I smoked three racks of ribs yesterday on my Kamado Joe Classic. I followed John Setzler's rib video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PFqzKyiCXIc) to a T, and his turned out great, but mine were awful. The ribs were hard and dry on the bottom, almost burnt, but ok on top. I smoked them at 250 (I closely monitored the temp, and it was pegged at 250 the entire time) for 5.5 hours, and started spritzing them with juice around 3 hours in, then coated the tops with a BBQ sauce glaze around 4 hours until they were done. Pretty much exactly as in the video. The only differences between mine and his - he cooked his on a Big Joe, while I used a Classic, so the ribs were pretty close together, also, I wonder if humidity played a role? I'm guessing he's from somewhere down south, while I'm in a very dry Utah.

Any tips on what could have gone wrong?

While not exactly an apples to apples comparison, I'm using a ReqTec Pellet Grill.

I start wrapped in foil for about 2 hours at 250, then BBQ Sauce and another 30 to 45 minutes. These are Baby Back Ribs with a Dry Rub. Done them this way the last 3 or 4 times, turn out great.

Sounds like they cooked a bit faster than anticipated and dried out the ribs. It's possible with higher elevation, temp fluctuations, etc they just cook faster or, you were not getting accurate temp readings.

I inject pork the night before with an apple juice/apple cider vinegar injections, found it really helps keep the meat moist and adds flavor, and yes, injected ribs.

Do you have an active meat thermometer that you use during cooks, it's important, many will tell you it takes x hours at y temp but in reality, humidity, meat type, grill all play into it, and the only real way to tell is to cook to temp.

Something like the Meater system is good.

https://meater.com/?utm_source...d&utm_content=meater

Since that method didn't yield the desired results look into the 3-2-1 method.

https://heygrillhey.com/3-2-1-...l-off-the-bone-ribs/

Did you cook with indirect heat? I use a mustard moisturizer so the rub will stick. I cook mine at 275 indirect heat for 2 hours, then wrap them in foil with apple juice, then back on the smoker for 2 more hours, they end up moist and falling off the bone.

I cooked mine yesterday 45 minutes at 400 degrees, flipping every 15 minutes.

Tender, juicy, and cooked just right.

Sounds like too hot, and too long, considering the very low humidity. Then the question; did you use direct, or indirect heat? Indirect is critical to ribs, to prevent just what you describe.

I do 225 degrees in humid Florida, and they are usually done to perfection in 8-ish hours. If they are browning or drying faster than I like, they get wrapped in aluminum foil, but typically, I am able to do them open. I use a rack that holds them on edge, and when I put the ribs in the rack, I put the "fat end" closest to the diffuser plate, and the thin ends are up in the air.

The most important thing to remember about cooking, I learned from Chef Jacques Pepin; "Food is done when it is cooked, not after any particular period of time." Following that has done me a world of good.

Don't give up; you will kill it next time.

Are you sure that your thermometer is accurate?

I smoke my ribs at a slightly lower temp (225F) and apply a mustard coat on the meat side to hold my rub and keep the moisture in. I cook on indirect heat. It is also possible that you just got "bad ribs"......it can happen. Some time back I bought some ribs on a "smoking sale price". I smoked them my normal way and they were not fit to eat!!! I have been smoking baby back ribs for more years than I care to admit to, but bad ribs turn out bad. Don't give up.

I did a rack of baby back ribs on my Kamado Joe Classic two days ago. About 3 hours at 275-300, spritzing with cider and applying bbq sauce every hour. Wrapped the rack in foil for a fourth hour with some more sauce at the end. Had a nice smoke ring and meat fell off the bone cleanly. Was challenging keeping the temperature from getting too high, but otherwise was straightforward. Used indirect heat only for the whole cook by putting the rack above the two half moon ceramic plates.

Used a ThermoWorks 2-channel Smoke to monitor both temp in the dome and in the meat.

I go lower temp on a pellet grill and smoke longer.

Sounds like they got too hot, did you have a lot of sugar in the rub? Is your temp gauge accurate?

Also, I gave up on the whole "spritzing" thing years ago, I leave them in my Weber and don't mess with them, each time you open it up you lose your heat and have to start over getting back to temp. Put in a disposable deep foil pan with a few inches of hot water below the ribs and be done with it.

quote:

Originally posted by tsmccull:
Used a ThermoWorks 2-channel Smoke to monitor both temp in the dome and in the meat.

THIS.
The only way to slow cook something is to know exactly what the cooker and the meat temp is. They're inexpensive too! Grill/smoker temp gauges are often wrong, sometimes WAY wrong.

quote:

Originally posted by NOCkid:
Are you sure that your thermometer is accurate?

quote:

Originally posted by KMitch200:
Grill/smoker temp gauges are often wrong, sometimes WAY wrong.

This. Get a quality digital thermometer with an ambient probe. Don't trust the cheap dial thermometer built into your lid.

I've seen grills/smokers off by as much as 100 degrees between the displayed temp on the dial and the actual temp inside.

250 is a little high anyway. (Though not that bad... 225 is my go-to). But I wouldn't be surprised if your smoker was actually sitting at 300+ the entire time, which is definitely too high.


Did you have a way to monitor internal temp? That's a significantly better gauge of doneness for meat than time. 5.5 might have been way too long for those specific ribs. "Cook to temp, not time."


Also, once you've got accurate temperature readings handled, wrapping them in foil or butcher paper after the first few hours can help prevent them from drying out. They won't be absorbing any more smoke flavor after the first few hours anyway, so all you need from there is the heat.

250 for 5.5 hours seems long for ribs. Without seeing them, I would bet you just overdid it a little bit. Ribs being cut trimmed differently can make a huge difference in cook times, at 250 baby backs are probably going to be done in a couple of hours while a full rack will take considerably longer.

Also, how are you measuring temperature? Grill/ smoker thermometers are notoriously inaccurate, do you have a way to verify whether yours is correct? If you were at 275 instead of 250 that would contribute.

I’m a newbie to smoking myself. Bought a small electric smoker and found some “St. Louis ribs” and found the link below to Alton Brown’s method and smoked a couple everyone raved. Cooked 4 racks for the 4th and got a repeat performance. Don’t know if your ribs were a different cut from whom you followed but baby back vs St. Louis is no contest in meat thickness. Anyway try Alton’s recipe I think you will be amazed.

https://news.yahoo.com/video/a...style-165940377.html

Keep trying it. Get some fatty ribs. Also the typical 3,2,1 method for ribs didnt work for me with my Kamado Joe Big Joe 3. I cut it down to 2,1,30mins and used some larger ribs...they turned out great. So, dont give up, you'll get them perfected.

Direct or indirect heat? You want indirect.

And for that much time, I'd be thinking more like 200 degrees, but I am not used to those cookers, so that is kind of a guess.

quote:

then coated the tops with a BBQ sauce glaze around 4 hours until they were done.

Here's a big problem. Look up 3-2-1 method. Smoke, then wrap in foil and continue to smoke or put in the oven, unwrap and finish on the grill by smoking last hour, or if the ribs are already bending easily or meat falling off the bone then you would turn up temp and get the sauce to caramelize faster to prevent the meat from falling off the bones. If you prefer falling off the bone then don't speed up that last part. 'Proper' ribs are supposed to have some firmness, but many like it slightly over cooked.

When you wrap the ribs you can throw in things like butter and brown sugar or honey. You can also use soda or apple juice as well. When you're removing the ribs reserve the juices in the foil. Mix juices with BBQ sauce somewhere around 2/3 - 3/4 BBQ sauce and the rest juices from the foil and heat until it starts to simmer, remove from heat and stir. This will add an additional layer of flavor to the sauce. The wrapping part is kind of like brazing meat so it keeps it from drying out.

quote:

Originally posted by 4x5:
I smoked three racks of ribs yesterday on my Kamado Joe Classic.
{snip}
Any tips on what could have gone wrong?

Well, was this indirect or direct heat?
Did you wrap at some point?
What were the temps along the way?

We all learn from experience - Good Luck.


Watch this:

Thanks everyone for your advice. I think next time I will use an external thermometer to make sure the dome temp is correct, and I will try putting a tray of water under the meat to add some moisture. And yes, I was using indirect heat, I didn't wrap them in foil (and neither did the guy in the video), and the ribs were from Costco, so hopefully they weren't bad.