Calling all Beef Rib experts

[BBQisLife]

I'm a new owner with less than 4 months driving this beautiful 32BB beast and I am desperate need of advice from those with much more experience. 

Yesterday I cooked 3 lots of beef ribs with a smoked mac and cheese, each set of ribs was around 1.5kg (3.3 pounds). While the whole meal was delicious and all who ate went back for seconds I was confused with the cook and was hoping it would have been moister. 

I started the cook gradually bringing the cooker up to temp to make sure I didn't overshoot the temp and put the meat on when the lid thermometer showed around 110c (230f). This temp started to climb gradually so I closed the top & bottom gradually to keep the temps in what I thought was the right range.  Things were going well and about 4 hours in the meat was at 74c (230f) and we wrapped each in butcher's paper and put them back in the bbq.  This is when things got a little confusing for me. 

For the next 3 hours the meat temperature actually went down a few degrees, see meater graph shown. I played a little with the temp to kick it past the crutch but it just didn't respond.  At around the 7 hour mark I wrapped the meat in foil over the butcher's paper and pushed the temp to 150c (230f) and the meat quickly continued to cook to the desired temp about an hour later.

As I said the meat was delicious but was hoping it would have been moister. I am concerned the long cook may have dried it out too much.

My questions are:

Has anyone else experienced 3 hours of stall in their cooking of beef ribs?

Should I have wrapped the meat in paper and foil earlier? 

When doing ribs in the weber kettle I used to double wrap and add beer and butter to keep it moist. I thought with KK's this was not required. Do you wrap and add beer/butter?

Is there anything else I should have done here?

Please share your wisdom so I can improve.

[Tyrus]

The best person to ask as a lover of beef ribs would be Aussie Aura, unfortunately he's probably cruising the backroads of the outback in Au on his bike somewhere. It all looked pretty good to me, I'd sure as hell would of liked a chair at the table. All I have to offer is, no two pieces of meat cook the same, 250-75 is the temp, wrap around 160-65 and probe for tenderness. The expert thing is a reach, most here have cooked so long on one influence or another can generally predict the outcome. A lot of factors can sway a cook, nobody's perfect, but for those who can ease through every cook without a care...knows their shit. Be satisfied everyone returned for more then work on any changes you feel overlooked.

Edited Sunday at 04:49 AM by Tyrus

[C6Bill]

I’m sorry but the post is confusing. If you brought the ribs to 230f then they wouldn’t be too moist. I typically cook an 8 to 10 pound rack at 240 until internal team reaches 165f then wrap in butcher paper. Continue on until internal temp reaches 200 and take the ribs off. Leave the ribs in the paper and wrap in foil and then a towel and place that in a cooler for a couple hours to rest. How long it takes to get to 165f varies, they are all different but I would expect a 10 pound rack to take 6 hours then an additional 3 hours after wrapping. But anywhere from 8 to 10 hours is typical.

[jonj]

I think his conversion of C° to F° is wonky.

I believe he wrapped them at 165°F and pulled them at 208°F (according to the graph). Pushing the KK up to 300°F for the last hour, then pulling the ribs at 208°F with the resulting carry-over temp from the 300° cook probably contributed to the dryness he mentions.

[C6Bill]

Agreed