Beer Brined St.Louis-Style Ribs are juicy and tender, perfect for summer! Brined in beer, which help cut the cooking time in half, and rubbed in a sugar-free spice rub, these St. Louis-Style Ribs will earn you grillmaster points for sure!
How to make Beer-Brined Ribs
Brining ribs overnight make for some of the juiciest ribs you’ll ever have – I promise! Brining your ribs in beer allow for tender meat, that actually help to cut the cook time almost in half.
To brine ribs in beer, all you need is a shallow dish, such as a 13×9 baking dish and 12-ounces of your favorite IPA or dark beer (stout). And time. You need time to brine. That’s it. There’s no complicated marinade to make, there’s nothing to blend or salt. Just beer and and a slab of ribs.
If you’re not into the whole brine thing, try making these ribs with my sugar-free dry-rub.
After brining your ribs for 12-hours (up to four days), you can use your favorite spice rub or BBQ sauce and grill away. I’ve included an easy spice rub recipe below that we use for pork at Casa de Crews, but use any rub you like for this St. Louis-Style ribs recipe.
How to Grill St.Louis-Style Ribs
We prefer the two-zone method at Casa de Crews. First, you’ll wrap your ribs in heavy duty aluminum foil and cook over indirect heat for 90-minutes (45 minutes on each side). If you were to cook low and slow, we’d suggest a temperature around 250-300 degrees F. But to cook these ribs in less time, we start over indirect heat at 350-400 degrees F.
Why indirect heat first? If you’re cooking over a too-hot grill, the meat will dry out, and after brining overnight, why would we want to do that?
After you cook your St. Louis Style Ribs over indirect heat for 90-minutes, you’ll remove your ribs from the foil packet and grill over direct heat for one hour (30 minutes on each side).
Start testing for doneness at the one-hour mark – once the meat begins to pull away from the bones. This is easy to do with a fork. You also can twist a rib bone a little bit; you should feel it give easily but not fall apart from the meat. Believe it or not, if the meat falls off the bone, the ribs are overcooked. But if you follow this cooking method, you should not run into any issues.
I love to serve these ribs as-is seasoned in their own dry rub. But if we’re having company, I’ll also make sure to have BBQ sauce on hand for those that want it.
Sides to serve with St. Louis Style Ribs
- strawberry spring mix salad with goat cheese (low-carb)
- caprese pesto pasta salad (gluten-free)
- creamy classic coleslaw (low-carb)
- whole30 potato salad
beer-brined st.louis-style ribs
Ingredients
- 1 rack St. Louis Style Ribs, membrane removed
- 1 12-ounce bottle dark, strong beer, such as IPA or stout
- dry rub rib recipe - or any store-bought dry rub
Instructions
Brine the ribs:
- To a shallow baking dish (9x13 suggested), place rack of St. Louis Style Ribs and pour beer over rack of ribs. Brine in the refrigerator for at least 12 hours, up to 4 days. About 30 minutes before you’re ready to grill, pull the ribs out of the refrigerator to come to room temperature for more even grilling.
Homemade dry rub (optional):
- To a ramekin or small mixing bowl, whisk all spices together using a fork. Set aside. Can be made in advance and stored in pantry, covered, 2 days in advance.
Grill the ribs over indirect heat:
- After ribs have come to room temperature (about 30 minutes), remove membrane, which is attached to the underside of the rack of ribs. Discard brine and season very liberally with your favorite rib rub, if using. Wrap ribs in heavy duty aluminum foil.
- If you're using charcoal, light your coals and pile them all onto one side of the grill, leaving the other side empty. The empty side is the side you'll cook over indirect heat, at 350-400 degrees F. Cook for 90 minutes (45-minutes per side).
- After you cook your ribs over indirect heat for 90-minutes, you'll remove your St. Louis-Style Ribs from the foil packet and grill over direct heat (directly over hot coals or flames) for one hour (30 minutes on each side).
- Start testing for doneness at the one-hour mark – once the meat begins to pull away from the bones. This is easy to do with a fork. You also can twist a rib bone a little bit; you should feel it give easily but not fall apart from the meat. Allow ribs to rest for 10 minutes, before cutting and serving.
Nutrition
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[…] You can take your ribs a step further and brine overnight in your favorite beer for tender, fall-off-the-bone ribs. […]