Unwrapped ribs timing?


 
Jon in SF

Jon in SF

TVWBB Fan
I've made St Louis ribs 3-2-1 style and pork back ribs on a kettle that never really came out right. But now that I have a couple of actual smokers I want to try ribs again but unwrapped. The ones I did 3-2-1 ended up being too fall off the bone for me, and I want to do an unwrapped version to compare. My question is, what kind of timeline am I looking at for either St Louis or pork back ribs without being wrapped?
 
My last ribs were St. Louis....I did 7 hours at 250 with water in water pan and they were best I've ever done! Spritzed with water about 3-4 times over the course of the cook.....Probably even done at 6 hours but I'm splitting hairs on that one.
 
I rarely cook back ribs without foil, but allow six hours for St. Louie rib cooks. It just depends on size and temp, though. They're done in five if only 3 lbs and I keep the cook at 250. I don't remember for loinbacks, but thick and meaty ones can take almost as long as St. Louies.
 
I cook ribs at 250-275 and without foiling it is between 5-6 usually for St.Louis cut, can be more or less depending on how thick they are, I spritz them about once an hour. If the ribs are on the leaner side (fat content) they can dry out quick and if I see that happening early in the cook I will foil them.
 
For unfoiled ribs 5hrs around 250-275 sounds about right. Foiling definitely speeds up the cook, but it also changes the texture of the ribs, too long in the foil makes them too soft and fall off the bone. Anything past 1.5 will do this in my experience. For non-comp ribs I like to go 2-1-1. 2 hours smoked, 1 hour in foil, 1 hour to finish them up, including glazing/set time. This for me is around 250-275*, you'll have to adjust for times depending on you cook temps.
 
I average about 4.5 to 5 hours no foil. Smoked at 245-265 depending where the wsm settles in. I use a toothpick to see how tender they get about the 4 hour mark and then check every 20 min.
 
Exactly as Tony says for backs/spares for me (I try to maintain 225-230 but it can fluctuate). 4-5 hours--> no foil, no spritz. Not fall off but quite tender. Foiling will get them to the fall-off stage.
 
Jon I did SL ribs yesterday no foil, (see pics "windy day spares" in the photo gallery) they went for 6 hours (3.4lbs each) at 260. I spritzed three times with apple juice and imitation butter, when I glazed I shut the smoker down and let them sit, just a tad over done but not fall off the bone
 
When it comes to times and temps for ribs, I don't know about the adding 15 minutes every time you peek, but for ribs especially, I think the "if you're looking, you're not cooking" saying might bear some truth.

For instance, I suspect I've needlessly stretched some rib cooks out by spritzing with a bottle that got left outside to get cold, checking/spritzing too early and often, and just being too slow about it with the dome off. Although bony, ribs are thin compared to butts and brisket, so I figure I'm not helping them get done any quicker with the lid off. And if it's windy, that just makes it slower to get things cooking again.

So nowadays, I don't spritz much, but will first spray right through the top vents. I'll tell you this, though. If you do like to spritz, do yourself a favor and put a hinge on the dome. Then a peek is actually a peek, and you barely have to lift the lid to spritz.
 
I did some spare ribs last weekend on my fairly new WSM 22.5. Because it is new, my temps were hovering around 285 with 10 degree swings. Two and a half hours naked, and then an hour foiled and they were over done. Tender, juicy, and delicious, but when I went to do the bend test, they almost fell apart.
 
A few weeks ago I did a test on my Weber gas grill -- two racks of pork spare ribs, trimmed St Louis style. I did one rack 2-1-1, while the other remained unwrapped for the entire time. In our opinion, that is, my wife and I, we thought that the unwrapped ribs were slightly drier than the wrapped, but that the wrapped rack could have stayed a little longer in the foil, i.e. it was tender but not tender enough for our tastes. We decided that the next time around, we would do 'em 2-1.5-1.
 
Eugene A said:
A few weeks ago I did a test on my Weber gas grill -- two racks of pork spare ribs, trimmed St Louis style. I did one rack 2-1-1, while the other remained unwrapped for the entire time. In our opinion, that is, my wife and I, we thought that the unwrapped ribs were slightly drier than the wrapped, but that the wrapped rack could have stayed a little longer in the foil, i.e. it was tender but not tender enough for our tastes. We decided that the next time around, we would do 'em 2-1.5-1.
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Thanks for the info guys. I think this is what I'm going to have to do. I stopped by Costco today and got some loin back ribs which had 3 slabs in them. I'm going to try wrapping one and letting the other two go without and see how things turn out. I don't really like the texture when they start falling off the bone, so I'd like to get it to the point where they will pull off the bone easily with a bite but not fall apart when you're cutting them. The good thing about all these experiments is that you can eat the test subjects!
 
The Costco loin backs will take about 4 hours unwrapped at around 240-250 with a water pan. Do the tear test that's described in the Cooking Topics section. If the rack is pretty flexible and the meat gives some resistance then tears fairly easily when you pull two adjacent bones apart, you're good to go.
 
I just made St. Louis style ribs today, cutting them using Chris Allingham's youtube video as a guide. I had two large slabs in my Smokey Joe mini build with a Brinkmann rib rack. Used a 1/2 full water pan at the bottom. 4 hours total is good enough for me, at 200-300 temps throughout. I'm ok with the variation in temps. Anyway, I started with all ribs unwrapped. Then at the 2 hour mark, I foiled them all, and flipped them over to heat the other side. At the 3 hour mark, I brushed them with bbq sauce and flipped them again if the bottom side was burned. At 4 hours, they were done. I just tried a few ribs now and I'm sticking with this formula. Ribs were tender and moist. The only change I would make is to use less water; I've noticed that the excessive steam appears to "perspire" off some of the spice rub from the ribs. I'm learning that rib making is a trial-and-error process. Keep at it and you will be a pro in your own right.
 
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