Newbie question on St. Louis ribs

[Ralfie]

I just received my MAK 1 Star last week and I smoked a slab of St. Louis ribs this weekend.

I cooked for 5 hours at 250 and did not foil. I basted with apple juice every hour or so.
The meat was very good, but the outside got crusty, hard and stringy. Did I cook too long or too high of a temperature? I'm going to try another slab this coming weekend.

 

[Ozric]

Should have foiled, IMO. There's just not enough meat to retain enough moisture over a 5-6 hour smoke without foiling. It's the "2" in the 3-2-1 (smoke, foil, finish) that fixes that problem. The "1" crisps her right back up after the steaming in foil (that's when you get to add great tasting liquid). Every single time I have taken a short cut on ribs (thought I had a good reason each time), I've been sorry. I just think the foiling step is way too important to skip.

My opinion. Of course, I retain the right to be wrong.

 

[Pappymn]

If not using foil. Lower the temp to 225 degrees. When toothpick tender. Pull them.

 

[Ralfie]

Should have foiled, IMO. There's just not enough meat to retain enough moisture over a 5-6 hour smoke without foiling. It's the "2" in the 3-2-1 (smoke, foil, finish) that fixes that problem. The "1" crisps her right back up after the steaming in foil (that's when you get to add great tasting liquid). Every single time I have taken a short cut on ribs (thought I had a good reason each time), I've been sorry. I just think the foiling step is way too important to skip.

My opinion. Of course, I retain the right to be wrong.

By "add great tasting liquid", I guess you mean BBQ sauce of your choosing?

 

[dnew]

IMO you need to put either a liquid such as apple and/or pineapple juice in the foil with the ribs to aid in the tenderness process or many add brown sugar, honey and/or Parkway in the foil and then fold tight careful not to tear a hole. It really does aid in making the ribs more tender. The last step would be to sauce or not to sauce but still return to the smoker to tighten up the ribs. Tenderness test would be to stick a tooth stick between the bones and if it slides in easy like butter, you are good. You can also pull at a bone and if it pulls apart very easy, you are there. Remember that most like ribs that pull easily from bone as you bite whereas competition doneness is where just the area of your bite pulls from the bone.

 

[SmokinMAK]

Agreed with what the other guys said. The other thing about basting every hour and not foiling is the old adage - if you're looking, you're not cooking! You are going to have to cook longer, and run the risk of drying out the meat even more.

Let your bark get set and get the color you are looking for, then foil with apple juice, squeeze butter, honey, beer - anything else that will then let your ribs steam (I also like Texas Rib Candy at this point). The moisture will help steam the ribs to finish (softening the bark), and infusing moisture into the meat as well. If you watch BBQ pitmasters I think every single contestant that I've seen on there (competition cooks) have foiled their ribs.

Enjoy, and let us know how your next batch goes. We love pics around here!

 

[Ozric]

By "add great tasting liquid", I guess you mean BBQ sauce of your choosing?

No. I sauce after unfoiling. No, I meant apple juice. Or Cherry Dr. Pepper. Or Red Stag. Or Cherry DP & Red Stag! This is where you add moisture. The flavors steam into the rib meat. I don't spritz.

 

[Big Poppa]

OK whoever came up with 3-2-1 should be not allowed to cook ribs. Terrible. ASorry but just plain terrible...there are several good videos on t ribs ( ihave two of them) 6 hours cooking ribs leaves you with mushed out grey matter.

 

[Big Poppa]

meatheads amazingribs.com is a great resource too

 

[TentHunter]

I basted with apple juice every hour or so.

For what it's worth, here's my 2¢... and you'll probably want change!

Every time you open the pit to spritz you are loosing heat, causing a stall and adding time to the cook.. That's the reason for the old saying, "If you're lookin' you ain't cookin'." I believe the longer cook time increases the chance of ribs drying out.

I'd rather just add a water pan (especially in colder dry weather) and leave the lid shut for 2 1/2- 3 hours while they are smoking low & slow before foiling.