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Chuck Dugas

Chuck Dugas

TVWBB Pro
I'm doing the basis recipe for baby back ribs.I set the vents to 30%. My question is, What temp should I be getting at the dome? Its 4hrs now and i'm getting 210 to 220. The ribs are still tough??? At 30% even the hickory did not light or the apple wood balls wrapped in aluminum. I just increased to 50% on the vents.I'm still learning!!!!! I think I need a Higher temp. Any help out there in smokeland.??
 
open the vents. Your smoker is not hot enough.

I like to cook baby backs about 275° dome.

Most like to cook them around 240-250° dome.

You can foil them to tenderize and speed them up.

I leave my baby backs in the foil for approx 30 minutes...you may need a little more foil time.
 
You should be near 235-240 at the lid in my opinion, only getting around 210 at the lid means your grate temp is probably only at 190-200 which is too low.

As for it being 4 hours and them still tough, are you doing spares or baby backs? I find that my thick baby backs take around 6 hours at 225 to be how the family likes them.
 
If you still need to get the temp up take the door off and leave it off for a few minutes. baby backs usually take 6 hours at least. The meat will pull back and show 1/4 to 1/2 inch of the rib bones when they are getting near. Give 'em a little more time.
 
The recepie for beginers on this site is what I followed. How do you get 33% on the vents beats me. I used the shaft from the Weber temp gauage to set the vents.I think this is to small an opening to get those temps that you all sugested.(245-275). I pulled the baby back ribs at the 4-1/2 hrs.as the recepies calls for. The ribs tasted great but were very tough!! There was no wind and the temps outside was 81-76. How can you tell 30% to 33% is it that critical? Once I can figure out how to post pictures,I'll post mine. Thanks everyone for the help.....I NEED IT!!! Chuck...
 
Ok First thing. If your WSM is running that low the next time open the vents up wide open. Then start closing them when your about 25º-30º away from your target temp.
Second and the most important thing IMO, is never cook by time. You always cook till tender. As low as your temps were, the ribs were nowhere near done at the 4.5 hr mark. Yes if your temps would have been higher, there's a good chance they would have been done at 4.5 hrs, but you knew they were not high enough, and the 2 posts above said that your temps were way too low? You should have continued to cook them till tender knowing that you didn't have the temp high enough in the WSM.
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HTH
 
Hi Chuck,

As you may have noticed, the idea behind the basic recipe is to not have to worry about temperature, but to cook based on doneness.

So a few questions...<UL TYPE=SQUARE><LI>Are you using Kingsford?
<LI>Did you light 1/2 chimney full of Kingsford and spread them over the unlit coals?
<LI>Did you use the Weber water pan?
<LI>How many slabs of ribs did you cook?
[/list]Regarding "how do you get 33% on the vents", vent fully open = 100% open, vent fully closed = 0% open. So for 33% open, you just look at each vent and eyeball it...close it until only about 1/3 of the hole is open. "30% to 33% is it that critical?" -- no, it's not. You're just estimating it. But sometime when you're not cooking, you should play with the vents and get some practice...set to 75% open, 50% open, 33% open, 25% open, etc. It's not a science, don't get too worked up about it. I'm just trying to give you a sense of how open the vents should be.

Good luck!
Chris
 
Hi, Chuck. What they said. Especially the part about letting temps get near your target before starting to close down the bottom vents.

One thing I'd add, though, is that for a low-heat cook, I usually close two bottom vents all the way and make my adjustments with the one vent. Two closed and one open = 33%. I often end up with that vent more than halfway closed once I get up to temp. I'm doing my first cook right now on my new 2nd wsm, and it's holding 310 degrees lid temp with two vents closed and one all the way open. Of course, a new WSM tends to run hot, because the gunk hasn't yet built up to help seal the joints.

EDIT: I should be more clear. I run all three bottom vents at 100% until I'm gaining on my target temp. I'll close one completely when I'm within 20-30 degrees. Then the second gets shut down when I'm within ten degrees or so. Then I adjust the third vent to stabilize at my target temp.

DANGIT, YET ANOTHER EDIT: I should note that I almost always cook with an empty, foiled, water pan. That means my WSM is more responsive to changes in vent settings, and runs hotter (and more efficiently ("greener"?))than if I used water in the pan.
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Chuck Dugas:
The recepie for beginers on this site is what I followed. How do you get 33% on the vents beats me. I used the shaft from the Weber temp gauage to set the vents.I think this is to small an opening to get those temps that you all sugested.(245-275). I pulled the baby back ribs at the 4-1/2 hrs.as the recepies calls for. The ribs tasted great but were very tough!! There was no wind and the temps outside was 81-76. How can you tell 30% to 33% is it that critical? Once I can figure out how to post pictures,I'll post mine. Thanks everyone for the help.....I NEED IT!!! Chuck... </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Hey Chuck,

The vent settings are just what Chris had to use for his cook on his WSM. All WSMs require some different vent settings to keep the temps where they are supposed to be. Don't worry so much about how much the vents are open or closed... be more concerned about how YOUR WSM responds to changes in YOUR vent settings. Find the vent settings that hold your required temp and over time you will know how much is enough and when you need to make changes. The beautiful thing about the WSM is its ability to hold a temperature stable once the temp settles.

All the best,
Tom
 
Chris,the ansewer to your questions.
1.Yes Kingfords
2.Yes
3.Yes
4.3 racks of baby back.

Both Bryan & David stated to keep an eye on the target temp. May I suggest that maybe put a target temp in the recepie. That way us beginners have something to go on. And I should have kept them on longer. Has anyone else done this recepie and had problems or am I very unique....
Thanks everyone for your input, I am learning alot. In about 5 yrs.I'll be ready for my first competetion.LOL Chuck.
 
I don't think Bryan or David or Tom read the article closely. The whole point of this particular recipe is to not have to worry about target temp, rather to just build the fire as described, set the bottom vents 1/3 open and leave them that way, and cook the ribs however long it takes until they are tender.

Regards,
Chris
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by David Stanton:
I usually close two bottom vents all the way and make my adjustments with the one vent. Two closed and one open = 33%. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>I've done this before, and it makes vent setting easier, but I end up with an uneven fire. When I disassemble the cooker, I have spent fuel on the side by the open vent and unburned fuel on the side by the closed vents. So I like to keep all bottom vents equally open all the time, if possible. Just my experience.
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Chris Allingham:
I don't think Bryan or David or Tom read the article closely. The whole point of this particular recipe is to not have to worry about target temp, rather to just build the fire as described, set the bottom vents 1/3 open and leave them that way, and cook the ribs however long it takes until they are tender.

Regards,
Chris </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Chris, You are absolutely correct! My apologies for the quick post. I haven't done that particular recipe so I hadn't read it... I guess that happens when one assumes! Again, my apologies for any confusion.

All the best,
Tom
 
Yep, Chris, you're exactly right. I didn't read it. Sorry, Chuck!

Interesting, Chris, that you get an uneven burn with the 1-vent technique. I haven't had a problem with that, and I'm using Kingsford, too, most of the time.
 
I have tried this recipe/procedure now three times, following the directions pretty much the same way each time. One time the product was outstanding, another time only average, and one time a little less than average.

I pretty much set-it-and-forget-it until time to check the ribs, and continued however long it took for them to be "done." Each time, the food was edible.

Don't forget, each piece of meat will be a little different, too.

Chris
 
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