Ribs......Glanville style

[Chuck]

I started to prepare the PBC for some ribs when I got home from work and when I was ready to install the ET732 bbq probe......the dreaded "LLL" and no matter what I do as per the instructions it will not go away. I hope it is just the probe and not the transmitter that's bad. So, I have no idea what the temp is going to be inside my PBC and I guess it's a moot point. They'll cooked "Glanville" style.......light it up and hang the meat, don't worry about it.

BTW, I lit the coals with lighter fluid this time....but no temp probe to see the difference over the duration of the cook from the chimney way, oh well.

[Jerod Broussard]

I did quite a few cooks before I thought about hanging a thermometer. I've had probes give that reading, I left them hanging, and they came to during the cook. Might want to try that.

[Chuck]

Been tinkering with it.....I've noticed that when the probe comes down to ambient temp, a reading can be observed. But as soon as heat gets to it, the "LLL" appears.....I think it's a bad probe but not really sure.

[Huskee]

Chuck Yeah Maverick's ET 732/733 probes are definitely the weak point of an otherwise excellent little product. The probes are like lightbulbs- they may last years w/o issues or they may only last a couple uses. I buy the 6' extension probes whenever I get a new Mav, and keep the stock 3' probes as backups. You sure don't want to run into bad probe issues during an expensive meat cook. It just happened to me the other day doing a Kobe tri-tip.

[JeffJ]

The first time I got the dreaded LLL I accidentally dropped the probe into the water bowl of my WSM. It happened again during my last cook but both times it happened I wiped the probe with a rag and it fixed the problem. I am going to have to order some back up probes soon.

[Dr ROK]

Exposing the top of the probe to water will definitely cause you some problems. You could try leaving it overnight in the over set at 200 or maybe put it in a plastic bag full of rice to see if that draws the moisture out.

[JeffJ]

I put it in the oven at 300 degrees for 3 hours. It fixed the problem.

[David Parrish]

JeffJ I've been giving folks that advice for years. Throw them in the oven at 300F, heck even 400F. Most of the time the probe(s) come back to life.

[JPP]

I'm intrigued by oven-roasting a probe to bring it back to life... my 3' maverick meat probe gives readings about 20-30 degrees lower, which prompted me to order new probes. Lo and behold, the new 6' probe reads correctly... has anyone else seen this? If so, did baking it help?

[Chuck]

Well, they turned out really good.......however I did have the bottom rib turn out to be over cooked. Is that normal, I thought that wasn't supposed to occur.

[smarkley]

Yeah... I have had a couple ribs over cooked on the bottom a couple of times. Usually not thouh

[Tim E]

Looks good Chuck. I've had that happen with ribs that are a bit longer.

[Marauderer]

Chuck, the ribs in your pic look really great. Looks like you dodged the bullet on your temps.

[fzxdoc]

Wow, those ribs look great, Chuck . How long were they in the PBC?

If I'm just doing one or two racks, I cut them in half. Less chance of them dropping into the fire that way, and less chance of the lowest rib getting overdone because it's just too doggone close to the coals.

I did some babybacks on Sunday at ave PBC temp 270 and they took under 4 hours--closer to 3.5 hours, actually. They were the best I've ever made. I cut the racks in half and hooked below the 3rd bone.

Kathryn

[Chuck]

Thanks Kathryn...............I sauced them at 3 hrs and then put them back for an additional 30 min. I think cutting in half is going to be the way to go because I have yet to buy a rack of St. Louis cut ribs that I did not have to trim the bottom off so they did not touch the coals.

[Ernest]

I always cut PBC ribs in half.
The beauty of the PBC. Let it cook, but us humans want to tinker all the time. LOL

[Chuck]

I think that's very true Ernest.........but having said that, I really want to know what's going on inside with the heat, especially when I do my first brisket.

[Ernest]

Trust me, I'm the same way. LOL

[Chuck]

I ordered anot her set of probes (6 ft) but now I want to ask about placement of the temp probe in the PBC. It seems to me that in order for their to be a meaningful discussion of PBC temperature monitoring, it would helpful if we were all placing the temp probe at the same location within the cooker. To me that location is what I want to call the "lid" temperature. So I fix it so the temp probe is level with the rebar....rather than letting it hang 2 or 4 inches below the rebar. Is this over thinking it? Shouldn't there be a standard location from which we discuss PBC temps? It's just a thought.

Edit: not touching the rebar

[fzxdoc]

Chuck , whenever I'm cooking anything (in my oven, on my gasser, on my PBC), I want to know what the temperature is at the level of the majority of the food mass. So for me, on a PBC, the temp at the lid does not provide me with much pertinent information--unless of course, you assume (which could be true, since I've never checked it) that the temp at the lid is the same as that at the level of whatever meat I'm cooking in the PBC.

I completely understand why you think that a standardized position for recording the temp might be a good idea. The fewer variables that can affect an accurate reading, the better. I'm just not convinced at this point that the temp at the lid is something that I would be comfortable with tracking. But hey, to each his/her own.

Kathryn

[Chuck]

I see your point but our discussion of temps would then be quite variable and relative to what's hanging.

My thinking is, understanding that it could be completely wrong, I want to know what the temp is at the meat that's the greatest distance from the heat source. But since it's vertical cooking maybe it just doesn't matter.

[fzxdoc]

I see your point but our discussion of temps would then be quite variable and relative to what's hanging.

True that, Chuck, but if I only have one probe to use to register the smoker temp, I will probably still place it at the level center to the hanging meat. If I have two probes, then hey, it would be great to see what the temp is up close to the lid, or at least at the rebar.

To my mind, the better I know what the temp profiles are at various places within the PBC, the better cook I can be.

Kathryn

[Chuck]

Thanks for the input!