Edison,
That steak has a lot of grey color in it which is a sign there was too much water on the surface of the steak, not moisture or juices, WATER. Water is the bane of ribeye grilling. I call it grey matter. Grey matter is tasteless and tough and is the result of the heat steaming/ boiling the meat.
I completely agree with your method of grilling. Cooking the steak slowly helps in the evaporation of the water off the surface. However I have found that if you don't dehydrate the surface first, you have to take extra precaution when cooking this way.
I have two methods for grilling cowboy ribeyes:
#1 Salt steak liberally and set on a wire rack and place it in the bottom of the frig. For a steak that is 1.25" or less... 24 hours. For 1.50 or more... 48 hours. After dehydrating the surface of the steak you can pretty much grill it anyway you want. I will grill at about 300-400 to an internal temp of about 112 - 115. Then I grill over high heat/ flames. Yummy. Once you dehydrate the surface you must cook the steak. If you save it for another day the water will migrate to the surface again. Please note: Placing a steak in the frig this way is NOT dry aging. True dry aging takes weeks if not months.
#2 Cooking a ribeye right off the cow: I salt it and keep the grill temp to no higher than 225 and then place the steak away from direct heat. Also, it is important to cook the steak vertically using an adjustable roast rack or I've seen people skewer several steaks together vertically and this seems to work well. Grilling steaks vertically keeps the temp down on the flat part of the steak. Then when the internal temp reaches 115 or so then grill the steak in the normal position. Bring on the heat!
If you want an example of grey matter go back a few days (6-11-2017) to a post titled USDA Prime ribeyes on Summit charcoal. It was posted by a moderator so I hope I don't get in trouble! The second picture shows grey matter completely covering the steaks. In the 3 & 4 pictures you can see the heat is struggling to properly sear the steaks. The meat is burning instead. A wet steak will not brown properly as energy from the grill will go into evaporating the excess water rather than browning the steak. Plus grey matter is tough and will resist browning. I've seen people using extreme heat to try and overcome this problem only to further damage the meat. 24 hours of frig time would have turned these steaks into a wonder to behold!
