British BBQ Society Forums

Hi guys,

So I had another crack at ribs at the weekend. Bought 2.5KG of spare ribs for £20 at the local butches, they were very thick, so I prepared for a 6 hour cook on my 57cm Weber Kettle.
I was using heat beads and big k lumpwood to start it off, had a few issues with heat control but generally managed to keep it between 225 and 275. I've stopped trusting my lid thermo and I'm a using a cheap IKEA one to keep an eye on the grill temp.

After about 3 hours I hit a stall, the ribs were pretty thick so I could use my Thermopop to get the temps. I eventually wrapped them for the last hour. I read that ribs need to be 180f for at least 30 minutes to soften...so I took them to 190f and pulled them off.

They were nice, less tough than my previous attempt but not really "fall off the bone" ribs. I've never really had amazing ribs so I'm not 100% sure how soft the meat should be? Should the meat just fall off the bone?

Below is a shot of the finished product, they looked good...not much of a smoke ring, ran out of cherry wood

https://onedrive.live.com/redir?resid=6 ... lder%2cjpg

Any thoughts are most welcome, thanks!

They look pretty good to me, nice one, I've always used the 3-2-1 method for ribs and they're always tender and juicy to the point I can barely lift them without them falling apart. I've never taken their temp, I don't use my meat probes for ribs, too inaccurate when your near the bones, I just wait for about half inch pull back, apple juice and wrap for a couple of hours, unwrap for an hour and baste to finish a bbq glaze and judge them by they're bend when I lift them.
http://i230.photobucket.com/albums/ee18 ... vaod60.jpg
http://i230.photobucket.com/albums/ee18 ... tlakck.jpg

G

I can't see the pic. Wants a login?

Anyhow, there are 2 camps for ribs, there are competition ribs that pull cleanly off the bone but don't fall off, and fall of the bone. If you had fall of the bone in a competition, you'd get nowhere,they are considered over done. I have to say I like something in between. I have done competition and the juice actually squirted out of the rib and nearly in my eye, the taste was amazing and they were super juicy. However, the mouth feel of fall off the bone is great too. If you take them too far though they end up mushy and not nice. So I like just before falling off the bone. Best of both worlds but hard to get unless you can get identical cuts every time.
To me the question is, did you like them? If you did, keep doing it!

I can see them, didn't need to login.

I couldn't see them at all, ah wait, that's cos I am blind, fek, carry on Cheers Tiny

Like a nice bite. Bit of resistance and some chew. Feels more satisfying when tucking in.

Smoke ring looks good to me. Only smoke first hour or two anyway as after that smoke won't penetrate further.

For normal spare ribs 5 to 6 hrs should be fine, but for really meaty ones you would need more. Slightly tougher may be down to temp control. I find my ribs best if I can keep temp between 225 and 250 and pretty stable.