dry crumbly ribs

[masssmoke]

I smoked some ribs yesterday for the family and some guests. Followed my typical routine for ribs, these were baby backs. Did one hour on the "smoke" setting on my Pit Boss which runs at pretty low temp then put to 225 for another 2 hours, then foiled for 1.5. At that point they were looking good, so I sauced and left them one for 1 more hour to firm up from the foiling phase. So a total of 5.5 hours on the smoker.

After that I still had about and hour or hour and a half before we were ready to eat so I covered the ribs in foil and put in an airtight cooler to keep warm. I think that might have been the mistake. I think that the foil and cooler kept the ribs so hot they kept cooking. When I took them out of the cooler they were still really warm/hot. What happened was that when I went to slice them up they were kind of dry and crumbled part. The fell off the bone even when cutting (which I hate because I like them to pull gently off the bone). Was kind of embarrassed to serve them to guests really.

I should have tested one before I put them in the cooler to see if that was the case. Next time I will just tent them in foil and then throw them on the grill to heat up before serving when I have a delay between being done and being ready to eat.

Does it make sense to anyone that the cooler time was the culprit?

 

[noboundaries]

Crumbly and FOTB is definitely overcooked. Yes, the cooler kept the temp from falling. I've actually stopped using my cooler as a hotbox due to the continued cooking issue. Now, I cover them with foil and put a couple of old towels on them. Seems to work for a couple of hours with no problems.

 

[SmokinAl]

I just let mine sit on the counter until everybody is ready to eat. I don't think ribs need to be piping hot, or even warm to be good. If they cool down too much then 10 seconds in the microwave brings them right back!
Al

 

[schlotz]

If you would first let them sit on the counter for 10 minutes, then wrap & into the cooler they should be fine. Key is to let the temp reduce to the point that continued cooking will not occur, ergo the 10 minutes.

Same issue with other proteins. If done when pulled, you don't want it to cook more. Brisket for example: if I pull it upon being probe tender throughout, this means it's already done. Usually the IT at that point is somewhere in the neighborhood of 205º-ish. I leave it rest until the IT has dropped to 180-185º before wrapping & into the cooler.

 

[masssmoke]

Thanks to all for confirming what I had thought. There is always next time!