Newbie with a temp problem! Help!

[meatandmoo]

Alright, guys. I need your help!


I’m a newbie smoker. My wife bought me a 30” Masterbuilt Pro propane smoker, and I’ve been consistently making absolutely terrible babyback ribs, pulled pork, and brisket. Here’s my set-up after much tinkering:


MSP Propane smoker. I use a foil pan for my water pan. Under that, I have AMNPS 12” tube to the left by the bottom vent. It gets plenty of oxygen and puts out consistent TBS. I ditched their chip pan. I use a Maverick thermometer on a grill clip on the same rack as the ribs. And I put a needle valve on my propane hose, so I get great temp control. All of these changes were the result of advice and posts at this forum. You guys are absolutely awesome, and I’m learning a lot from all of you.


But ok. I don’t have pictures of the smoke, but I used mustard then layered a few different rubs. Into the smoker preheated at 225. I close the door and don’t touch ‘em at all for three hours. Pull the ribs, temp is 153. I foil them in water, butter, brown sugar, more rub and drizzle honey on the top. Back in the smoker. Pull a little over an hour later. Temp. 193. Take off the foil and back in the smoker. Still 225. I check the temp one hour later…


…temp 153.


????????????? This is the second time I’ve done this same process, and again this happened. Temp drops down to 153 when they come out of the foil.


Does anyone know why this is? Is this the stall? And why would the ribs drop 40ish degrees after they come out of the smoker? I just don’t know what to do. Last time, I waited it out, but cranked the smoker to 275. They eventually got to the right temp, and they tasted ok, but not great. Any help or ideas, I’d love to hear your thoughts.

UPDATE: The ribs came out quite good in spite of the temp drop. Here's a look at the final product. First rack the wife actually ate :)

 

[JCAP]

I am the furthest thing from an expert on here! But I found that using the IT on my last rib smoke wasn’t helpful and instead went with the bend and toothpick tests. How long after they came out of the foil did you temp them again?

How are the pulled pork smokes going?

 

[Petehasnoidea]

The whole mustard thing seems awfull. Why mustard? Why not just a simple mop or bbq sauce? I don’t know much about but I’ve read mustard seems to be the binder of choice.

 

[SecondHandSmoker]

You might be pulling them a little to early.
Even for BB ribs that I smoke using the 3-1-1 method, I wait to foil until IT is between 160-170 taken in different spots on each rack.
What you might want to consider doing is during the 3 hours unwrapped is to flip your ribs every hour.
Start with bone side down for an hour.
Then flip so meat side is down for an hour.
Flip again to so the bone side is down again for an hour.

And yes, the temps will drop when the ribs are unwrapped. You could try going for 1 1/2 hours wrapped to hit 195-200 and then run like heck to get them bones back in the smoker.

You know they are done when they probe tender or pass the bend test.

 

[SecondHandSmoker]

The whole mustard thing seems awfull. Why mustard? Why not just a simple mop or bbq sauce? I don’t know much about but I’ve read mustard seems to be the binder of choice.

Mustard helps the rub stick on the ribs.
You don't even taste it on the final product.

Since BBQ sauce has sugar in it, you stand the risk of burning if you use sauce as a mop.

 

[bregent]

Does anyone know why this is? Is this the stall?

Evaporative cooling. When you unwrap, the all of the liquid on the surface starts to evaporate and cool the ribs. Since ribs are thin, surface cooling can cause the internal temps to drop quite a bit. The stall is simply evaporative cooling that occurs when the meat reaches a temperature that causes it to contract, and forces juices to the surface.

Your technique seems fine for foiled ribs, you just need to wait longer. But you may want to try the next run unwrapped - it makes it much easier to see when they are done using the bend test. I run at 275 and BB take about 3 hours, unwrapped. I haven't foiled ribs in years.

 

[meatandmoo]

I am the furthest thing from an expert on here! But I found that using the IT on my last rib smoke wasn’t helpful and instead went with the bend and toothpick tests. How long after they came out of the foil did you temp them again?

How are the pulled pork smokes going?

I temped them about 45 min. after they came out of the foil. They were in the smoker the whole time and the temp in the smoker was showing around 230ish.

The pulled pork was a disaster lol. I think I had the temp too low in the smoker, they never got to where I wanted even after 10 hours. I ended up burning it in the oven.

 

[meatandmoo]

You might be pulling them a little to early.
Even for BB ribs that I smoke using the 3-1-1 method, I wait to foil until IT is between 160-170 taken in different spots on each rack.
What you might want to consider doing is during the 3 hours unwrapped is to flip your ribs every hour.
Start with bone side down for an hour.
Then flip so meat side is down for an hour.
Flip again to so the bone side is down again for an hour.

And yes, the temps will drop when the ribs are unwrapped. You could try going for 1 1/2 hours wrapped to hit 195-200 and then run like heck to get them bones back in the smoker.

You know they are done when they probe tender or pass the bend test.

Thank you for the advice! I will absolutely try that. Never thought to flip the ribs.

 

[meatandmoo]

Evaporative cooling. When you unwrap, the all of the liquid on the surface starts to evaporate and cool the ribs. Since ribs are thin, surface cooling can cause the internal temps to drop quite a bit. The stall is simply evaporative cooling that occurs when the meat reaches a temperature that causes it to contract, and forces juices to the surface.

Ahhhh, got it. Yeah, I think I'll try unwrapped and see if I have better success.

 

[fivetricks]

10 hours for pulled pork isn't very long in the grand scheme of things.

 

[noboundaries]

Did you heat the water, butter, brown sugar, etc when you wrapped? If not, physics takes over. Yes, there is evaporative cooling, but when you add cold ingredients to a hotter hunk of meat, the meat has to give up heat energy through direct contact, or conduction, for the new ingredients to reach equilibrium before the meat can start absorbing heat from the chamber's air. Bottom line, the temperature of the meat is going to drop as the added cold ingredients get hotter. Heat transfer through direct contact is SUBSTANTIALLY greater than through air.

 

[JCAP]

I temped them about 45 min. after they came out of the foil. They were in the smoker the whole time and the temp in the smoker was showing around 230ish.

I wouldn't expect them to drop that much either but the meat is the boss. The pics you added look good though, so it worked!

The pulled pork was a disaster lol. I think I had the temp too low in the smoker, they never got to where I wanted even after 10 hours. I ended up burning it in the oven.

The good ol' stall. Freaked me out on my first butt for sure. Last summer I did 3 for my sister's wedding rehearsal dinner and it took the better part of 12-14 hours. I think the last single butt I did also was 10+ hours...

 

[SecondHandSmoker]

Thank you for the advice! I will absolutely try that. Never thought to flip the ribs.

You're welcome.

 

[gmc2003]

My question is how long does it take you to foil the ribs? When I first started out I would take the ribs off the smoker and bring them into the kitchen to foil. The temps would drop dramatically. Then I started wrapping them on a table next to the smoker. The temps would still drop, but not nearly as much. Now I use a disposable pan and foil right on my WSM grate. I bring the pan, foil, and anything I want to add to the mix right out to the smoker. Once outside I'll add my foiling mixture to the pan and get the foil ready. Once everything is set then I'll remove the lid to the WSM and quickly lift the ribs up with my tongs, set the pan on the top grate, place the ribs in the pan and foil. Then the lid goes back on the WSM. It's a really quick process and the ribs basically don't lose any heat.

Chris

 

[meatandmoo]

Did you heat the water, butter, brown sugar, etc when you wrapped?

I did not! Everything was cold, which would have dropped the temp if I'm understanding you right.

 

[meatandmoo]

My question is how long does it take you to foil the ribs?

Yeah, I brought them out of the smoker, up to the kitchen, then laid out the ingredients and foiled them. In hindsight, that was probably not a good idea. I've been debating putting a table out by the smoker, but I think now that I shouldn't wait and just go ahead and do it.

 

[SecondHandSmoker]

Yeah, I brought them out of the smoker, up to the kitchen, then laid out the ingredients and foiled them. In hindsight, that was probably not a good idea. I've been debating putting a table out by the smoker, but I think now that I shouldn't wait and just go ahead and do it.

Yeah, it is a good idea to have everything laid out in advance including the wrapping foil.

 

[schlotz]

All part of the education process with the added advantage of getting to eat the results. Plenty of ways to get great ribs, wrapped or not. Just have to find one you like and can repeat. If interested, see sig below.