“Ribs.I had ribs for dinner, that’s why I’m doing this.”

[teejhanson]

Baby back ribs from Costco. Rubbed with mustard and applied coarse kosher salt and Oakridge Secret Weapon pork and chicken rub. 3-2-1 at 275 (at least that was my goal temp).

Spritzed with apple cider vinegar every hour, and then wrapped in foil with some diluted bbq sauce, butter, and brown sugar.

The ribs were really good!!! They had the texture I was trying to achieve, and the flavor was really good (I really like the rub), but they could have been more moist. Served with corn bread and broccoli.

Looking for feedback and tips to improve upon. Thanks for looking and happy grilling!




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[Kneab]

Your ribs look pretty good. I would definitely have no problem eating them.
As far as what to do to make them more moist I might suggest shortening your cook tome a little. When I have done the 3-2-1 mine always seem dry as well. I prefer to cook mine at 250-275°F 2-2.5hrs open, maybe an hour wrapped and about a half an hour unwrapped with a couple layers of sauce.
Or 4 hrs straight no wrap.

Either way I don't spritz. Too much heat escapes and the the grill has to come back to temp and usually over shoots the temp because of the extra oxygen

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[JEBIV]

3-2-1 never works well for me, I typically don't wrap, but i typically follow what @Kneab does and ribs are moist

[elninohese]

JEBIV...similar...cook at 300--315f....3 hours nakkid--come out perfectly--int 203....dont understand 3-2-1--that is double my cook time?

[AZ2FL]

All great advise from previous post.
Baby backs will cook faster than spares and St Louis ribs.
I do not spritz ribs.

When foiling I use real butter or bacon fat. For sweetness, options are endless. Jams, jelly, honey, maple syrup, cane syrup, molasses, brown sugar, maple sugar or fresh fruit. Liquids used are apple juice, coke, white grape juice and Mexican flavored sodas.


Cheers

[Thundermtn]

You're pretty close to having it nailed down. Great advice above as well.

It depends on what you're going for but I think your bark is too dark/thick and your temp needs to be down a little lower at least for the first hour. I only go an hour and a half before they get foiled into the oven. When they hit the grill again after the oven I boost up to about 300° with a real thin smoke for fifteen min to finish the bark and then kill smoke and go twenty or so to set my glaze. Always get moist tender ribs this way.

[Thundermtn]

Usually I'll bark them until they start to look like pizza cheese in a really hot oven. Darkening up in color with a few mottled darker spots on the high areas of the slab. Once they get to this point it's usually enough smoke for most folks.

Once you glaze them they'll darken more so for me a shorter less intense smoke works a little better.

[bamakettles]

Great advice above... For added moisture I've tried double wrapping in foil at the 3 hour mark with real butter pats top and bottom and brown sugar - meat side down.  I use enough foil and wrap in a manner that after an hour I can open up the foil on the smoker and make a boat, holding the butter/juices and flip them meat side up.  Then either sauce or cook as is for another 30 mins - if you want a little more bark maybe raise the temps or go a little longer but watch to make sure you don't over cook the brown sugar/sauce.  I believe the wrapped hour with the meat side down really softens and adds moisture.  I also shoot for 275F during the cook.

Fun thing is you can vary what you do until you find what you and your family like.  We like them to fall off the bone but not everyone does.  Take notes and enjoy your results!

[bamakettles]

Some pics of my method....


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[sonofabutcher]

The 3-2-1 method was originally designed for low and slow 225 Ish and for spares. Baby backs aren't as fatty as spares and take less time to cook. Definitely shorten your cook next time and see if you get better results.


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[teejhanson]

This is some awesome feedback, thank you so much for taking the time to give me some notes. I will definitely take everything into consideration, and apply it to my next cook. A side note, those poppers look glorious around those ribs, I'm going to have to try that too. I read that post about the popper recipe on YouTube and I will definitely be giving that a try on Sunday. Thanks again!


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[Dc_smoke309]

If I wrap ribs at all the most I wrap is an hour at most . I like the meat on the bone not a pile of it.


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[FatBottomGrills]

Bones look good to me. I agree with son of a butcher, 3-2-1 is a method for use with low temps and works well if you can keep your kettle at 240 or less.
Make small changes each time you cook and take notes. Has made a big difference in the quality of my bbq.

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[Old CWO]

I will echo what many here have posted:  3-2-1 is a basic approach for spares not BBs.  I do my baby back ribs in a pellet smoker and it's 3-1-1 at 225F.  It's pretty much foolproof - you get a nice smoky, tender rib that still has good tooth pull and no sloppy fall off the bone nonsense.  We eat ours with a spicy dry rub so I splash just a little liquid in the foil for the braising, less than a tablespoon.  Sometimes wine, beer, juice, bourbon, Worcestershire, bacon fat, whatever.  Doesn't seem to much matter what goes in there from a flavor perspective.

If you like sauced ribs, throw some on in the last 30 minutes or so and then another coat right before cutting and serving.

[kcsmokinribs]

I agree with several comments above. The 3-2-1 method was intended for lower smoker temps like 225-240. I tend to do 2.5-1-.5 or so and are very moist.


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