First Time St Louis Ribs!

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hameltj

Newbie
Original poster
Aug 28, 2017
4
10
Hi All,

Just got my MES 30" smoker a couple weeks ago and did some chicken wings and St Louis ribs using Jeff Phillips rubs and bbq sauce.  Chicken wings came out great and were a big hit and the St Louis ribs came out very good, as well.  I used the 3-2-1 method on the ribs with some maple wood chips.  As I said, the ribs were very good (and tender)- but not fall off the bone and I'm wondering what else I can do to get them to be a little more tender so that they do fall off the bone.  One thing I'm wondering about is, during the foil process, I wrapped them a little tight.  The only reason I did this is to ensure they fit between the racks.  Could I have smothered them a little bit by doing this?  I would have liked to have 'tented' the foil a little bit to allow for the air to circulate inside the foil but there just wasn't any room (I did 4 racks of ribs - cut in half - two half racks of ribs on each cooking rack).

Any thoughts would be appreciated!

Thanks everyone.

Tim(CT).
 
Check the final temp of the ribs.

FOTB ribs are done at 200-205.

You may need to leave them in the foil longer.

Al
 
Congrats on the successful smoke.  That always makes you feel good. 

As far as the ribs and FOTB, forget about analyzing how you wrapped them or not.  Only one thing makes ribs FOTB, the internal temp of the meat.  I never wrap my ribs.  I like mine the way yours turned out, with a little bite left in them.  My wife and kids likes theirs FOTB.  I just cook their ribs longer, increasing the internal temp of the meat. 

Until recently I never checked the internal temp of ribs.  I used the bend test and eyeballed how much the meat had pulled up on the bone.  As the result of a wise and experienced pit master here on the forum (SmokinAl), I now use an instant read thermometer on my ribs.  I take mine off the smoker around 200F internal temp, when there's about a 45-60 degree bend in the ribs when I pick them up from one end with tongs.  I leave my family's ribs on the smoker until the meat is 205-207F, and just about breaks, or does break, when I pick up one end. 

I get my clean bite, they get their mouthful of FOTB rib meat.  Everyone's happy!
 
Awesome... Thanks for the info.  Bought a meat thermometer from Amazon (I heard the  MES ones aren't that good) today and will use that next time...!
 
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