Babybacks, to wrap or not to wrap?

[Chasdev]

I cooked two racks of BB's yesterday and was aiming for 3/1.5/1 at 250 and while they turned out great (perhaps a little fall off the bone but not mushy) it peaved me off that all the bark that built up during the 3 ended up in the bottom of the tin foil along with the juices.
I ended up I re-dusting and moping and tried to build some bark before pulling.
(The good news is that the saved drippings later blended in nicely with the mop sauce).
I always add apple juice and vinegar along with some mop sauce under the ribs when wrapping.
So, two things..first how many wrap and how many don't and why?
Second, when wrapping how to keep the bark on the ribs and out of the foil?

[Rambo]

I do mine dry but somebody will comment

[GRailsback]

It doesn’t take that long to do ribs, especially baby backs. Always remember that when you foil, it accelerates the cook time. And if you maintain a steady 250, in my opinion you only need about 4 hours or so.

[Williep]

It doesn’t take that long to do ribs, especially baby backs. Always remember that when you foil, it accelerates the cook time. And if you maintain a steady 250, in my opinion you only need about 4 hours or so.

X2 on what he said.



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[Slippy]

Baby backs are my most predictable cooks. Love doing them. I go 2 hours @ 265ish, then wrap for 1.75 hours, add butter and honey, then 15 minutes to finish (4 hours total). Never had an issue with bark coming off, and mine get pretty dark. I think adding the glaze/sauce in the last 15 minutes helps let the bark firm up enough that a few minutes is not going to soften up too much.

[OldUsedParts]

It doesn’t take that long to do ribs, especially baby backs. Always remember that when you foil, it accelerates the cook time. And if you maintain a steady 250, in my opinion you only need about 4 hours or so.

X2 on what he said.

[Chasdev]

It looks like you wrap with the bones down?
That would for sure keep the bark on better!

[Chasdev]

I do mine dry but somebody will comment

I'm open to any helpful info, my experience with wrapping has me tilting toward no wrap next time.
I guess I should have mentioned I'm using a pellet spitter for these.

[Rambo]

Well, I’ve got an old stick burner and only use charcoal at the start but do have a separate little vessel that I keep coals going in so I’m not constantly smoking. If I do anything I’ll mix up a little vegetable oil with some apple cider vinegar and brush some of that on and dust with rub again . That’s me; there’s a lot better cooks on here than I am

[spacetrucker]

cooked st louis yesterday the rack was 3.8 lbs(heb sale price $1.99 per lb), to me an important thing, lbs equates to time till done, removed the membrane, seasoned both side with hog wallerin, then in the pellet smoker at 265 @ 7 am, eatin lunch at 11:30 never wrapped, cooked meat side down, "to catch the juices" I checked them at 10:30 first time, checked and pulled at 11:15, no pictures but trying to give you the blow by blow of my yesterday cook. The rack was "toothpick tender" at 11:15, hope this helps... we are not after crust as much as we are after flavor and tenderness. Crust is a good thing just not as important as the tenderness and flavor to us, one of many reasons I do not compete...

[Chasdev]

When I refer to "bark" what I mean is the layer of spices that were stuck to the meat with yellow mustard along with some smoke color and the residue of the apple juice/vinegar spray, not a real brisket type bark.
I hate building a lovely layer of flavors on the top and wash most of it off by going meat side down in the liquid I introduce (mop sauce + and vinegar/apple juice) before placing plus of course, the natural juices produced by the meat as it renders.

[Sailor Kenshin]

We've only wrapped spares, and only one time. Never BBs. I like a little chew, and a dry surface, though sometimes we 'laquer' them for a half hour with some SB Chipotle sauce.

[Chasdev]

I'm doing two more racks now and this time it's no wrap and no water pan.
I'm going with 250 and this time no clock and no internal temp measurements..when it probes tender and flops 90 degrees, we eat.
I am going to spray every hour for three hours then mop with diluted BBQ sauce.
Pictures this time, I promise...good or bad..

[Slippy]

If you are doing two, perfect time to try one of each....then you know for next time.

[Chasdev]

I did two yesterday wrapped so I already know how that turned out.