Rolling Ribs

I'm going to try Ribs for the first time on my new 18 WSM. I want to try the 321 method. If I roll them for the first 3 hours, Will they lay flat in the foil for the second 2 hours? And can I roll them again for the last 1 hour?

I would assume so but have never done rolled ribs so I am just guessing

2 weekends ago I rolled my ribs for the first time as well. They can out great and will roll them from now on. I was able to foil them while they were still rolled. I cut all the skewers as close to the meat as possible to avoid tearing the foil. I left them rolled for the entire cook as I left space between the rolls to apply BBQ sauce at the end. Good luck.

My first caution is that the 3,2,1 has some flaws, mostly in that it adds up to 6 hours, which is about 2 hours too much. Granted, the 2 hours in the foil will keep them moist to a fault in my opinion. 2 hours in foil = rubbery ribs, and then when you try to put them back on the grill to cook in the sauce, they fall apart making it nearly impossible to get that last 1 hour in. If you're bent on doing the 3,2,1 type cook, I reconmend 2,1,1

My next question is why would you want to roll them? Ribs fit fine on the 18" here's a photo of ribs going on my 18" recently



My reconmendation is to only plan on cooking your ribs for 4 maybe 4.5 hours, don't foil them at all. Baste them at the 1,2,3 hour mark, I use a apple juice brown sugar worchestershire sauce cocktail as my baste. If the meat is pulling back at the 3 hour mark, skip the baste and add the sauce. What I plan to do on my next rib cook is cook them meat down for the first hour and the meat up for the remainder of the cook. This is to avoid "over cooking" the bone side

Whatever you choose to do, enjoy your cook and ribs

I agree with ChuckO on the times there. 3-2-1 always seemed to be way too much time in foil for St. Louis or BB's.

I recently did rolled ribs for the first time (because I was cooking a bunch on my 18.5) and they came out great. No foiling though. I have gotten away from foiling

Forget the 4 or 5 or 6 hours. If you're cooking at around 250*, baby backs take about 4.5 hours with no foil, at least for me. Spare ribs will take longer. Test the tenderness of the meat by poking between two bones with something like a skewer or a probe tip. The ribs are done when the skewer goes in with little to no resistance. You'll know by feeling the meat if the ribs are ready. Foiling for 2 hours is risky. You might end up with the meat falling from the bones

I agree with whats been said. I got away from foiling ribs too. I run my wsm with water 225-250° about 4 hours for BB ribs.

Many moons ago I foiled ribs. I guess if your in a hurry an can keep an eye on them, you can save some time.

I have only done 2 racks of KC style spares on my 22.5.

The first set I pulled at 3 hours 40 minutes. I would have pulled them sooner if I had got back from the store on time. The second set went exactly 4 hours, but it took over an hour for my WSM to reach 270.

Both sets would clean off the bone but still had a little bite to them. In my opinion, perfect. I think 3-2-1- would kill my ribs if I ever tried it.

A wise old man once said, when it comes to BBQ, its done when its done, regardless of what your cooking.

I subscribe to that method.

Ernie P said:

I'm going to try Ribs for the first time on my new 18 WSM. I want to try the 321 method. If I roll them for the first 3 hours, Will they lay flat in the foil for the second 2 hours? And can I roll them again for the last 1 hour?

Click to expand...

I wouldn't try the roll/unroll/roll thing....seems like they get locked up in the coil position.
I did some last night rolled, snipped off the bamboo skewers and then wrapped, then uncovered with sauce for the finish.

As the others have said, the 3-2-1 method is optimized for spares and needs to be cut back for smaller rib cuts.