Need Help With Beef Ribs

[smokeemout]

Help! I have a big problem trying to smoke beef ribs. I have a vertical smoker.
I put 1/2 water and 1/2 apple juice in the water pan
Smoked them at 230 for 3 hrs, temp never got above 161. wrapped for 2 hr w/ some butter, and unwrapped smoked again for an hour. They had mushy parts. Ending temp was 180 and they were THOROUGHLY cooked. I let the smoker temp get up high to 270 for some time to try to get the meat up to 200 degrees. It wasn't getting there.
Then I smoked them for 4 hrs at 230, again temp didn't get above 160, wrapped for 1 hr and smoked again for an hour, keeping the temp 230-250. They came out with a mushy area in the center.
Any suggestions?

 

[HalfSmoked]

The way I did some beef ribs was to smoke them about 3 hrs than paned them with some broth (just enough to cover bottom of pan for moisture do not cover ribs)and cover them with foil the placed in hose oven at 300 and finished.

 

[zwiller]

Keep it simple. SPG, 275F, no water or juice in pan, no wrap butter or broth, oak, smoke until 200 or so, like 4-5hrs. Family said do NOT change anything. Try some with a shot or 2 of Franks hot sauce. Would do them all the time but real pricey here.

 

[flatbroke]

Help! I have a big problem trying to smoke beef ribs. I have a vertical smoker.
I put 1/2 water and 1/2 apple juice in the water pan
Smoked them at 230 for 3 hrs, temp never got above 161. wrapped for 2 hr w/ some butter, and unwrapped smoked again for an hour. They had mushy parts. Ending temp was 180 and they were THOROUGHLY cooked. I let the smoker temp get up high to 270 for some time to try to get the meat up to 200 degrees. It wasn't getting there.
Then I smoked them for 4 hrs at 230, again temp didn't get above 160, wrapped for 1 hr and smoked again for an hour, keeping the temp 230-250. They came out with a mushy area in the center.
Any suggestions?

did you have 1 cook or 2 attempts at the ribs? if It was 1 cook, they were on heat for 10 hrs unless my math is wrong, plus the 270 for some time part. are you sure your temp gauge is accurate?

e

 

[Bearcarver]

Below is 3 different Step by Steps on Beef Ribs, each with different amounts of Meat on the Bones:
Prime Rib "Dino" Ribs
Beef "Dino" Ribs (From My Last Prime Rib Score)
Smoked Beef Prime Rib Dinos (With Extra Meat)

Bear

 

[tallbm]

Help! I have a big problem trying to smoke beef ribs. I have a vertical smoker.
I put 1/2 water and 1/2 apple juice in the water pan
Smoked them at 230 for 3 hrs, temp never got above 161. wrapped for 2 hr w/ some butter, and unwrapped smoked again for an hour. They had mushy parts. Ending temp was 180 and they were THOROUGHLY cooked. I let the smoker temp get up high to 270 for some time to try to get the meat up to 200 degrees. It wasn't getting there.
Then I smoked them for 4 hrs at 230, again temp didn't get above 160, wrapped for 1 hr and smoked again for an hour, keeping the temp 230-250. They came out with a mushy area in the center.
Any suggestions?

Hi there and welcome!

I think the issue is that you aren't cooking the beef ribs to a high enough Internal Temp (IT).

First off know that beef ribs take a long time so you have to plan for that. Running at 275F or a little higher is a good idea and the ribs don't care about the hotter temp.

Next, beef ribs are done when they are tender. So when they hit an IT of about 200F start checking them for tenderness by stabbing all over with a tooth pic. ALSO with beef ribs, stab right between the bone and the meat to check for tenderness. When the tooth pic goes in like butter then the ribs are done.

When you do a bunch of beef rib research you find out that the process of cooking is very very very similarly to brisket. I haven't done a ton of beef ribs or get to do them that often (price is outrageous) but when I have they have come out AMAZING!!!!

Best of luck and keep at it :)

 

[smokeemout]

did you have 1 cook or 2 attempts at the ribs? if It was 1 cook, they were on heat for 10 hrs unless my math is wrong, plus the 270 for some time part. are you sure your temp gauge is accurate?

e

That's 2 separate attempts. The gauges are pretty new, Redi Chek. There's two probes. One I use for the chamber temp and the other for the meat temp.

 

[smokeemout]

THANK YOU EVERYONE! I'll try your suggestions and check on the thermometers, test them in the oven with some other thermometer. Thanks very much for the info and really fast responses.

 

[Bearcarver]

THANK YOU EVERYONE! I'll try your suggestions and check on the thermometers, test them in the oven with some other thermometer. Thanks very much for the info and really fast responses.

You may already know this, but the best way to check your "Redi Chek" Therms is to put the probes in Boiling Water, without touching the sides of the pot. They should read 212° or very close, unless you're at a higher altitude.

Bear

 

[smokeemout]

Thanks. That makes more sense. I'll do just that.