Yet another rib disaster

[nyvram]

Ok, this is not remotely funny anymore. I cannot cook ribs

http://picasaweb.google.com/marvyn/2007_05_13/photo#5064189628141939426

I have just about had it. :( I have very good luck with brisket & pork butts but am a fumble-fingers with ribs. Ribs..EXPEN$IVE RIBS everytime I screw up. This has to be the 10th or 11th time I have screwed up something that seems to be simple. WHAT AM I DOING WRONG???

This time I sat & did absolutely NOTHING this afternoon except watch these 2 racks of baby-backs from start to finish. All I can figure is the thermometer on the crappy smoker I have must be off. Here's what I did:

1:30PM smoker loaded up w/ apple & oak wood & smoking pretty well; temp 250
1:30 put 2 racks ribs on
3:25 put ribs in foil, squeezed some margarine into the pouches
4:30 took pouches out, squeezed more margarine onto them
5:25 took ribs out, covered w/ Pineapple Hab TPJ
5:40 noticed 'burning smell'; noted temp on door was a little over 200
6:10 smelt something bad, took both racks inside

Underside of both are trashed (completely black/burned).
Both are smoking like a bag of ashes
Tried cutting into one; and the crumbling mess you see in the pic is the result. What little meat I could get too did have a good flavor; too bad its dry and burnt.

:(

I GIVE UP. This is the same smoker that I cook brisket in and the brisket always seems to turn out just fine. I can't figure it out.

I AM DONE WITH RIBS. Its too expensive (time and money) for me to keep turning out little foil pouches of ashes after all I put into them.

Ribs suck :(

[DaHorns]

My advice is to go get a couple oven thermometers and see what the temperature is at your grates. It sounds like your door thermometer might be off a bit or you have some serious hot spots in there. Cause at 200* they souldn't burn in that amount of time.

[yakman]

I agree with DaHorns. I cook ribs at 225 and have never had any trouble with burning them at that temp. I don't say that to rub it in.....rather, to suggest the temps in you pit are probably much higher than you think. Just because the pork butt turns out doesn't mean anything. Pork butt is one of the most forgiving pieces of meat, so that may be the reason you aren't having problems with that cut.

Don't give up on ribs....they are too darn tasty. Give it another try...

Yakman

[droller]

Yep. Temperature has to be way up there to burn ribs the way those are burned.

What kind of smoker are you using? You mention propane in your post. If your heat source is mostly propane you should be able to keep a very constant temperature throughout the cook with almost no effort.

I agree that you need some way to monitor the temperature at the grate where the ribs are. Temperature at the door means very little. My guess is that the burned smell you got came from the sugar in the TPJ getting well over 300 degrees.

[M38A1]

Yeah, what they said. Ribs are fairly bullet-proof for cooking.

I'm tending to lean towards the butter having some sort of negative impact. I can't say I've heard of that, nor have I read it here either. Doesn't mean it won't work, but it's not 'normal'.

Don't give up. When you DO figure it out, you won't look back. I'd check the thermometers you have, maybe buy a digital probe type and stick it in a potato and leave the potato on the grate to monitor grate level temperature.

Don't give up on us...... (but try it w/o the butter and maybe add a bit of apple juice next time)

[kpigout]

What kind of pit/grill do you have? I also noticed in the pic you mentioned propane.

[droller]

I see that M38A1 and kpigout are following this thread. Do whatever they say and you will be eating darn good ribs in short order.

In the meantime, spares may be a little easier on the budget and may provide a little practice for you. Don't give up. The reward for your persistence and effort will great.

[grillmaster]

nyvram,
the others are right on track in my opinion , i've never heard of using butter for ribs but i do know it doesn't have a high smoke point so it wouldn't take much for it to burn along with the sugar in the tpj probaly adds to that if its getting that hot which it is from the looks of it. keep on keepin on you'll get it.
Chris

[ridgeback05]

don't give up man

these set backs are what makes us the man later

[ZBQ]

Don't give up!!........what the guys have told you above is right on the money....your temps have to be alot higher than you think. Post a pic of your smoker or at least tell us what kind it is and I know the guys that have posted above will guide you on the straight and narrow. I wouldn't use margarine in the foil anymore. Most guys use some kind of fruit juice like apple or pineapple. Also, do you know if there were any holes in the foil? This will cause the liquid to drain out and become dry. I usually try to put the ribs in the foil with the bones pointing up and double layer the foil.

My wife will tell you that the only thing my first ribs were good for was the trash!!:lol: Seriously, they were so bad I wouldn't even give the scraps to the dogs!!:rolleyes:

Then I found this board and the rest is history!! :D

Don't give up the ship, ribs are way too tasty and BELIEVE us when we say you will look back on this and laugh after you figure it out!! I know alot of us went through this kind of stuff just starting out.

Best of luck and keep us posted!!:)

[Papa Tom]

I agree with most all here so I won't try to add anything on technique but will suggest that you might try rib tips they are cheap and cook just like ribs and I like them a lot.
Now that I said I wouldn't talk technique, I will. In problem solving it is best to go back to the basics and do the procedure in the simplest possible way. Then work back adding process items one at a time to see how they affect the end result. So you might drop everything except the ribs themselves and try the cook watching temps closely. You'll figure it out.

[Bowhnter2]

I wonder about a couple things...these are BBs and I wonder about the time

1:30 put 2 racks ribs on
3:25 put ribs in foil, squeezed some margarine into the pouches
4:30 took pouches out, squeezed more margarine onto them
5:25 took ribs out, covered w/ Pineapple Hab TPJ
Is that a total of 2 hrs in foil? If so, I would think that is way too long
5:40 noticed 'burning smell'; noted temp on door was a little over 200
Were they ruined at this point? Maybe could have taken them off then rather than 30 more minutes
6:10 smelt something bad, took both racks inside

Cutting back on the times a little may help.

[PitBull]

Ditto DaHorns and all of the guys. Only a couple of things I might add. Until you get things under control, I'd lose the butter (scorches too easy) and the foil. Also, put your ribs as far away from the fire box as possible if your not already doing so. You might put your temp gage in boiling water to see if it is reading right. I found mine was reading 35 degrees too low, meaning I was cooking 35 degrees too hot. :shock: Made a very big difference.

[nyvram]

WOW!

Thank you for all the great responses. Ok, I'll try it again. I was just pretty frustrated yesterday after spending so much time & money and didn't eat anything all day..in anticipation..you know the rest..

Ok, a couple of quick responses:

- its a block propane smoker (the one they sell at walmart) Great Outdoors Smoky Mountin. Again, its been known to cook decently but it is 2 years old and..how shall I say..rather "cheaply" built. I unfortunately have my eye on the Gator Budget Mobile and so I'm hesitant to buy anything until I go "all the way" to my dream smoker.

RE: eveyone; ok, i'll lose the margarine. I was thinking a 'bath' in something like that would keep them juicy but perhaps that helped 'burn' the bottoms faster

RE: M38 & PitBull; ok, thats a good idea. I shouldn't put much stock in the temp gauge. I guess I mistakenly believed if the ribs were all foiled up they were suddenly impervious to heat. I get ideas in my head sometimes (as my wife can tell you) that are just plain wrong and I have a hard time accepting my mistake. I'll try the potato trick or perhaps I'll take a sledgehammer to the existing temp gauge.

RE: Bowhunter; 2 hours in foil too long? Ok. I think you're right; had I taken them out sooner they would probably have been better. I kept thinking they should 'pull back' from the bone more..this is a case of not using my EYES but rather taking something I read and using that to subert my own common sense regarding how the ribs were looking. Its that dang OCD in me. :(

Thanks everyone. You of course realize this thread is the ONLY thing keeping me from giving up on ribs forever right? ;-)

[Bayou Black Iron]

Don't give up...these guys have you heading in the right direction :thumbs: .

Besides, there's no way somebody having an avatar, like your's, could be a quitter :oops: .

[PitBull]

I'm not sure what you mean by a block smoker. Can't picture it. I take it, it is not indirect heat. Anyway, if you didnt see this thread it is worth reading.

http://forum.texasbbqrub.com/showthread.php?t=27873

[cappy]

I'm not sure what you mean by a block smoker. Can't picture it. I take it, it is not indirect heat.

I think it is this one (http://www.bizrate.com/camping_hikinggear/oid515209680__nwylf--.html).

[3970010]

I have never cooked babybacks only spares. For what it is worth I use a cheap walmarts electronic thermometer that I can run the probe inside the cooker and watch the tempature. I do try and cook around 250 though. Dont give up.

[Zeeman]

I've seen ribs like that one time. It was right after a grease fire finally went out. Remember dat Richey?

Looks to me like to high heat along with high sugar content in your rub had a lot to do with your cook. I'm not sure about the butter burn though, never used it. Cook time seem ok to.

Cut your fire in half and try spare ribs (cheaper if happens again).
z

[MI smoke]

I wonder about a couple things...these are BBs and I wonder about the time

1:30 put 2 racks ribs on
3:25 put ribs in foil, squeezed some margarine into the pouches
4:30 took pouches out, squeezed more margarine onto them
5:25 took ribs out, covered w/ Pineapple Hab TPJ
Is that a total of 2 hrs in foil? If so, I would think that is way too long
5:40 noticed 'burning smell'; noted temp on door was a little over 200
Were they ruined at this point? Maybe could have taken them off then rather than 30 more minutes
6:10 smelt something bad, took both racks inside

Cutting back on the times a little may help.

I'm with bowhunter your cookin them too long.
The only rib I cook is bb.
I cook 225 to 250 for about 4 hrs.
The first thing I would do is drop the butter and the foil, if that is what you like to do you can add that stuff back in later.
Does your rub have a high sugar content, if it does maybee try something diff (texas bbq rub :-) ).
Cook em @ 225 to 250 for about 4 hrs until you pick them up, it starts breaking in the middle ( Or pick them with a ice pick and it goes in easy).
Check your themos they could be off.
just go basic (the items above) you can change stuff later if you don't like the taste or if it is a little too dry.
I don't foil mine, and I cook them about 4 hrs nekid.
Lookin @ the pics I think your cookin them too long.
My 2 cents

[TexLaw]

I wonder if you didn't have a grease fire after you took the ribs out of the foil. You mentioned a burning smell and burnt bottoms, and we can all see the picture. A bunch of that squirt margarine may have dripped off your ribs, pooled at the bottom, and caught fire. I don't know what is in that nasty, witches' brew squirt margarine stuff, but I don't get near it.

Your thermometer read fine, but you already mentioned that you don't trust it. What did your smoke look like?

Usually, if something smells like it's burning, it is.


TL