3rd WSM cook (Spare Ribs): Still Not as Good as First!

[Andrew S. B.]

My 3rd cook didn't go as well as i wanted.

My maiden pork rib smoke turned out Amazing and i didn't know what i was doing. 2nd, i made the BRITU ribs SUPER salty by not following directions. 3rd was with BRITU w/ less salt, all brown sugar, following time instructions, and foiling...

Let me start off by saying that I didn't realize the "ribs" that I took out of my freezer were actually the long leftover pieces from cutting whole spare ribs into St. Louis style. I sat down to eat them and realized... hey... wait... no rib bones! …and I’m going to be a surgeon...

Anyway, I smoked w/ apple chips and a big chunk of hickory at 250 lid temp. I think my mistake was over-foiling. After a 3hr foil w/ some white wine after 3hr of regular smoking, I came back and my “ribs” were mush! Tried to pick them up and they disintegrated. I took them out of the foil, added KC Masterpiece, and turned up the temp to 300 lid for 30 mins to try and dry them out a bit.

I ended up getting a burnt set of “ribs” that turned into pulled pork the min I tried to eat them. Wasn’t very appetizing.

I just wanted to vent a bit and post about my experience incase anyone finds it amusing. How did I burn the ribs? Was it the all-brown sugar rub or was it the KC Masterpiece at 300F? I’m going to try a pork butt next, take a break from ribs.

Andrew

 

[Don C.]

Andrew,
I've had much success with spares cooking then for 7 hours @ 230-240 grate temp. I too had mush ribs when trying to foil.

I believe 3hrs is way too long.

Rath *not a foil fan*

 

[Larry Wolfe]

Andrew,
You definitely foiled too long. Most people use the 3-2-1 method for spares. Three hours in the smoke, 2 hours in the foil and the last hour to finish and firm up the ribs. I use a 4-1-1 method, which leaves the ribs tender but not falling off the bone. Also when I foil the ribs, I do not use any liquid. If you choose to use baby backs vs. spares us a 2-1-1 method. Foiling ribs is not 100% necessary, but if you wanna turn out consistent tender ribs it definitely helps.

Sounds like your ribs burnt due to a combination of the brown sugar and the BBQ Sauce with the high heat. Try to use turbinado sugar which will not burn as easy as brown sugar and sauce your ribs during the last 10-15 minutes of the cook.