Did 2-2-1 this weekend with 6 baby back ribs and seems a bit dry not tender.

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bbqpit77

Fire Starter
Original poster
Jan 20, 2015
61
12
Hi there guys, this weekend did sone briskets which turned amazing and tender but did also 6 racks of baby racks with the 2-2-1 method @225, wrapped in  foil with some brown sugar and honey. At the end the taste was good but seems that not too tender or juicy. My smoker is a Camp Chef 24" which i really love.

Need to figure out if is less time on the foil or something else. Any advice?.
 
Yep,  PICTURES      gotta have pictures

gary
 
sorry, no pics(i know my bad). trying to figure out if the method should be 2-1-1 for me or something else. Also sometimes is hard to make ribs with brisket inside the smoker because i dont want to open to apply some apple juice on the ribs.
 
I did 3 slabs of baby backs for super bowl Sunday.

I did them at 225-240 for 3 hours. I sprayed them with half apple cider vinegar/AJ and applied parkay spread butter after hours 1 and 2.

After the 3rd hour I put honey, Brown sugar, butter, and chili sauce on the aluminum foil and put the ribs on them meat side down and slightly wrapped them. I did them for one hour like that.

I then unfoiled them, basted with some bbq sauce, and put them back on for 15-20 min.

They were tender, pull off the bone and delicious.

 
 
Hi there guys, this weekend did sone briskets which turned amazing and tender but did also 6 racks of baby racks with the 2-2-1 method @225, wrapped in foil with some brown sugar and honey. At the end the taste was good but seems that not too tender or juicy. My smoker is a Camp Chef 24" which i really love.

Need to figure out if is less time on the foil or something else. Any advice?.
Have you checked your smoker temp with a proven thermometer? I am betting on a temp problem.

Happy smoken.

David
 
As they say.. 2-2-1 is just a base starting point... need to taylor it to your liking... for me.. I have found that 2 hrs (spares or baby backs) in the foil is to long (falling apart and dry)... I start checking at the 1 hr mark... usually takes around 1 1/2 hrs.. but it really depends on cooking temps as to how long in foil ...
 
I feel that baby backs can be a little less forgiving than spares.  My go to method, which others employ is the bend test and toothpicks.  One other step I add for both spares and baby backs is checking them during the foiling process. At about an hour or hour and a half during the foiling, I will open up one of the foiled ribs and give a bone a tug.  If it feels like it could slip out easily, I know they are done with foiling. I then unwrap and do the last step, which can range from 30 minutes to an hour, then do the bend test to see if they are almost breaking at a 90 degree angle.

The other issue you may have run into is that you may have gotten a lot of loin meat on your baby backs.  If they were thick in the middle, but not meaty on the sides, you probably got a ton of loin meat, which is not as fatty and would dry out easily.
 
 
Have you checked your smoker temp with a proven thermometer? I am betting on a temp problem.

Happy smoken.

David
hi there my friend, yes i did use my 2 thermoworks dual probe so the temp was about 225 all the time.


I think i need to check them 1 hours in the foil and start from there. The taste as said was really nice but honestly i felt a bit dry the ribs.
 
 
hi there my friend, yes i did use my 2 thermoworks dual probe so the temp was about 225 all the time.


I think i need to check them 1 hours in the foil and start from there. The taste as said was really nice but honestly i felt a bit dry the ribs.
Since you have the taste down now it is just adjusting the times and you will be eating the good life!

Happy smoken.

David
 
yes i will try to adjust the time, maybe 2-1-1 or something like that. I did about 6 briskets since i have the smoker lol, 4 weeks ago, need to try more baby backs to make a "fine tune" on my process.

One question guys? is there too much difference spraying every one 30 min?, 60 min? im worry to open everytime the smoker to do it because my briskets.
 
 
Hi there guys, this weekend did sone briskets which turned amazing and tender but did also 6 racks of baby racks with the 2-2-1 method @225, wrapped in foil with some brown sugar and honey. At the end the taste was good but seems that not too tender or juicy. My smoker is a Camp Chef 24" which i really love.

Need to figure out if is less time on the foil or something else. Any advice?.
The highlighted statement above indicates to me that they were undercooked, not overcooked.  Remember that size matters, 3 pound and over racks will take longer than 2.5 pounders, especially cooking at 225°.

Glad to see you are using accurate therms.
 
thanks, thats a really good point. I will make some tomorrow and double check everything.
 
Yeah, just check them probably just a little under-cooked, sometimes just a few minutes makes a difference

Gary
 
Just get what you can, it doesn't hurt a thing if you miss some.  BBQ restaurants especially chains never remove the membrane 

Gary
 
Thanks guys doing 8 pound brisket and 2 ribs today we will see how it goes!!!
 
Keep us posted bbqpit77   and lots of pics
 
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