My First PBC Failure...Beef Back Ribs

[atlpbc]

Yes, after 8+ years of using my PBC I experienced a total failure. Not sure what went wrong but these beef back ribs were awful. They pulled back from the bone. They seemed very tender when probed. They LOOKED great. They SMELLED great.

However, they weren't. Dry, overcooked AND ton's of fat left unrendered. Just inedible.

I followed the same process I always use. Light the PBC, wait 15-20 minutes for the coals to ash over and no smoke. Add my wood, hickory in this case. Add the grate. Add the rebar. Start cooking.

I expected these ribs to take 3+ hours. I check after 1.5 hours. Wow, they had already pulled back. The temps were in the 206-212 range. The probe was easy.

Just not sure what went wrong.

Note: I'm not a fan of baby back ribs due to the lack of meat. Probably same for these beef backs and will try the short ribs next time.

[STEbbq]

It could simply be a bad piece of meat. It happens, especially if you did everything right like you did in the past.

[ItsAllGoneToTheDogs]

Either bad meat or double check your thermometers

[Alabama Smoke]

I also have a PBC, but I always cook beef back ribs on a kettle, cause I can keep the temps lower. Mine usually take approx. 8 hours to cook slowly until they pull off the bone. The time you specified, I think, would leave them very tough to chew. Makes me think you were cooking much hotter than that. Suggest you calibrate your thermometers.

[jpsep]

I’ve had this very situation occur with store bought beef ribs. I found Allen Bros on this site; they are expensive but without question my family’s favorite. Best Dino ribs we’ve ever had.

[Spinaker]

Well two things stand out.

Never cook by time, ever. This is the number one way that food is over cooked. Cook by temp, always.

Another thing I would suggest is trim them down as much as possible, or as much as you would like. Keep in mind that most people do netlike to eat big pieces of fat. (I do, but I'm not the norm) This allows the smoke to stick to the meat, with your seasonings and not the fat.

[RiverJeff]

getum PJ!

[atlpbc]

Yeah, the time was for reference. I cook by temps. Thanks!

[Spinaker]

Sorry I was in a hurry, had to get to splitting a load of oak that I cut down the other day.............. Panhead John RiverJeff

atlpbc Sounds like you got it figured out. Fat content, humidity and who knows what else can cause these things to happen. Every once in a while, there is some anomaly that comes up and throws a wrench into things.

[JCBBQ]

Yeah I’m not a fan of that cut either. Shorties on the pit barrel are phenomenal. Next time. 💪

[gatorjj]

I've cooked beef back ribs several times recently on the PBC, 4 hours at 250 seems to work best for me. First cook I pulled them at 3 hours as they looked way more than done, but weren't near as tender as I was hoping. Extending 30 minutes got better, and at 4 hours got me both tender and juicy without any lingering fat. I don't go by probe or temp on ribs, but maybe they need more time at temp to render out all the tough stuff and leave the juice?

[bbqLuv]

Beef back ribs look like a lot of bone for the money, so I have never tried them.

[Jfrosty27]

Tried them once. Never again. Only plate cut short ribs for me.

[atlpbc]

Beef back ribs look like a lot of bone for the money, so I have never tried them.

Certainly how I feel now!

[Murdy]

Costco by me has been carrying them lately, fairly reasonably priced. I tried them last summer. They came out ok, but lots of bone without a ton of meat in between. Haven't tried them again and probably won't (wife wasn't impressed).

[smokin fool]

Shake it off and get back in the ring....sh_t happens, costs ya a coupla bucks in beef but whadya gunna do.
We've all been there....well, I have anyway.

[STEbbq]

I third or fourth the suggestion that beef back ribs can be a very poor value for the money unless you get an insane sale.

[radiodome21]

These were my least favorite item I ever ordered at the BBQ joint I worked at right out of college. They were horrible in my opinion. I found them to be very greasy thin on the meat. Hey never sat well either. I thought these were the same as beef plate ribs so I avoided those as well.

Luckily I realized they’re most definitely not. Plate ribs are the best.

I’ve seen these pop up more at my Costco too and will never buy them.

[das85]

I've never cooked on a PBC...but on any other smoker, if they reached target temp in half the expected time while seeming dry/overcooked with tons of unrendered fat, I would say the smoker was running too hot. I notice you didn't mention the temp of the smoker. Is it possible that somehow the temp got higher than it usually runs?

Personally - while I agree they're hard to find at reasonable price, beef back ribs are one of my absolute favorite cuts of bbq for a special occasion. But I think the above q would go for any kind of ribs.

[atlpbc]

That's the thing with the PBC, don't really need to monitor the temp. It just does what it does. Temp on the product is typically when you know it's done.

[realdocBBQ]

So I am considering doing these like those double 'wing' ribs, you know, cut 'em up, but skim every other bone, so the bone has a big 'wing' of meat on either side? I can't remember where I saw this, I'm pretty sure it was posted here, but was on YouTube or something.

Essentially you get half as many bones, but each bone has double the meat - that meat on either side, while the next bone is discarded - or used for stock or something like that.

Am I making sense??

**taps mic**

Is this thing on??


Maybe it's too damned early in the morning...

[atlpbc]

I've heard this referred to as the "Hollywood" cut.