I've made brisket, shoulder/picnic, tri-tips, heck beef ribs, and tons of chicken. I just can't seem to get ribs right.

I use the minion method, with fire bricks, even switched to briquettes, with a water pan on top to get it real low & slow and adjust to keep the dome temp around 250ish for my Spares & Loin backs

They just don't fall off the bone...

I rub, I bring up to temp, and I adjust keepting it @ 230-250 grate temp. I'll turn them (always bown down) every couple of hours. The temp always holds, but I just can't get the texture to turn out the as good as lets say... baking then searing them

the Bake/Sear method works very well for texture, but i don't get the woodsmoke flavor *arg*

I really haven't tried the 3-2-1 method but is it really necessary to cook babybacks that long? I'm thinking it'll probably work better for spares.

I have yet to foil, but the most tender i've ever got it, was an 8 hour cook @ 230 dome temp, but even then the spare's were dry on the outside and it wasn't the bark

Could it also be the kettle? its probably WSM time really

Could be possibly time for a WSM! I very seldom do BBs and prefer spares. When I foil the spares they fall off the bone; but the family likes ribs that one must "bite into" so I don't foil anymore. You might want to try and foil. Just my 2 cents!

They are not getting cooked long enough. I like to cook ribs higher than 230 dome on a kettle. Try 275-300 indirect, a rack of babybacks should be done in around 3 hours at that temp. Use the bend test to check for doneness. If you grab half the rack and they dont bend over and start to tear, keep cooking them until they do.

my ribs come out great on my kettle. i cook around 275-350. two racks take about 3 or so hours. i don't use water,turn nor foil. i just take the int temp and then test. mine come off with a bit of chew but the bones can be cleaned off easily. you can cook further for off the bone.

quote:

Originally posted by Paul Chan:
I've made brisket, shoulder/picnic, tri-tips, heck beef ribs, and tons of chicken. I just can't seem to get ribs right.

I use the minion method, with fire bricks, even switched to briquettes, with a water pan on top to get it real low & slow and adjust to keep the dome temp around 250ish for my Spares & Loin backs

They just don't fall off the bone...

I rub, I bring up to temp, and I adjust keepting it @ 230-250 grate temp. I'll turn them (always bown down) every couple of hours. The temp always holds, but I just can't get the texture to turn out the as good as lets say... baking then searing them

the Bake/Sear method works very well for texture, but i don't get the woodsmoke flavor *arg*

I really haven't tried the 3-2-1 method but is it really necessary to cook babybacks that long? I'm thinking it'll probably work better for spares.

I have yet to foil, but the most tender i've ever got it, was an 8 hour cook @ 230 dome temp, but even then the spare's were dry on the outside and it wasn't the bark

Could it also be the kettle? its probably WSM time really

You're not cooking them long enough........If you want to speed up the process, crank the heat abit and/or foil after a couple hours, with or without a little juice. The foil with steam/braise the ribs and give you the 'fall off the bone' texture you're looking for.

We prefer spares too, and my family has developed a taste for an in-between texture-- not too chewey but not fall off the bone either, so I've started foiling spares for 60-75 minutes with a dome temp of ~275. I've ended up with a time-line of something like 2.5- 1.25- 0.75. Around 4 hours for spares and then test for done from there. I don't think I've had a rack of spares go more than 4.5 hours at 275. At 250 it may be more like the 3-2-1 method.
My own feeling is that <250 is too low for spares.