St Louis Style Ribs

[Ruben]

I wanted to see if I could get some help with cooking pork ribs with the 3-2-1 method.  Although I have done this in the past with great results, this past weekend I tried cooking two racks and when I got them out of the foil the ribs were shinny black and chard.  I seasoned my ribs overnight with my usual dry rub and raw sugar.  After the first 3 hours on the Joe @ 225 deg. I placed them in double foil with butter, brown sugar, honey, and a little grape juice.  After leaving them on the Joe for 2 hours completely sealed @ 225 deg., when I got them out they were black. 

 

Any ideas or suggestions on how to prevent this?  As I said, I have tried this same  method before and the ribs have come out perfectly.  Not sure what caused them to get black this time since the temp never got above 225-230 deg. during the entire process.  Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

 

Thanks, Ruben.

[&roid]

That’s a bit strange, if they were sealed in a moist environment they shouldn’t have been able to get to a high enough temp that would burn sugar...

did they taste burnt?

 

were the foil packs dry when you unwrapped them?

[Ruben]

The foil packs still had juice in them.  The juice was a golden color and yes, if you pulled some clean meat away from the chard areas, the ribs were very good.

[BrianAZ]

Sugar burns. You had sugar in your rub, in the juice, in the honey and in the brown sugar. Way too much sugar. 

[Ruben]

Should I just stick to butter and some apple juice, or butter and some honey maybe?

[lnarngr]

57 minutes ago, Ruben said:

Should I just stick to butter and some apple juice, or butter and some honey maybe?

Less can be more... 

[BrianAZ]

I’d care more about how they taste than how they look. 
 

I often wrap with sugar and honey. However I don’t put any significant amount of sugar in my rub or add juice to the wrap if I’m already adding butter and honey. 

[Ruben]

Sounds good.  Thank you for the comments.  I will try another batch this weekend without adding sugar to the rub and I will also leave the sugar out once I foil the ribs.

 

Thanks again!

[dman]

Try 1/2 cup of red wine for the liquid when foiling. 

[Ruben]

Have not thought of that.  Thanks.

[BURGER MEISTER]

You might also verify the accuracy of your dome thermometer.  

 

[Ruben]

Yes.  Several folks have commented on that.  Thanks.

[len440]

Just my $0.02 did you by any chance put them meat side down after wrapping ? This would put the sugary stuff on the bottom closest to the deflector plate,  which might be hotter then the dome temp ,just a possibility . When i make my rub i use turbinado sugar i believe it has a higher burn temp. If you used this method before than it probably is something different  you did and didn't notice.

[moloch16]

Agree with the temps, for that to happen I think your cooker was too hot.  You can put as much sugar as you want on them but unless the temperature reaches a certain point, it won't char.  Also, you definitely want some sugar, so don't leave it out!

 

Check out this recent vid from Malcom.  He's using a different cooker but that shouldn't matter, just don't need to do all the rotating and 2-zone stuff.  Just get a feel for the cook time, technique, and temperatures.