Do I have to wrap St. Louis ribs in foil at some point?

[John Goostree]

I am doing my first smoke on an electric smoker with St. Louis Spare ribs at 275 degrees for 4 hours. Is it ok to never wrap the ribs or is it suggest that I wrap them for the last 2 hours or so?

 

[SmokinAl]

I don't wrap mine, but it is a personal preference. Your going to want to go by the internal meat temp instead of time. At 275 they may take a little longer than 4 hours depending on how thick they are. I check mine with a thin instant read therm, and we like them around 195, but if you want fall off the bone ribs then you would want to take them up to 200-205. I also spritz mine with a combo of apple juice & brown sugar every 45 minutes or so. But I have an offset & it will recover real fast. If your electric takes a long time to get back to temp you may want to just forget the spritzing & wrap them in foil after about 3 hours. I use my rub, brown sugar, & butter in the foil along with a little apple juice or water. Leave them in the foil for at least 1 hour or until the IT is around 190 degrees. Then sauce them & either finish them on a hot grill for just a couple of minutes, or back in the smoker for 1/2 hour or so, until you reach the IT your looking for.
Good luck! Check out my PERFECT RIBS Thread in my signature line, it may give you some ideas.
Al

 

[chilerelleno]

I very rarely crutch pork ribs or anything else.
Only when time is short or I'm intentionally braising the meat.

I use the Pop, Bend and Crack test for my pork ribs, and shoot for a Light Tug doneness.

 

[HalfSmoked]

Same here I don't wrap anything. Again as said personal preference.

Warren

 

[noboundaries]

I don't wrap either, or spritz, or peek. Follow Al's link and you'll do fine. Pay attention to how the probe feels going into the ribs, then note the temp. I actually go by feel more, but that's from experience. No better time to start than now!

 

[gmc2003]

Ok I'm the odd man here. I like to wrap my ribs. I also use the bend test to check for doneness.

Chris

 

[schlotz]

Gave that up years ago, no it's not necessary and IMO it wastes valuable beer time ;)
See recipe below in signature...

 

[chef jimmyj]

I switch up depending on my mood and timing. Foiling, specifically what you put inside, adds a lot of flavor but no, there is no reason you can't smoke straight through...JJ