Now we get to the final phase of our barbecue ribs on a charcoal grill. After two hours for spare ribs, or one hour for baby back ribs, remove the foil and continue cooking for one more hour. This final hour on the grill is going to give the ribs a drier surface so that you get some texture out of the bite. What you want to look for is how well cooked the ribs are. For this, use a meat thermometer (look for a temperature around 180 to 190 degrees F.). Unfortunately, with ribs this can be a challenge. The bone will be a different temperature from the meat and to get an accurate read you will need to check the meat without getting the thermometer too close to the bone.
Another way to check for doneness is to lift the ribs in the middle. If the ends droop loosely down from the middle the ribs are done. This is an old pitmaster trick and if you keep it in mind when cooking ribs, you will get the hang of it and be able to tell when ribs are done by using this technique.
You can remove the ribs at this point, but if you want to add barbecue sauce read on.
