Temp for Smoking St. Louis Ribs

[jhedeen]

In Tuffy Stones BBQ Stars video on St. Louis ribs, he says to smoke at 275° F. Is he really recommending using 50° higher temp than Meathead's recommended 225°, or is his temp not measured at the grill? In checking other T. Stone smoking recipes, he consistently used that higher temperature.

[RichieB]

I run my Pit Barrel at 250-275.

[BFlynn]

That's funny..... Bc that's the temp my pit barrel runs!

I don't even pretend that I'm the one running it. It just kinda runs itself

[texastweeter]

I'm a 225°er

[BFlynn]

That's bc you don't have PBC.

Cmon, you know you want one.

We're not a cult!

[klflowers]

I do 225-250.

[LA Pork Butt]

I was a 225 guy for years, but have recently shifted to 275 which I like better. I also have moved to leaving the membrane on believing that it does indeed produce a moister rib. Do whatever works for you and makes you happy.

In general I am moving to higher that traditional temperatures. My best brisket to date is a turbo brisket cooked at 300.

[LA Pork Butt]

BFlynn From my perspective it is an improvement. I am not doing it primarily to save time, but rather that I like the results better than 225 which I think tends to make the ribs a little dryer.

[BFlynn]

That's what I expected to but it's nice to hear from someone else

[IowaGirl]

I have a Hasty Bake cooker. It is easiest to control and the most stable when running at 300F + or - 25F. My experiments with running at cooler temps didn't produce any better results with ribs and such, so I no longer bother with the cooler temp range. I encourage the HB to run a little hotter yet for chicken, though.

[Uncle Bob]

Depending on how you set up for smoke production, and what type of cooker you use you might not get much smoke flavor at that temp. Since taste is subjective that might be just fine.

[TripleB]

+1

[Smoker_Boy]

Tuffy has taken home 1 or 2 trophies.

[STEbbq]

I usually run an average of 250 but up to 275. No difference in taste but quicker cooking times.

[Stuey1515]

Same

[Oak Smoke]

I’m a 250-275 guy. I’ve tried 225 and 300 but the sweet spot for me is in between. I don’t fret changes between 250 and 275 it makes no noticeable difference in my outcome.

[LA Pork Butt]

Your Smobot doesn’t fluctuate that much. What’s to sweat?

[captainlee]

225 here seems to dry the ribs out. I go with 260-275 and for me it works better.

[mrteddyprincess]

My take on temp is it depends on the cooker. My pellet friends like to go low and slow for the first few hours to get more smoke penetration. I have an offset smoker that is hard to keep under 275 F and I cook in the 275-300 F range on that, and I get excellent results with hickory wood splits.

I was paranoid when I first started cooking that if I went above the recommended temp that I'd ruin whatever it was I was cooking. It took me a long time to learn to relax and go with what the cooker is giving me.

Good luck and let's see some pics when you get a chance!

Brian

[BFlynn]

I used to over worry about keeping it low, and having the temp controlled to 3 decimal places.

Then I realized that we're cooking meat over/next to fire. We don't need that level of precision.... Or the metric system.

Gre PBC is happier running 260ish anyway. Since that's what I started with, that's what ( rub everything else.

I'm not a patient man

[shify]

Ask 10 people and you’ll get 11 different ways to cook ribs.

[Bob K]

anything 225-285 will work. for ribs, even 300 works (though less smoke flavor) if you watch it, especially if you're going to wrap.

I think it depends on your cooker. if you get a lot of airflow, I think you need to go hotter to avoid drying out because (unproven hypothesis alert) it seems like the "breeze" slows it down. if you're in something smaller, with heat source beneath, and more humidity, might want to go lower temp.

the other thought is sweet spot for your cooker. mine loves to run at 275-85 hassle-free so I don't fight it and the results are great unless I screw something else up.

[BFlynn]

Rendezvous goes hotter than that. I think they run around 400deg.
They're not my favorite ribs, but they sell a bunch of em

[TripleB]

I assume you are using seasoned wood. If you're using kiln dried, it really does not matter what temp your smoking at.

[HawkerXP]

Another PBC guy letting it run as it wants. 275 ish. Done, as in probe tender as determined by poking a toothpick between the bones in 3 to 3.5 hours.