Dry ribs on MES40

[dvuong]

Did my first smoke this past weekend for Father's Day on the MES40.  I cooked 4 racks of St. Louis Ribs using the 3-2-1 method and it turned out really dry!  The meat was as tender and fall off the bone as I wanted but it was just dry as a hucklebuck.  I preheated the smoker to 275 and turned it down to 225 as soon as the ribs went in.  I using my Thermoworks thermometer in the smoker to monitor temp.  As soon as the meat went in, the temp dropped down to below 200 for quite some time so I upped the temp incrementally.  Even at 275, the temp never was stable at 225. 

I'm pretty certain my Thermoworks is spot on accurate.  Can anyone tell me why my ribs turned out dry?

 

[atomicsmoke]

When you foiled them did you put any liquid in the package?

 

[dvuong]

I added a tiny bit of apple juice.

 

[avfordguy]

For me 275 was the death of the ribs, I never,ever go more than 235 and I pre heat the following way.

1. Have meat prepared ready to go.

2. Turn on MES and set to 235F ( do not add chips at this time)

3. Watch the read-out when it hits 160-170 open the door

4. Leave the door wide open while you load your ribs/chicken,or whatever your going to cook

5. Load the ribs and close the door (do not add chips at this time)

6. As the box temp readout hits about 175-180 now add your chips (the heating element will be good and red-hot)

7. Never compensate temp the more meat that goes into the smoker the lower the temp, don't worry, thats the best part of "slow cooking"