First Rib try not too good


 
J

Jerry Pollard

TVWBB Super Fan
I cooked my first ribs yesterday on my new wsm.Used the standard method firing briquets.
The wsm went to 300* on startup. Place ribs on top rack (2 slabs st. louis) an hour to get temp down to 250, it stabalized there for entire cook. Did not foil ribs. 4.5 hours.
turned out kind of dry and chewy. used the BRITU rub.sprayed with appled juice couple times after 3 hours.
any suggestions what went wrong?\

Jerry P
 
Temperature was too high!

Try using the Minion Method for starting your charcoal.

Throw away the book that came with your WSM.

Foil.

Try the "Competition Ribs" recipe on this site.

OMO

MikeZ
 
I use the standard method often for shorter cooks such as ribs. By St Louis cut, I guess you're referring to spares ? If so, 4.5 hours is not long enough. Mine go 7 hours if I don't foil for an hour at the 4 hour mark, which I usualy do. The short time would account for the lack of tenderness.

If you closed all your vents when the coals had grayed over, I would have thought your temp would have been 400 or so. I let it drop to 325, add the meat and it usually drops into the 250 range quickly.

If you were using loin backs, I can't be much help because I do spares almost always.

Keep at it. You've got a great cooker and you'll quickly learn the tricks.

Paul
 
I agree, temp too high at startup. Catch the temps on the way up.
I always use minion method, even on short cooks, but thats me.
Would have required another hour or so on the ribs. They would have required longer times (6-6.5 hrs) had the initial temp been down in the 230-250 range.
Foiling for an hour would have helped too, but not really necessary imo.
 
My thinking is the same as Paul's. 'Dry and chewy' suggests undercooked.

Next cook, don't go by time or visuals to determine done; a probe inserted between the bones will go in effortlessly: pull them then.
 
I would have to agree w/ everyone else too...I use the Minion Method to start with everything!! Even Ribs, you can control temp better. When I'm doin Ribs, I've fould that I don't need to wrap in foil as long as I'm using water in my pan and stay under 250 lid. Just this Sat I did 2 racks of St. Louis Spares and they came out tender and juicy as if I had wrapped them in foil.(6.25 hours) All I can say is keep trying..you'll get there. It took me a couple of months to get Ribs the way I like them when I bought my WSM. Good luck on your next Rib cook!!! Ron
 
Thanks everyone;

I knew I did something wrong. My first cook,
butt, came out awesome!!
I'll try some more ribs.. I'm going to attempt a "BRISKET" this weekend. Do, i dare?

Jerry P
 
Sound advice from everyone, would also suggest not spraying with anything while in the cooking process. Everytime you lift the lid you are feeding your fire with more oxygen, and throwing off your temps. Add juice to foil pack if you decide to use this method.
 
Your temps may have been a little high but your only problem was that you didn't cook them long enough. You'll do better next time by using the probe method that Kevin suggests or by being able to pull the bones apart easily (tear test).

Good luck.
 
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