What did i do wrong?

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LarryWolfe

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shaebert said:
So it was my first time cooking a couple racks of baby back ribs on my gas grill. And they turned out very dry. I was wondering if you guys could help me out and tell me what it did wrong......

I started out putting a dry rub on the ribs. I put a metal pan underneath the grate that had the ribs on. I had that filled with water. I also i had a metal container of apple wood next to it. I cooked the ribs for 4 hours. I had to add more water once. I tried to keep the temp down but i couldnt get the apple wood to smoke unless id turn both of my 2 burners on. In the end the temp ranged from 225-300, but i kept it around 245 most of the time. I added sauce to it around the 2nd hour and continued to do so every 30 minutes or so. In the end the meat was not tender and very dry. It had a good flavor though.... So what did i do wrong? was it too hot, did i cook them too long? Did i just fail to cook them the right way?

Thanks for the Help

'Dry' meat comes from one thing..........over cooking.

I think your temps were higher than you think, especially when you were cranking up the burners to get the wood to smoke. Next time wrap wood chips in foil, poke 2-3 holes in the top of the foil and place directly on top of the lit burner. That will give you smoke without having to crank the heat up high at all.

What kind of ribs were you cooking? Generally if you're slow cooking ribs, loin back ribs take around 5 hours and spares 6 hours if you're cooking in the 245º-260º range. You can also cook them at higher temps 325º-375º and finish them in the 2.5-3 hr range depending on the type of rib you are cooking.

If you want to give it a go again using low and slow on the gas grill, try the smoke method as I described above and cook the ribs in the smoke @ 245º-260º (loin backs 3 hrs - spares 4 hrs), then wrap in foil and continue to cook ((loin backs 30-45 minutes - spares 1hr) (you can add liquid at this point to the foil if desired such as apple juice or another fruit juice)). Remove ribs from foil and place back on the grill to firm back up and sauce for approximately 45 minutes to 1 hour depending on the rib.

If you prefer to grill vs. low and slow, cook indirect in the 325º-375º range (use a drip pan, especially on a gas grill) for 2.5-3 hrs or until the bones have pulled back and the ribs are almost tender. At that point move the ribs to direct heat to finish with a nice sear and char.

These are two different methods that will give you great but very different results.
 
Just remember shaebert, this is a learning process and it should be a fun one regardless if you screw a cook up here and there. the next time you cook them you will see how much better you have gotten because of what you learned last time...and of course you will be able to implement the info here as well...do them again this weekend and see how it goes!!

Then, remember, to help pass along the info to the next guy who is having trouble down the road! :D :D
 
Sorry about the dry ribs.. Slow and low is the way to go.. Foil them later too..If at first you succeed, then try try again!! :D
 
What do you mean by dry? Do you mean they weren't falling off the bone? Or do you mean dry as in they were charred? I know the first year I cooked ribs I always undercooked them because I assumed that I didn't want to burn the ribs. I can tell you that if you are cooking them indirect at those temps it will be hard to "burn" them. Leave the ribs on longer next time and see what happens.
 
One more thing - one of my neighbors got some Bob Evans ribs on the cheap and asked me to cook them up for him. Nothing could have saved those things! They were real thin and were just throw away ribs sold for next to nothing. So, sometimes the quality of ribs can make it tough to cook them - though I have only had that one experience in 6 years. So, what kind of ribs were you cooking? Where did you get them? What brand? That kind of stuff could help.
 
Well too low and slow with rapid airflow can dry em out too..but seriously doubt that was the problemo ala the procedures listed. Can only assume they was overcooked and maybe too fast. Also stop slinging all that sauce. If you want to glaze do it once after they have come out of their mandatory hours rest in the hot box. Allow it a while to burn in just a little.

bigwheel
 
Remember to take notes so you can either reproduce your success in the future or avoid doing the same pitfalls each time. Practice really helps. Good luck.
 
Remember: Gas grills have a lot of air flow through them. This will dry food out just as if it were in a clothes dryer. This is fine for grilling, which is a quick process compared to the hours of slow cooking for other foods, like ribs.

Wood smokers do not have the explosive gas component, so they can run with only as much air as it takes to keep the wood burning....which is not a lot. If they are well made there is not a lot of leakage from the outside, other than the lower damper and the stack damper, so they don't dry the food as much, and a water pan supplies sufficient moisture to keep things humid inside.

As far as temps are concerned, temps in the top of the cooker are usually a lot higher than the temps down on the rack. This varies with the amount of air that is flowing through the cooking chamber. Also if you have an offset cooker, the temps get colder the further away from the fire you go.

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I have a remote thermometer that monitors both the cooker temps and the rack temps down on the rack.

If the food is a little crusty, wrap it up in foil with a little apple juce and let it bake for about 30 minutes, that will soften it up.
 
shaebert said:
So it was my first time cooking a couple racks of baby back ribs on my gas grill. And they turned out very dry. I was wondering if you guys could help me out and tell me what it did wrong......

I started out putting a dry rub on the ribs. I put a metal pan underneath the grate that had the ribs on. I had that filled with water. I also i had a metal container of apple wood next to it. I cooked the ribs for 4 hours. I had to add more water once. I tried to keep the temp down but i couldnt get the apple wood to smoke unless id turn both of my 2 burners on. In the end the temp ranged from 225-300, but i kept it around 245 most of the time. I added sauce to it around the 2nd hour and continued to do so every 30 minutes or so. In the end the meat was not tender and very dry. It had a good flavor though.... So what did i do wrong? was it too hot, did i cook them too long? Did i just fail to cook them the right way?

Thanks for the Help

There's your answer right there. Real BBQ is cooked over a wood source. Try a WSM and you'll be quite pleased at the difference.
 
BchrisL said:
Remember: Gas grills have a lot of air flow through them. This will dry food out just as if it were in a clothes dryer. This is fine for grilling, which is a quick process compared to the hours of slow cooking for other foods, like ribs.

Wood smokers do not have the explosive gas component, so they can run with only as much air as it takes to keep the wood burning....which is not a lot.......

Great post! Couldn't have said it better!
 
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