The coating sauce in the second step did not stick to the ribs very well and the ribs started to get dry before a good caramelization. I did not...

If you kept the ribs in the liquid until you were ready to cook them, it's possible they were too wet and diluted your coating sauce. I personally like the sauce coat, but not boiling the ribs. It can make them tender, but it also washes out the flavor- one reason to save the broth for other uses, but not so good for the ribs themselves. Wet ribs, or ribs that still contain a lot of excess fat don't coat well. I'd suggest baking the ribs low and slow, in an open pan at 300F for an hour, then covered with foil until they are near fall off the bone. At that point, you can let them cool overnight, or take them on to the grill or under the broiler- and use the basting sauce from the recipe. That lets you render excess fat, and not have water soaked ribs- and the sauce should stick a lot easier. I don't think it really matters much about the sriracha sauce omission, it mostly adds heat. You can always add or decrease that to your own taste.