Simple Spare Rib question

[Tachyon]

Hi everyone . . . my first post so be nice
I'm from New Zealand so things are upside down relative to you folk.
I just did some spare ribs on my Weber Kettle with a Slow 'n Sear.
​​​​​​I had a lot of trouble getting it up to temp (225) - this was really strange but think it was because I used different charcoal briquettes - they were cheaper! But I think the price I really paid was that I had to get the whole bin full going to get enough heat out of them!
All I did was salt the ribs.
So it was struggling to get above 160 and eventually I put the ribs in anyway thinking it won't hurt for them to warm up.
Took a good couple of hours messing about to get it up to 225 and then it was stable at 225-235.
Finally they were breaking apart on the bend test and I basted them with a sauce we made adapting a MH sauce and a quick sear and they were done.
BUT - they were dry and almost crispy on the outside. Tasted good but were a bit crunchy.
Any ideas why? Would it be because they were in so long at a low temp? Would that dry them out?
Struggling to figure what I did wrong - all help gratefully received!

[Huskee]

Welcome to The Pit! A few questions so we can help you tackle this one...

1) Did you use a digital thermometer probe to measure your cooker temp? If so, where was the probe placed, was it 2-3" from the cold meat? If no, did you use the lid's temp gauge? You may have been either cooking way too high or way too low. In either case, this could result in what you describe.

If the probe was too close you could've been inside what's known and the 'cool air bubble', the cooler air that surrounds meat, and your probe was reading artificially low because of this, causing you to spike your actual temp up way too high to get the probe to read 225.

If you were going on your lid gauge, don't! The meat is not up there at the lid. The lid gauge can read 75F (or more) degrees higher than the actual grate-level temp. In such a case you could've been only cooking at 150-160 on the grate, which would not only be unsafe but could result in a much longer cook time thus making pork jerky.

If yes a digital probe, and yes 2-3" from the meat, then:

2) What size (weight) was the rack of ribs? 2lbs - 3lbs per rack (or roughly 1 to 1.5kg/rack) is the low to high end of common. Any lighter (thinner) or heavier (thicker) and the end results can be affected.

3) How long total were they in the smoker? Starting low will not hurt them at all, in fact I've begun putting my meat on when the kettle is at ~160-170F and letting the kettle rise over the next hour up to 225-240. (This is an intentional slow rise with the vents closed down, it shouldn't take that long if you're trying to get the temp up.)

.......and after all this, we'd love to get an intro from you over in our Introduce Yourself channel!

[Nate]

Welcome from Indiana, USA.

To clarify you said they were dry and crispy on the Outside. Does that mean they were still juicy and tender on the inside? The reason I ask is... You said you sauced then seared them. You have to be very careful here. A sauce that is high in sugar content can burn or carbonized and it can do so very quickly at high or very high temps (a lot faster than you would think). Personally I usually bake the sauce on as opposed to sizzle it on... Meaning I will sauce around 30 minutes before I'm ready to take the ribs off and put them back over indirect heat... Still have to keep an eye on them but much more forgiving.

[lschweig]

A hearty welcome from Illinois.

[DWCowles]

Welcome Tachyon

[Mr. Bones]

Welcome to th'Pit, Tachyon !!! Glad yer here!

[Willy]

Welcome! My wife and I were lucky enough to spend a few days in Kiwi land--Auckland to Rotorua. Spectacular!

Here's a link that explains a lot of the details from Huskee 's post: http://amazingribs.com/recipes/porkn...ribs_ever.html

[FireMan]

Welcome aboard Tachyon! The important thing that you said was that they tasted good. Next, you will do better. Eat good & have fun!

When you are standing down there, does the blood rush to your head or is it the same as up here? Or, is it up there to you & down about to us?

[MBMorgan]

Welcome to the Pit! Looks like you've already gotten some good feedback so I won't bore you by repeating it here ...