I have never smoked beef ribs before. I have done a lot of pork ribs, butts and a few briskets however. I wanted to try smoking beef ribs, if I can afford them, but had a temperature question. Meathead recommends cooking at 225 degrees same as pork ribs but it seems they could take as long as 10 hours. That is a lousy length of time, I think. It just doesn't fit. You would have to start about 6:00 AM to have a cook and 2 hours standing for a 6:00 PM meal. That means starting at 5:00 AM to prep the smoker and get it started. So, I am thinking 250 or 275 degrees might complete in a reasonable time. What are others experience with beef ribs?
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I cook them like brisket but plan for less time. -
I do them at 275. Iβm also one of those who cut the rib plate into individual ribs so they cook a little faster and give more surface for rub and bark.Comment
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I smoke my beef ribs in my KAT vault smoker. I usually leave them in the smoker 3-4 hours at 230 to 245 degrees. My smoker burns cleaner (briquets plus oak chunks) at these temps than at 225.
After 3-4 hours on the smoker, I wrap tightly in butcher paper and transfer to oven. At 240, they will need about another two hours +/-. The time can vary as some racks cook faster than others. I check them with a probe for doneness. The temp at which they are done can vary with each rack, so I think the probe is better to go by than just the temp.
Depending on how the rest of the event preparation is going, I can lower the oven finishing temp to 225 or even lower if the meat is pretty close to done. They can hold OK for 4 hours or more. If leaving them in the oven longer than 2 hours, I lower the heat to 150-225 after they are about done. Lower temps for longer holds.
I use the paper wrap and finish in the oven for two reasons. The wrap holds more moisture in the meat than no-wrap. And meat absorbs about all the smoke it can in the first three hours. Transferring the cook off the smoker doesn't change the flavor or lessen the amount of smoke impact.
You can also do the after-wrap cooking in your smoker if you like. The racks will come out tasting and texture wise as if you finished in the oven. The smoker requires a little more management than the oven. Although I use a Thermoworks Billows fan system on the vault smoker.
I can hold the temp within 2-3 degrees of my target for both long and short cooks. The Billows fan is pretty darn close to set and forget. I really like it. I use it with the Signals or Smoke X controllers that have excellent remotes that work at long ranges. For me the remotes are an essential tool that let me be in the kitchen getting things ready and still monitor what the cookers are doing.
The Billows has adapters for both kettles and vault/offset cookers. I have had my Thermoworks controllers for 5 years or more. Never a problem with these very easy to use and accurate controllers/probes.Last edited by briano52; August 26, 2026, 12:26 AM.Comment
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Thanks for asking that question Zupanj as I plan on smoking a slab of beef ribs on Labor Day Sunday along with four of my baby backs. Guess I didn't know I had to start them sooner.Comment
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I do mine at 275 until probe tender. 7-9 hours depending on the size of the rack. I then wrap in butcher paper and hold in the kitchen oven on the βkeep warmβ setting for at least two hours. So yes, a long cook that starts early. You canβt rush it. But itβs always worth it. My favorite Q. Yum.
Update:
After reading the comment below by briano52 I went back and checked my notes on prior cooks. It had been quite a while since I had done these. Sure enough, my normal cooking temperature is 240-250. Old man brain fart I guess. π€¦ββοΈπ€·ββοΈLast edited by Jfrosty27; August 28, 2026, 06:17 AM.Comment
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7-9 hours on beef ribs at 275 degrees in my cooker would turn out as dry as shoe leather. However, cookers and temp monitoring systems often vary widely in accuracy and behaivor. Best practice is to learn how your cooker and temp monitoring system work before focusing too much on a recommended temp and time.
For instance, in my kettle, the probes can read 30-40 degrees apart depending on placement of the probe and the charcoal.
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That's just how long a plate of beef ribs is gonna take... they stall like the dickens (unless cut individually, one assumes, but I've never done it) because they have that flat surface the juices pool on, and that evaporation cools the meat, same as in any other stall. Ten hours is what I always budget, and for those cooks I get everything prepped the night before (typically my SnS kettle with charcoal and wood chunks) so that all I have to do is light the firestarter when I stumble out there at 6am. I get them on by 7 or a little later, and they're ready for dinner at 6:30pm.
Just checked my records, and damn, it's been almost a year since I did any beef ribs! Gotta fix that... here's the temp history. The kettle temp is so wacked because I was using Cowboy Lump, as an experiment - one I will not repeat because the temperature stability was TERRIBLE. Using B&B I get rock-solid temps all day. But I digress.
βThis rack went on at 8am, and the stall was already evident by 10. The right-most dot is where I put the ribs in a foil boat, and you can see the inflection there as it defeated the stall. It hit peak temp just past 5pm, and I let the fire wane to allow for a hold of about an hour before I sliced and served. They were tremendous, they went to Eleven.
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Pretty much how i do it on my SnS kettle. I also cook the whole plate - afterall, it is brisket on a stick. Main difference is that I start in the foil boat, which does cut down on the length of the stall. The kettle runs 260*-270* using B&B for the whole cook, which usually takes 6-7 hours, then the hold. -
Boy I sure hope mine turn out half that good looking next weekend
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My smoker likes to sit at about 240, so that's what I do. I cut them individually, and they run maybe 5 hours or so.Comment
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Im generally in the 260 range 7 ish hours, wrap with butcher paper about 1 - 2 hours left, and i like to get them probe tender about an hour before to serve, and hold in a cooler wrapped beef ribs then wrapped in aluminum foil.. i leave the plate intact, and I use water pan.
edit to add, i take almost all of the fat cap off, only leaving a bit to maybe protect the corners and edges or areas of concerns, that may dry up.
Last edited by Richard Chrz; August 26, 2026, 06:06 PM.Comment
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Thanks for the input. I want to try this as soon as I can locate some beef ribs. Temp is not a problem. I have a Backwoods G2 Chubby smoker and use a viper fan with a fireboard controller. Hold temp beautifully. I think I will try 250 or a bit higher.Comment
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For beef ribs - is it worth springing for prime or is the marbling high enough that choice is just fine and you aren't going to really notice the difference. I need to do these after I cook my last brisket in the freezer.Comment
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I have not scanned through all the above comments here, so I am likely repeating someone else's advice, apologies if so (and kudos to them if so!)
Most beef ribs will take 5-7 hrs. Not 10.
Thin beef back ribs could take as little as 3-5, but 5 has been my personal minimum. Thicker beef backs, or short ribs, often take 7+. I've never personally had any take 10 hrs, but in the interests of "who knows", anything's possible.
Treat them like little brisket candy bars. Take them to 200-ish, yes. Wrap them at 160-180 in foil or paper. All the temps and hold time you already know, it just won't take as long for any of it as a chuck roast or brisket would.Comment
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A couple of threads here have peaked my interest recently relating to beef ribs, so I got and tried doing a few Aberdeen Angus beef short ribs in my Traeger using Super Smoke and some Meat Church Holy Cow rub. It was really just to set a baseline for future efforts when I envisaged playing around with different rubs, times, temperature etc.I have never smoked beef ribs before.
The end product was to use the term my wife used sublime!
Not often a plan comes together first time but this was as near as damnit although I do plan on trying some different rubs. Happy days!
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Traeger Ironwood Gen 2:Wow, that looks delicious. What temp and how long?
Approx 2 hours at 225F / 105C with "Super Smoke" which only works up to 225F.
Approx 7 hours at 260F / 125C (no foil / butchers paper used might try this in the future?)
Took to internal temp 205F / 93C.
Wrapped in foil to rest.
RFX probe data:
They were cooked individually which presumably accounts for the fact there was not much of a stall?
Pre cook ribs on right.
Traeger Ironwood Gen 2
Last edited by Manxman; September 5, 2026, 02:15 AM.Comment
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