Ribs on the slow and low

[dannysmith43]

Me once again
I'm planning cooking some ribs on Sunday, fathers day treat! I've armed myself with the following;

*Heat Beads
*Hickory Wood Chips (can't get chunks atm)
*Charcoal Basket
*Rib Rack

I've found this guide from Weber....as I have a Weber I thought it might be a good guide to follow....

http://www.weber.com/recipes/pork/class ... -back-ribs

Now the ribs aren't "baby back" just 3KG of standard spare ribs from the butcher. I'm using a different BBQ sauce recipe I tested last weekend and it's great, so I'm ignoring that bit.

Cooking times are 250F to 300F for around 3-4 hours, does that tie with what you guys do? I'm just concious of drying out the meat as I know the cuts are thicker across the pond! I'm going to give them a mop aswell, couple of times during the cook. I guess the heat beads last a bit longer (according to the package) so I'll probably add less per hour that it states.

Any thoughts or tips is greatly appreciated

[Nutty]

I've been watching Malcolm Reed on YouTube quite a bit lately. (He's really good)

For ribs he always goes by feel rather than temp. And wraps after about 3 hours in the smoke. Keep em moist with some kinda juice too.

How did you get on ?

[dannysmith43]

I've been watching Malcolm Reed on YouTube quite a bit lately. (He's really good)

For ribs he always goes by feel rather than temp. And wraps after about 3 hours in the smoke. Keep em moist with some kinda juice too.

How did you get on ?

They were disappointing, thanks for asking! I screwed up, I bought some really thick ribs from the butcher and followed a guide for baby back ribs...said I should cook them for 3-4 hours...but I think these ribs needed 5-6 hours. The fat hadn't melted, they were up to cooked temp but not the desired 180-203 that makes them so soft and desirable! It was my first time so I guess we live and learn!

[PDC7]

Danny,

I buy the Tesco Meaty Pork Ribs (I buy from behind the counter and get a whole rack) and these are some pretty big ribs!!! and I get great results with the kettle set to offset, temperature are 110 - 120 Celsius and I go 3 hours un covered, 1 hour wrapped in foil, 1 hour uncovered and then crank up the heat for anything else I may be cooking and leave the ribs still on the grill with my final coating of BBQ sauce. As long as you get to safe eating temperature you should be fine

[dannysmith43]

Danny,

I buy the Tesco Meaty Pork Ribs (I buy from behind the counter and get a whole rack) and these are some pretty big ribs!!! and I get great results with the kettle set to offset, temperature are 110 - 120 Celsius and I go 3 hours un covered, 1 hour wrapped in foil, 1 hour uncovered and then crank up the heat for anything else I may be cooking and leave the ribs still on the grill with my final coating of BBQ sauce. As long as you get to safe eating temperature you should be fine

I had the temp right then, it was just time! I did 4 hours and that last hour would have probably got them to the correct temp! They were safe eating temp, just tough!
How do you check the grill temp? I was using the lid thermo which seems to be a crappy way of checking the internal temperature. I'm saving for a maverick et-732 at the moment.

[PDC7]

Some people may frown upon this but...

I'm happy using the dome temp reading I get in my lid (I turn the lid so the dome thermometer is away from the lit coals as I use the snake method).

Your temperatures are going to fluctuate, you will open the lid, you will have wind and rain.. its going to stray, I tend to work on the idea that if I have to open the lid I stick a meat probe into the meat so see what its doing and take it from there (I have a weber instant read so its pretty quick). Before multi channel and wireless probes people cooked perfectly cook BBQ and I always think about that every time I want to spend £50 on a thermometer

[Kiska95]

If you are short on funds get a oven thermometer and put it on the grill rack to compare what its saying at meat level to your dome lid and compensate accordingly. Go to Ikea and get a digital food probe (£7) stick the probe into the meat and plonk the readout somewhere cool (Leg) on the outside of BBQ as its magnetic. Its not up to Maverick standards but a mate who does this for a living uses them and swears by them.

Hope that helps

[dannysmith43]

Some people may frown upon this but...

I'm happy using the dome temp reading I get in my lid (I turn the lid so the dome thermometer is away from the lit coals as I use the snake method).

Your temperatures are going to fluctuate, you will open the lid, you will have wind and rain.. its going to stray, I tend to work on the idea that if I have to open the lid I stick a meat probe into the meat so see what its doing and take it from there (I have a weber instant read so its pretty quick). Before multi channel and wireless probes people cooked perfectly cook BBQ and I always think about that every time I want to spend £50 on a thermometer

Ha ha your right of course, I've got a Thermopop which is pretty quick. I think it's being new to the whole bbq'ing scene and attempting to not ruin every piece of meat I cook

[dannysmith43]

If you are short on funds get a oven thermometer and put it on the grill rack to compare what its saying at meat level to your dome lid and compensate accordingly. Go to Ikea and get a digital food probe (£7) stick the probe into the meat and plonk the readout somewhere cool (Leg) on the outside of BBQ as its magnetic. Its not up to Maverick standards but a mate who does this for a living uses them and swears by them.

Hope that helps

lol I'm near Ikea this weekend, for £7 it's worth a pop! Thanks for the tip.

[Kiska95]

Honestly you cant go wrong with the 3-2-1 method at 107 -110C (225F - 230F). Just make sure you add something into the foil when you wrap so that they braise. I used Golden syrup, brown sugar and OJ. The last hour naked firms them back up with a brush of BBQ sauce