Spear Ribs on now and having trouble, help!

[spartacus]

I have only smoked a half a dozen times. I have a Charbroil H20 smoker.
I use lump charcoal. I have somked only flank steak till today. I have a rack of spear ribs going. I cut in half and put one on the top rack and one on the bottom rack. I am keeping the temp at around 225. I have two temp probes going. The bottom ribs have been consistently 5-7 degrees lower than the top rack. I'm guessing because heat rises so the top ribs should cook faster. If that is incorrect, please let me know. Additionally, with all of my smokes, it seems that there is a pretty6 consistent temp rise until the last 20 give or take. It just hans what seems for ever. I go crazy checking the batteries, bringing the receiver out to the bases to see if I traveled to far into my house, have raising the smoker temp by at least five degrees. I have never actually reached my target temp. It has always felt like it was going too long based on the guides that I have read here. Being that it was steak and I usually eat it med-rare I felt ok with it. However, this is pork and I am getting neverous. The ribs guide here says 3 hours of smoke and 3 more to reach targe temp. I am at seven hours and top rack reads 155 and bottom rack reads 147. Smoker temp is and has been 130ish for some time now. Do i leave them on until 170 or do I pull them off?

 

[smokin' dick]

I feel your pain Spartacus. Those remote thermos are a pain in the a$$. I have given up on them, seems I spent more time worrying about the 3 degree changes in the chamber and neglected to notice the voluminous clouds of white smoke billowing from all of the seams and the stack. Always had black and bitter food. Anyhoo, a real common way to cook ribs is the 3-2-1 method. get your cooker to 225* put the ribs on. maintain that 225* for 3 hours. Don't peak. Now it's time to add 1/4 cup of apple juice, or whatever liquid you like, to the ribs and wrap them tightly in foil. Put back on the cooker for 2 hours.
After that, take the ribs out of the foil and put them back on the smoker, at 225*, for another hour. This will firm up the meat some. Spray the ribs with some juice every now and again to add some layers of flavor.
So 3-2-1. 3 hours in the smoker, meat should pull back about 1/4" to 1/2"
from the ends of the bones.
2 hours in foil
1 hour on the smoker
They should come out pretty good. Taking the temps of ribs is difficult because there is not very much meat. If the rack bends easily they are done. Good luck.

 

[bbq bubba]

Very confusing post!!
Your taking temp of ribs??
Hardly possible, not enough meat to get a good reading.
Your smoking at 225 but your temp is at 130ish?
Have you foiled yet?
3-2-1 = 3 hrs smoking, 2 hrs wrapped in foil with some liquid and 1 hr to set them up and sauce....just a guideline.
Can you pick the ribs up by one end and do they bend down 90*? If so they're done!

 

[babyback]

If your smoker temp is 130, that is part of the reason your ribs are taking so long to cook. Aside from checking the rib temp, you can also use the tear test to see if they are done. You don't want the meat falling off the bones, or the bones falling out of the meat (unless of course you like it that way), but when you grab a bone and pull it the meat should come apart pretty easily. I just eyeball em, or even better do a little taste test when I think they are done.