New Guy Here

[Torq]

Greetings from southern Cali. I just recently got into smoking using a pellet grille that I received for Christmas. I’ve had some great success and some not so great attempts. I have been looking for a forum that might offer some assistance along my journey to some really good back yard BBQ.

After visiting the Pecan Lodge in TX I’ve set my heart on making beef ribs that in anyway can resemble what i tasted there. I was blown away. I’ve tried twice now with slightly different tips I’ve found online but with similar results. Nice juicy and tender meat around the bone but dry and tuff on the outside. I’ll attempt to add some photos but the short story is below.

Cook at 225 spraying every 30 minutes after the first hour. Wrapped at 160 on the first cook and 190 on the second (read it would protect the bark better if I waited longer to wrap) pulled the meat when it was 203 the first cook and closer to 210 on the second because it didn’t feel “like warm butter”.

So my dilemma.... it’s tuff so everything I read suggests to cook longer.... but it’s so dry that I feel like it’s overdone.....

I welcome any suggestions or criticism at this point because I’m very new to the process.

Thanks in advance!

 

[old sarge]

After you reach the internal temp you are looking for, try wrapping in heavy foil, then a very large beach/bath towel, then stuff in a cooler and let it rest for a couple of hours. It will stay hot, and gets more tender. And welcome to the forum.

 

[kruizer]

Welcome to SMF from Minnesota.

 

[bluewhisper]

Welcome to the board! You will find answers here.

 

[banderson7474]

man where did you find beef ribs like that???!!!

 

[Bearcarver]

Your Beef Ribs look Great, Torq!!!
Like.

I do my Beef Ribs by Time, kinda like I do Pork Ribs.
Here's the last ones I did (Step by Step):
Note: I don't get a smoke ring, because I use an electric smoker.

Link:
Smoked Beef Prime Rib Dinos (With Extra Meat)

Bear

 

[browneyesvictim]

YEAH! Where did you get those??????

They would fall off the bone if you overcooked them. Judging by your photos, they are not quite done yet. (but they do look delicious!) My first instinct would be to double check the calibration on your therm(s). Seems off to me if you say that IT is 210'.

 

[Torq]

man where did you find beef ribs like that???!!!

The place is called Hottinger Family Meats here in SoCal Its a local shop thats been around for a long long time.

 

[Torq]

YEAH! Where did you get those??????

They would fall off the bone if you overcooked them. Judging by your photos, they are not quite done yet. (but they do look delicious!) My first instinct would be to double check the calibration on your therm(s). Seems off to me if you say that IT is 210'.

Thank you for the input. Ive had the same question myself thinking that the temp probe was off. I got a mid ranged insta read thermometer off amazon and it seemed to be within a few degrees depending on where I poke the meat. Im tempted to swap out the traeger next week at Costco because the new models have a bunch of improvements and something seems off. I cant find a single source that would suggest im overcooking the meat because then it would jsut fall apart into mush. The dryness is what was confusing me. When I cut through the outer layer I got a geyser of fluid that literally sprayed across the counter onto the floor. Its as if the tuff exterior was protecting the inside and sealed everything in.

That being said...... can they be not done and still 200+ degrees? If they prob at 203-205 abut are still tuff on the outside do I just keep going? And then.... how do i keep it from becoming jerky as it gets tender? Wrap sooner? Spray more volume? Spray more often? All of the above? Does the convection fan of the traeger style smoker dry things out more than other stick burning smokers? Half the videos I see online with traegers they dont even wrap or spray or rest..... They simply season.... place on the grill at 225 and wait.... Then cut into this moist and tender rib 2 minutes after they pull it off the grille....

 

[Torq]

I just realized that I have not given any reference to time but I had these on the grille for about 9 hours... Which is another reason I dont think the temperature is too far off or else they would have reached 200 a lot sooner if I was burning too hot? I dont know.....

 

[Bearcarver]

I just realized that I have not given any reference to time but I had these on the grille for about 9 hours... Which is another reason I dont think the temperature is too far off or else they would have reached 200 a lot sooner if I was burning too hot? I dont know.....

If you look at the Link I gave you in post #6 (above), you will see mine were in @ 230° for 3 hours, then wrapped & in for about another 3 hours @ 240°, so that's a total of 6 hours to bring them to between 198° & 205° IT.

Bear

 

[Torq]

If you look at the Link I gave you in post #6 (above), you will see mine were in @ 230° for 3 hours, then wrapped & in for about another 3 hours @ 240°, so that's a total of 6 hours to bring them to between 198° & 205° IT.

Bear

I did read your post. Thank you. So it would seem strange that 9 hours in and at 200+ degrees the meat was still under cooked?

 

[Bearcarver]

I did read your post. Thank you. So it would seem strange that 9 hours in and at 200+ degrees the meat was still under cooked?

Yours looks Fine to me.
When you say it's Dry & tough on the outside, are you talking about the Bark?
9 hours at a lower than usual Temp could give you a Dry Hard Bark, with tender & juicy inside meat.

Bear

 

[Torq]

Yours looks Fine to me.
When you say it's Dry & tough on the outside, are you talking about the Bark?
9 hours at a lower than usual Temp could give you a Dry Hard Bark, with tender & juicy inside meat.

Bear

No not the bark... Im talking about the section of meat about an inch thick below the smoke ring before that first layer of fat starts to separate from the next section of meat. That whole section was very chewy and virtually no moisture. I pull it off in one layer and threw it out. Most of the traeger specific guides say cook at 225. The first time I tried ribs i cooked at 240-250 because thats what most of the youtube guys were saying and I thought the higher temp was the problem the first go around. I even poured broth in the foil on one attempt to add moisture... I just dont know why it would be chewy and tough at 9 hours.

Thank you for the discussion......

 

[fullborebbq]

How deep are you placing your temp sensor?? I would go for just past that first layer that is getting dry. Lower heat 225 and wrap with some broth at 160. Some sensor's are averaging and some are sensing just the first 1/2".

 

[Torq]

How deep are you placing your temp sensor?? I would go for just past that first layer that is getting dry. Lower heat 225 and wrap with some broth at 160. Some sensor's are averaging and some are sensing just the first 1/2".

Thanks for the reply. I always shoot for the middle of the thickest part of the meat and avoid the bone. This is just what ive heard from articles and videos that I have watched/read. I am half way convinced that something with the thermometer or controller of my unit is off. I need to do some research on exhaust temps because I stuck my insta read thermometer in the smoke stack and was getting 400+ degrees. I dont know yet if exhaust temps are always significantly higher... if not then i might be unknowingly cooking way hotter than i think... this could also be the reason it seems to take forever to get the grille up to 350-400 degrees. The problem is... my cook times are never shorter than expected.... It always seems to take the appropriate amount of time to get internal temps where they should be.

I feel like i have done enough investigation to determine something is wrong with the unit.... unless every traeger you tuber secretly cooks their beef on a real smoker and then puts it on the traeger for the revile portion of the video.

 

[Marian Starks]

Hello and welcome to the SMF.