British BBQ Society Forums

I've cooked ribs a few times without foil. You can get good results particularly with meaty spares but using foil just increases the chances of getting something edible off the smoker IMHO. I don't bother with spritzing these days as I've never been convinced it actually does anything.

The last set of ribs I did were without foil. The smaller, less meaty end was a bit dry but the fattier thicker end was perfect. So I think you should be able to do spot on ribs without foil, but only if they're thick and fatty.

I did a bit of a comparison in the last few days. On the weekend I did some baby backs with no foil on the OTP for 3 1/2 hours (I had a drip pan full of water) - average temperature around 270F. The only thing I did was to add a bit of Sweet Baby Ray's on the top side half an hour before taking them off.

Ribs turned out nice - good smoke ring. Not quite fall-off but neither was it a struggle to get the meat off. Not dry at all

Last night I did it slightly differently - I put them on for 3 1/2 hours with the last hour wrapped in foil with a small amount of apple juice (and the same SBR sauce on the top). They also had to be reheated briefly at my friend's house, so not exactly comparable. But the meat was really fall-off-the-bone tender. So I guess it does make a bit of a difference though they were very tasty either way.

I'm sure this is nothing new to most of you but a bit interesting nonetheless - you don't have to worry too much about the dryness with unfoiled ribs.

Has teeth will gnaw. Else has tin foil I guess!