Rack of pork ribs on Weber One Touch Premium

[Bodgeups]

Hi everyone,

Apologies if this is in the wrong section (I've just arrived).

I've been trying my hand at cooking a rack of pork ribs low n slow on my Weber One Touch Premium, but for one reason or another I just can't get it right... Here's what I've been doing:

1. Indirect heating, with roughly half a chimney of unlit briquettes covered with a quarter chimney of lit ones. My thought was this would give off some low heat for a long time.
2. Trimmed the rack of the skirt and removed the membrane from the underside, but left the brisket bit around the outside edge.
3. Covered the ribs in a dry rub.
4. Filled a drip pan with water and set that opposite the briquettes on the fire grate.
5. Brought the grill up to 225 degrees fahrenheit.
6. Laid the rack on the top grill and left it to cook for four hours. Each hour, I mopped on some home made BBQ sauce.

Despite the videos I've watched and the books that I've read saying that four hours should be enough to see the ribs pull back on the bones by half an inch or so, that doesn't happen and the ribs come out chewy and very underdone.

Two things I haven't tried yet:

1. Adding hardwood for smoking.
2. Wrapping the ribs in foil.

People keep telling me to give up and stop wasting money but I'm adament I can do this! I've got another rack of ribs and I'll try wrapping those in foil after three hours or so tomorrow. I can only think that if theyre underdone, they need to stay on for longer?

Can anyone point a newbie to some pro-tips of the trade?

Cheers

[crphillips]

Sounds like not quite enough heat or not enough time if underdone. Wrapping in foil wouldn't help this as the heat wouldn't get to them as easily. Foil is just used for keeping stuff from drying out when using higher temps. Did the grill maintain 225 degrees throughout the cook?

[Bodgeups]

Thanks for the reply!

I'm not actually sure now. My weber grill has a thermometer in the lid, which I presumed would give me a temperature reading for the whole interior of the kettle.

Is it better to buy a small oven thermometer and have that actually next to the ribs? Or perhaps a digital thermometer with a probe?

[wade]

A couple of suggestions - Did you make sure that the temperature probe on the lid was located over drip pan side and not directly over the coals. There is always a bit of a temperature gradient under the lid and it will usually show a little hotter directly over the coals. This is why when cooking like this the ribs need to be rotated when they are mopped to ensure even cooking.
Did you brown the ribs for a short time over the direct heat to seal them before cooking indirectly (some people do, others don't)? This helps to seal the juices into the meat when cooking and helps them to tenderise. If not then maybe you could try this next time.

[JEC]

At that temperature with spare ribs you should expect a 4 to 6 hour cook, I would suggest you need to leave them in for longer, wood smoke will only add flavour and not tenderise the meat. It sounds like you've done all the right things just not for enough time.

A second thermometer placed next to the ribs would give you a better indication of actual temperature I wouldn't be surprised if it differs from your lid temperature by as much as 30 F!!

[Bodgeups]

Wade: I did actually have the thermometer over the coals, I'll bear that in mind when I try again tomorrow. I didn't try browning them actually, but I'll bear that in mind as well!

JEC: I had a feeling that so be the case so I'll hunt one down and try again next time.

Thanks for the responses! I'll post back with how I get on.

[Bodgeups]

JEC: You were certainly on the money about the temperature difference at the grillface! I bought an oven thermometer today and at certain points there was a massive variance between the grill and the lid.

I also managed to stumble across some Jack Daniels oak chips for £3 a bag, so bought one to try out on the ribs today.

Fortunately, today was a great success! Three hours of slow cooking on the grill, then two hours wrapped in foil and half an hour to rest. Fantastically tender, and a lovely smoke ring to boot.

Thanks for the advice guys . Now I just need to work on the sauce, added a little too much chilli powder to this one...

[wade]

It is a great feeling when you have cracked it isnt it. Well done

[JEC]

Fantastic glad perseverance paid off!! In my eyes there's never too much chilli but as far as my family is concerned there's a fine balance, I rarely put it in now, Steven Raichlan has quite a nice lemon BBQ sauce that suits all pallets.

[Bodgeups]

The issue wasn't so much heat (although it was quite strong), but a matter of flavour. It needed something to cut through the skovials and remind me that there was some rib meat in there.

Anywho, thanks guys . Now for the brisket!