Ribs taking too long?

meat-case · Apr 28, 2017

So I bought an electric smoker at Lowe's and decided to smoke some ribs. This thread looked to have some good advice.

17 hours later I still only have an internal temperature of 186F. I guess my question is, Does this seem right? I thought this was only going to take 6 hours or so.

After work, I'm going to get an oven thermometer and make sure that the built in temp control is working right.

Some mistakes I think I may have made are as follows.

- Didnt wait for smoker to preheat all the way to 225.
- Didn't bring ribs to room temperature before placing in the smoker.
- may have opened door too much messing around with the meat probe.

Also I did set the temp to 250F for the last 10 hours to speed things up. Not sure where I would be if I had not done that.

Thank you.

sauced · Apr 28, 2017

What type of ribs....baby back or spare? I cook ribs at 250-275, did you foil after 3 hours? Also, check your thermometers, might be off. But....looks like you figured out some of your problems already. Try Smokin Al's rib method....works every time.

uncletork · Apr 28, 2017

Sounds like you may be going off the digital thermometer on the smoker. If it is a master built they are notorious for being way off. I think everyone here HIGHLY recommends that you use a quality third party thermometer to measure the internal temp of the rack you are cooking on as well as meat probe. Do not trust the built thermometers unless you prove that they are accurate (Requires you to compare with quality third party thermometers). No way ribs should take that long

SmokinAl · Apr 28, 2017

It sounds to me like your smoker temp is not at 225.

How are you measuring your smoker temp?

If you are going by the factory controller, they can be off by 50 degrees.

You could be smoking at 175-180 & think your at 225.

You could smoke a whole pig in 17 hours.

You need to get a good remote dual probe therm. or at the very least an oven therm.

Maverick is a good one, or there are models at Walmart, Home Depot, & Lowe's.

Just get one & check it in boiling water & ice water. It should read 212 & 32, or very close to those numbers.

Good luck!

Al

Bearcarver · Apr 28, 2017

SmokinAl said:
It sounds to me like your smoker temp is not at 225.

How are you measuring your smoker temp?

If you are going by the factory controller, they can be off by 50 degrees.

You could be smoking at 175-180 & think your at 225.

You could smoke a whole pig in 17 hours.

You need to get a good remote dual probe therm. or at the very least an oven therm.

Maverick is a good one, or there are models at Walmart, Home Depot, & Lowe's.

Just get one & check it in boiling water & ice water. It should read 212 & 32, or very close to those numbers.

Good luck!

Al

Exactly.

And Welcome to SMF !

Bear

stickyfingers · Apr 28, 2017

Ya....I'm not so sure I would want to eat those. 17hours? OH MY!

Try again with a 1 rack or maybe 1/2 rack.....or something cheaper.

crankybuzzard · Apr 28, 2017

I'm with the others, you weren't smoking at 225 or 250.

Check the internal temp of the pit while the setting is on 225, see how far you are off and then adjust from there.

For the next attempt, smoke some chicken thighs or quarters, just in case.

Let us know what you find out.

chilerelleno · Apr 28, 2017

I'm on the chow wagon with the rest of these guys... Ditto.

And again... Welcome to SMF!

meat-case · Apr 29, 2017

stickyFingers said:
Ya....I'm not so sure I would want to eat those. 17hours? OH MY!

Try again with a 1 rack or maybe 1/2 rack.....or something cheaper.

Am I at risk eating these or do you think they just won't be good?

chilerelleno · Apr 29, 2017

There is concern about food safety with such low temps and long times.
40'-140' in 4 hours, is a rule often applied here and elsewhere.
It is a Golden Rule for all uncured meats, especially for poultry and ground meats.

With your IT at 17hrs being so low it is highly unlikely that your cook met this rule.
Therefore you or others may be at elevated risk of food borne illness if consumed.

Bearcarver · Apr 29, 2017

meat-case said:
Am I at risk eating these or do you think they just won't be good?

I'm going to call a couple possibilities here:

#1 If your problem was what many of us suspect---That your Smoker temp was at maybe 175°--180° the whole time, instead of the 225° that you thought it was, that could mean it got to 140° in 4 hours, but then stayed between 140° & 186° for the rest of the time. That should mean it is safe to eat.

#2 However if it didn't get to 140°IT for 5, 6, 7, or more hours, because your Smoker temp was even lower much of the time, that would be a different case.

I would hope it was situation #1, but without knowing what the actual Smoker Temp & Meat Temp was at various times, we can't really say.

These are my thoughts & opinion.

Bear

meat-case · Apr 29, 2017

Sauced said:
What type of ribs....baby back or spare? I cook ribs at 250-275, did you foil after 3 hours? Also, check your thermometers, might be off. But....looks like you figured out some of your problems already. Try Smokin Al's rib method....works every time.

I did not foil at three hours. I'm embarrassed to say I don't know what kind of ribs they were. I just grabbed something at Walmart. They were pork for sure and big ribs.

SmokinAl said:
It sounds to me like your smoker temp is not at 225.

How are you measuring your smoker temp?

If you are going by the factory controller, they can be off by 50 degrees.

You could be smoking at 175-180 & think your at 225.

You could smoke a whole pig in 17 hours.

You need to get a good remote dual probe therm. or at the very least an oven therm.

Maverick is a good one, or there are models at Walmart, Home Depot, & Lowe's.

Just get one & check it in boiling water & ice water. It should read 212 & 32, or very close to those numbers.

Good luck!

Al

I set the temperature to 225 using the control panel on the smoker itself. It's supposed to just maintain that temp.

meat-case · Apr 29, 2017

Well thank you all for the help. I got a oven thermometer at Wal-Mart and tested last night.

The unit is about 30 degrees lower than it should be. So when I set it to 225, I was probably smoking at around 195.

Still, I'm not sure why it didn't finish when I set it to 250. That should have been smoking at around 220 for several hours.

I think I'm going to clean this thing up and return it. Any suggestions on a replacement smoker?

I went with electric just because I thought it would be more accurate. Set the temp and it'll maintain it, lol right.

smokesontuesday · Apr 29, 2017

meat-case said:
Well thank you all for the help. I got a oven thermometer at Wal-Mart and tested last night.

The unit is about 30 degrees lower than it should be. So when I set it to 225, I was probably smoking at around 195.

Still, I'm not sure why it didn't finish when I set it to 250. That should have been smoking at around 220 for several hours.

I think I'm going to clean this thing up and return it. Any suggestions on a replacement smoker?

I went with electric just because I thought it would be more accurate. Set the temp and it'll maintain it, lol right.

Nothing you buy is going to be "set it and forget it" out of the box like you're wanting. I've used smokers that cost anywhere from $89 to $3,000, be it electric, vertical, or offset, and I've yet to use one with an accurate factory thermometer. Buy a good wireless remote therm (Maverick, ThermoPro, etc) and adjust your temp on the electric based on that reading. Then it'll be set and forget.

My MES 30 is about 25 degrees off on the low side. If I want to smoke around 225 then I set it for 250 and it'll hold rock steady at 225-230 per the Maverick 732 for as long as I want it to do so.

My MES 40 runs a bit hot. If I want to smoke in it at 225 I set the thermostat for 205 and it'll hold 225 rock solid forever per the Maverick.

The stock lid therms on my OKJ offset run 25 low to 50 high depending on the way the wind is blowing that day.

Bearcarver · Apr 29, 2017

All of my MES units have been 15° to 25° hot.

The one I use now is 15°, so if I want 225° on my Maverick, I set the MES control to 210°.

If I got one that was more than 20° the other way, I would take it back, because I paid to get a Smoker that heats up to an actual 275°.

Bear

jokensmoken · Apr 30, 2017

Sorry to hear about your troubles.
As most here have said, good thermometers are a must. I've never had a factory thermometer be accurate...EVER...that being said, there are several inexpensive thermos on Amazon.
For many years I used a $9.99 model made by Famili for pit temp...it's got a corded probe with an external read out so you don't have to open the cooker to check temps. Then I used thermopro instant read digital for checking meat temps...also in the $10.00 range...they are both accurate to within 1° and are viable alternatives to the more expensive dual prob models while you're learning.
Have patience and keep asking questions...the folks here have an amazing wealth of knowledge and experience they're willing to share. I've learned A LOT in the few months Ive been a member.
Good luck and keep the smoke rolling
Walt

meat-case · May 8, 2017

I purchased a dual probe ThermoPro thermometer from Amazon and decided to take another stab at ribs. The ribs came out great. I was able to maintain 225F but I had to set the smoker to 275F to do so. So it was off by 50F at this temperature. While I was able to maintain 225F, I think I will contact Masterbuilt for warranty service as I won't be able to get to higher temperatures than 225F since 275F is the smokers max temperature setting. The built in meat probe is also off by 15F and the wireless controller for the unit didn't work out of the box. I don't really care about the remote but since I had to contact them, I may as well try and get another remote.

I found this smoker controller and wondered if anyone has ever tried one? I am familiar with the company as they make PID controllers for beer brewing. I bet this would really make the Masterbuilt top notch.

Bearcarver · May 8, 2017

meat-case said:
I purchased a dual probe ThermoPro thermometer from Amazon and decided to take another stab at ribs. The ribs came out great. I was able to maintain 225F but I had to set the smoker to 275F to do so. So it was off by 50F at this temperature. While I was able to maintain 225F, I think I will contact Masterbuilt for warranty service as I won't be able to get to higher temperatures than 225F since 275F is the smokers max temperature setting. The built in meat probe is also off by 15F and the wireless controller for the unit didn't work out of the box. I don't really care about the remote but since I had to contact them, I may as well try and get another remote.

I found this smoker controller and wondered if anyone has ever tried one? I am familiar with the company as they make PID controllers for beer brewing. I bet this would really make the Masterbuilt top notch.

Mine runs hotter than it says, by 15°, which is Fine.

However if mine was even 20° colder than it says, I'd tell them I don't want it. I paid for a Smoker that goes from 100° to 275° !!!!

Your Max is actually 225°. You should tell them you want a New Smoker.

Bear

agnesjaneen · May 8, 2017

Great! Now i know what to do. thanks guysss

jmiller1990 · May 9, 2017

I had nothing but problems with my electric so I built a uds and put a pitmaster 110 on it and I love it. I have to say it's prolly more accurate than the oven in my hours. I can go 10 plus hours and not touch anything on it. I don't if that's something you would be interested in or not but theirs a lot of info on here about them.

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