Tough spare ribs

[okiefisher]

I put two racks of spare ribs on the smoker at 11:00AM today so they would be ready at 5:30 or 6:00 and was using the 3-2-1 method. I had the smoker temp set at 230 and smoker temp was averaging 225. I smoked the ribs bone down until 2:30 then wrapped adding apple juice inside the wrap and cooked until 4:30 then removed from the foil even tho they didn't feel tender at all. I cooked for another hour and the meat hadn't even began to pull down the bone from shrinkage so I wrapped again and added more juice to the wrap. I placed the ribs back in the smoker and cranked the smoker temp up to 260 and cooked until 7:00 at which time I pulled and checked them but they still weren't tender so I cooked them another hour. They were a little better but still not as tender as normal. My smoker thermometer and my thermapro were pretty much consistent with one another throughout the smoke. I've never had ribs stay tough smoking like this and especially after cooking for this long. Anyone have any ideas why they wouldn't get tender. Bought at Walmart last night on sale. A buddy of mine suggested they may have been frozen twice although they were thawed when I bought them.

 

[noboundaries]

I used to smoke ribs at 225F.  Now I'm more in the 250-275F range.  When I smoked at 225F, I didn't wrap.  The fastest ribs would get done was 5.5 hours, and that was rare.  Most were finished in the 6-6.5 hour range.  Sometimes 7.  And I've had a rack or two take longer and not get done, which was also rare.  Heck, the last rack I did, a 6.12 lb, untrimmed rack of spares, was in the 270-280 range and it took 6 hours, unwrapped. 

The animals are all different.  Heat, meat, and time eventually get it done, with heat and time both being big variables.  A 6 lb rack this week at 250 could take 5 hours, next week 7.  Just part of the smoking adventure.    

 

[SmokinAl]

Sounds like you may have gotten a bad rack of ribs.

It happens.

I always buy fresh, never frozen ribs.

Al

 

[gmc2003]

I usually don't go by time at all, and only wrap when I see a little pull-back on the bone. I also run my chamber temp in the 250 - 260 range. Hope you have better luck next time.

Chris 

 

[okiefisher]

Thanks for the replies! Just when you think you have smoking something figured out it changes.