Ribs were disappointing - Any advice?

[patriot-bbq]

Any chance the ribs were older or slightly dried out somehow?  Sometimes, bad starting meat can be bad smoked meat

 

[TulsaJeff]

I, like many others, don't foil my ribs all the time but there is something to be said for at least giving them an hour or so in the foil, it tenderizes the ribs, and while it won't do away with the bark if you only leave it in there for an hour or so but it will soften the crust just a little and give it just that perfect texture.

If I'm not doing 3-2-1, I like to smoke them (spares) for about 4 hours then 45 minutes or so, sometimes a little more, in the foil with some apple juice or other fruit juice then back on the rack until they are done to perfection. Works every time.

Practice makes perfect so around here we EAT our mistakes and try again, and again, and again until they are just the way we like them

One rack of "not-so-perfect" ribs just means you're that much closer to your perfect ones.

 

[Dutch]

<snip> Total time on was 6.5hrs for the spares, 5.5hrs for the babies. What else guys?<snip>

Rog, When I do spares on the Lang, I don't foil and I try to keep my chamber temps around 220°-225°. I begin checking them at the 5 hour mark using the bend test. (Pick up rack w/tongs and they should bend with a slight tearing of the meat fibers). The longest they have ever been in the smoker was 5.75 hours only cuz Ma Dutch gave me a chore to do and I got sidetracked timewise

but they still turned out great. For baby backs, they're on the smoker for roughly 4.25 hrs.