrapped at 275F to make them tender. That's on my RT700, using my calibrations on the temp probe.

You will get much closer by using information with people cooking on the same equipment, IMO.

Best to develop your own times, temps, techniques, using your equipment and observation of the meat itself. In my example of the cook I did yesterday, I didn't decide, before I started the cook, I was going to pull them at 4 hours and wrap them. I cooked them until I was happy with the bark buildup. Then I wrapped and cooked until I observed they had reached the tenderness I wanted. It just so happened to be at about 4 hours for the initial smoke and an hour of being wrapped.

In all the activities I've been involved with like aerobatic flying, horse riding/training, dog training/hunting, I've had experts tell me that I had to "read the ...." (airplane, horse, dog, etc.) in order to make the next decision. I think it relates to cooking/bbq as well. Read the meat.

Well, sure. I don't plan to pop it on and set a timer.

 

[JGW]

Only one way to try it out. Go for it.

 

[DesertRat]

I seem to remember reading that more than one smoker basically plops their ribs on the grill and smokes them until they are done. Am I right or did I misread? That seems to be exactly what Pete told me he did. I'm anxious to try it without wrapping.

 

[Beach Bum]

I seem to remember reading that more than one smoker basically plops their ribs on the grill and smokes them until they are done. Am I right or did I misread? That seems to be exactly what Pete told me he did. I'm anxious to try it without wrapping.

I have done that several times with spares. Ballpark has been 6-7 hours at 225.

 

[jfrosty27]

I never wrap. Just toss the racks on at 250 and let ‘er rip. They’re done when they’re done but always seem to come out within the same general time window. About 5.5 hrs for baby backs, about an hour more for spares. They always come out great.

 

[Wslayer]

I don't wrap either. Temp probe inserted and when hit 195° start poking around for tenderness. Otherwise the grill never gets opened. Usually in the 5.5 - 6 hr range .

 

[Waterboy]

If the ribs are for me I put them on and leave ‘em alone. If you are cooking at 240 you probably want to lift the lid and see how they are doing at 4 hours but like others have mentioned I would be surprised if they are done in 4. I’d definitely give the “toss ’em on and let ‘em ride” a try. Super easy and they turn out the way we like them at our house. Good luck!

 

[Roaniecowpony]

Last time I ran ribs without wrapping was at 225F and it took about 7 hours. They may have been spare ribs. I just can't remember.

I generally wrap them, because they are more moist and that's how my wife likes them. So, that's how I cook em.

 

[llbts1]

I wrap bb in foil at the 3 hour mark. I lay them in butter, brown sugar, catsup, grape jelly, and a drizzle of Tiger Sauce. 2 more hours and they are done. Wife likes them like that, so that's how they are done.

 

[Roaniecowpony]

I wrap bb in foil at the 3 hour mark. I lay them in butter, brown sugar, catsup, grape jelly, and a drizzle of Tiger Sauce. 2 more hours and they are done. Wife likes them like that, so that's how they are done.

What temp?

 

[Wslayer]

If you are cooking at 240 you probably want to lift the lid and see how they are doing at 4 hours

Hence the thermometer. . .leave'r closed. There not gonna burn up on ya.

 

[Roaniecowpony]

Hence the thermometer. . .leave'r closed. There not gonna burn up on ya.

I'm guessing he was inferring the ribs won't be done after 4 hours/240F. If so, I agree.

 

[llbts1]

I wrap bb in foil at the 3 hour mark. I lay them in butter, brown sugar, catsup, grape jelly, and a drizzle of Tiger Sauce. 2 more hours and they are done. Wife likes them like that, so that's how they are done.

225- 250.

 

[DenStinett]

We've alway had great luck with our BBR cools:
Unwrapped at 210 for 4.5 hours .... start spritzing at 3.0 every 15 mins
At the 4.5 hour mark, I crank it up to 275 for another 0.5 hours, still spritzing every 15 mins .... all with a SmokeTube for added Smoke
Then after the 5 hours unwrapped, they get one last spritz and wrapped in Foil, still in at 275 for an additional hour or until they reach 200 - 210 internal
They get a short Nap and they're done

 

[jonny_comfort]

I seem to remember reading that more than one smoker basically plops their ribs on the grill and smokes them until they are done. Am I right or did I misread? That seems to be exactly what Pete told me he did. I'm anxious to try it without wrapping.

My usual method was to smoke them at 225 for about 2 hours, then wrap in foil and cook around another 2 hours or so until temps were around 195. Then I would unwrap and sauce, cook for about 20 more minutes. This gave me good ribs but something was missing. It should be said here that my grill is a bullseye and it used to run hotter than the shown temp. So, the shorter cooking time was because of higher than expected temps. It's still a little hotter but used to run about 50 degrees higher.

Yesterday, I smoked three racks of baby back ribs using a modified 3-2-1 method. Smoked them for 3 hours, then wrapped them and put them on for about 2 hours until temp was just hitting 195 or so throughout. Then I unwrapped and sauced them for another 30 minutes. They came out unreal, these were the best ribs I've ever done on the bullseye. I can tell you, at least on my bullseye, the modified 3-2-1 gave way better results. I wasn't getting bad results before, but these were just plain awesome this time around. They held to the bone but when eating they came clean off easily. I didnt start out planning to modify, but when temps were hitting early I changed things up accordingly.

Best recommendation is to try it out and see what you like. I've been getting my best results by trying different methods for ribs, brisket, etc. Give it a shot and see what you think.

 

[Partimewages]

This thread proves there are many ways to cook ribs. I've probably used at least half of the methods here. All great ideas that I keep learning from.
One thing we do is cook baked beans under the rack the ribs cook on. Makes for a great side.

 

[DesertRat]

Be interesting to try it and find out.

I'm the op. I did it, 4 hours was not enough, they were still a bit on the tough side at that point. A little bit longer was just right and that was baby back, not St Louis or the big boys.