Ribs: Wrap or Spray?

civileng67 · May 7, 2017

Hi guys,

Two questions I'm hoping I can get some help with. I've been smoking butts for a couple years and primarily that is all I've smoked. Now I'm working into ribs.

My first rack last weekend were spare ribs. While the meaty parts were fantastic, there was more "tough" fat that I expected. It wasn't exactly "fall off the bone".

I pulled them at 168 and wrapped them, adding a bit of water to the bones side. Pulled at 190.

------------------------------------------------------------

Cut to today - I'm smoking spare ribs and baby backs (trying to get a measure on the differences).

I've heard some say they wrap the ribs, as I did the first time, and some say they spray them with apple juice. I'm considering spraying with apple juice every half hour after they get up to maybe 150. Anyone have any insight on this? I'd prefer to spray as opposed to pulling and wrapping if possible.

Also - can anyone give me some tips on what to do to melt that fat in the spares like I had last time? Also - do babybacks have that same fat? They seemed much thicker when raw than the spares. Any tips you guys could give would be great.

Thanks again!

raptor700 · May 7, 2017

I wrap when i get the color i want, i found that if i spray the ribs they get a little tough. Also, i think you'll find that when you wrap you will render the fat much quicker.

hope this helps Oh yeah, an IT of 205º will get you a tender rib

chef jimmyj · May 7, 2017

Wrapping can make more tender and speed them along.. Spritzing adds time to the cook. First the liquid evaporates from the ribs and cools them off adding cook time. Next, every time you open the door, the temp drops and has to recover. So foiled ribs take 6 hours at 225. Every time you Spritzing, add 20-30 minutes. Spritz 4 times wait a total of 8 hours for ribs. An IT of 190 is way shy of fall off the bone. Check at 195 to 205 for a probe to slide in with no resistance.
Baby back ribs take about 5 hours with Foiling, 2-2-1, 6 hours straight smoke at 225...JJ

civileng67 · May 7, 2017

Thank you raptor!

flippers · May 7, 2017

I love my Baby backs! Everyone has there own way of doing it. I will say this tho... I have cooked about 50 racks since Jan 1st. And this is how I do them. Assuming you know the details of prep. Which is about the same as everyone else on this site. I normally cook them for 3 1/2 -4 hrs @ 250. I like to add some squeeze butter and wrap in foil about the 2hr mark. Then mix up a good mop, un foil so just the top side is open. Give them a good shot of the mop. Let sit another 15 min or so. Then I usually just give them a bend test. Which means if you try to fold them in half, you will notice that they will start to pull away from the bone. If they don't, they need to go longer. Hope this helps. Let me know if you have any questions!

Happy smokin!

civileng67 · May 7, 2017

Chef JimmyJ said:
Wrapping can make more tender and speed them along.. Spritzing adds time to the cook. First the liquid evaporates from the ribs and cools them off adding cook time. Next, every time you open the door, the temp drops and has to recover. So foiled ribs take 6 hours at 225. Every time you Spritzing, add 20-30 minutes. Spritz 4 times wait a total of 8 hours for ribs. An IT of 190 is way shy of fall off the bone. Check at 195 to 205 for a probe to slide in with no resistance.
Baby back ribs take about 5 hours with Foiling, 2-2-1, 6 hours straight smoke at 225...JJ

Thank you chefJimmJ. One quick (naïve) question. What does "2-2-1" mean?

civileng67 · May 7, 2017

Flippers said:
I love my Baby backs! Everyone has there own way of doing it. I will say this tho... I have cooked about 50 racks since Jan 1st. And this is how I do them. Assuming you know the details of prep. Which is about the same as everyone else on this site. I normally cook them for 3 1/2 -4 hrs @ 250. I like to add some squeeze butter and wrap in foil about the 2hr mark. Then mix up a good mop, un foil so just the top side is open. Give them a good shot of the mop. Let sit another 15 min or so. Then I usually just give them a bend test. Which means if you try to fold them in half, you will notice that they will start to pull away from the bone. If they don't, they need to go longer. Hope this helps. Let me know if you have any questions!

Happy smokin!

Thank you Flippers! yeah I'm really wanting to get into ribs. I LOVE my pp bbq being a NC boy (living in SW Fla) but the butts take so long I only find myself smoking on occasion. I feel the ribs give me the chance to jump in the smoker each weekend. Thanks so much for the feedback!

chef jimmyj · May 7, 2017

civileng67 said:
Thank you chefJimmJ. One quick (naïve) question. What does "2-2-1" mean?

For tender Baby back ribs smoke 2 hours at 225. Then foil with anything you like and cook 2 hours. Unwrap and go back in the smoker for 1 hour to firm up and get some bark...2-2-1
For Spare ribs follow 3-2-1 at 225. They need the extra hour in smoke...JJ

civileng67 · May 7, 2017

Chef JimmyJ said:
For tender Baby back ribs smoke 2 hours at 225. Then foil with anything you like and cook 2 hours. Unwrap and go back in the smoker for 1 hour to firm up and get some bark...2-2-1
For Spare ribs follow 3-2-1 at 225. They need the extra hour in smoke...JJ

thank you very much!

tbrtt1 · May 7, 2017

Hey Civil,

Welcome to the forum.

Some of the hard fat you are referring to may be cartilage and not fat. Spares are from the front end farthest from the spine. Back ribs are closer to the spine. On the spare at the ends there is cartilage. Same with us people and that's the stuff that connects the ribs to the sternum.

If you are getting whole spares, you can cut most of that cartilaginous area off. With the meat side down, looking at the bones, feel areound for where there is a separation between the ends of the bones and the cartilage. Run a knife along that groove and trim that off. Them trimmed parts is called rib tips. I smoker and freeze them. I use them in beans a other stuff.

SmokinAl · May 8, 2017

We like Baby backs, and as said above fall off the bone ribs are cooked to an IT of 200-205.

It doesn't matter if you foil them or not, or whether they are spares or BB's.

Al

civileng67 · May 8, 2017

UPDATE:

First off - thanks to you all for helping out. Know that my update does NOT include the tips you guys gave because frankly I was already off the path with my current cook when I was posting, I guess because I had a feeling I was running blindly.

So - basically my ribs cooked to 202 degrees, at 225 cooking temp. They took 7 hours.

The result isn't good. They look nice. The bones fell off pretty cleanly but the meat was pretty tough/rubbery.

I did some really dumb things, and realized it after reading the comments here last night. Like I said, the damage had already been done.

Halfway through the cooking, I opened up the smoker every half hour to spray with apple juice. I think I REALLY stalled the meat out by doing this and swung the smoker temps all over (which maybe isn't good for the meat as well?). After doing this for maybe an hour and a half to two hours, I finally wrapped the meat, but I think the damage was done. The meat really stalled at 135-145 and seemingly took forever to get through this zone.

I didn't seem to see too much fat on the ribs as before (maybe because I went up to 202 vs 190 but the meat overall was just tough.

Thanks guys for all the help. I'm going to test another rack this weekend. Any additional insights based on my update would be greatly appreciated.

tbrtt1 · May 8, 2017

Be sure to start with a quality rib. I know that sounds cliche, but if you can find some that have not been frozen, that may help as you hone your rib technique.

Is you smoker temp what you think it is? Thermometers that come with smokers are notoriously bad. Use a good digital like a maverick or something. Also, getting an accurate IT on ribs can be tricky. Al is a pro at this so he can help with that. If the meat is tough then it usually means they aren't cooked enough. Overcooked ribs can be dry but they will still b tender usually.

One overarching thought that I had re-reading this thread: maybe eliminate the variables. In other words, put a basic rub or a known commercial rub (probably what you used for PP is good) on a couple hours before smoking and just smoke without spraying for a couple hours, then (optional) wrap for an hour or so and then check to see how done they are. Mayb add a simple glaze at the end. Just keep it as simple as possible to eliminate the variables.

Keep at it. You will be rewarded with fantastic ribs.

BTW, what smoker are you using?

shyzabrau · May 8, 2017

tbrtt1 said:
Be sure to start with a quality rib. I know that sounds cliche, but if you can find some that have not been frozen, that may help as you hone your rib technique.

Can you get commercial pork that hasn't been frozen? I thought that was standard to eliminate trichinosis. I thought you had to go to a pig farmer to get truly fresh pork.

jokensmoken · May 8, 2017

Look up a member on here goes by SmokinAl (I see he had a short reply to your question here already)... he takes great pride in his ribs (and going by the pics he's posted he should) He has a great thread on ribs going now. I'm pretty happy with my ribs but I'm definitely giving Al's "perfect ribs every time" technique a go next time out...he's got a great step by step with pictures of the entire process.
Good luck, welcome aboard and happy smoking.
Walt

pc farmer · May 8, 2017

Shyzabrau said:
Can you get commercial pork that hasn't been frozen? I thought that was standard to eliminate trichinosis. I thought you had to go to a pig farmer to get truly fresh pork.

Any store bought beef or pork has been atleast partily frozen.

Think about it, from when processed to the shelves is a long time between processing, trucking and in storage at the store.

sky monkey · May 8, 2017

These guys giving you tips are a helluva lot more experienced than me so take this with a grain of salt. I've never cooked ribs as long as the recipes say. I like a little pull to my ribs 1)because you can walk around and eat them like a caveman and 2) I love to finish over charcoal on my Weber and get a little blackened on them. If I go 2 hours in the foil you need a third arm and third set of tongs to get out of the smoker and onto the grill without dropping bones (and meat!) on the patio.

So I go 1.5 hrs in smoke at ~235°, 1.5 hrs in foil @ ~250° with a 1/4 cup of what you're feeling or drinking that day and then I sauce and finish over a hot charcoal fire for the last 10 minutes applying sauce 3-4 times. Ribs are the only cut I don't use a thermometer in which I know many would say is a mistake.

I love the taste of hickory on ribs. 90% of the time I'm doing baby backs unless spares are on sale or more thawed.

Only smoking about 4 years but really worked ribs hard before I risked a brisket. Good luck!

civileng67 · May 8, 2017

tbrtt1 said:
Be sure to start with a quality rib. I know that sounds cliche, but if you can find some that have not been frozen, that may help as you hone your rib technique.

Is you smoker temp what you think it is? Thermometers that come with smokers are notoriously bad. Use a good digital like a maverick or something. Also, getting an accurate IT on ribs can be tricky. Al is a pro at this so he can help with that. If the meat is tough then it usually means they aren't cooked enough. Overcooked ribs can be dry but they will still b tender usually.

One overarching thought that I had re-reading this thread: maybe eliminate the variables. In other words, put a basic rub or a known commercial rub (probably what you used for PP is good) on a couple hours before smoking and just smoke without spraying for a couple hours, then (optional) wrap for an hour or so and then check to see how done they are. Mayb add a simple glaze at the end. Just keep it as simple as possible to eliminate the variables.

Keep at it. You will be rewarded with fantastic ribs.

BTW, what smoker are you using?

Thanks so much for the input tbrtt1.

I'm using a ThermPro Wireless sensor thermometer. I use one for the temp of the smoker and one for the IT of the meat.

As far as the smoker, I'm using an Original Bradley Smoker.

shyzabrau · May 8, 2017

Not just for transportation. Unless I'm mistaken (I don't recall where I read it), but commercial pork is all frozen at some point in its journey to your table to kill trichinosis.

jokensmoken · May 8, 2017

Just an FYI, I've always been a low and slow guy smoking everything at as close to 230°F-250°F as I can maintain but lately have been experimenting with "hot and fast" technique for my butts...(I agree 12 hours or more is just too long sometimes)..I've done two this week in about the 9 pound range.
One at 300° and one at (OMG) 350° wrapping both in foil at about 165° IT to finish to 200°F IT. The 300° one finished in about 8 hours and the 350° one in just under 5 hours...
The texture is different but the flavor and moisture of both were exceptional...if I wasn't a connoisseur of PP I probably wouldn't know the difference.
Walt.

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