You can easily do 12 racks if your rib racks are a 6 rib, rack. 10 if they are 5 rib racks. If you smoke them at 225-250 degrees, that normally takes just shy of five hours, but because of quantity, you should expect up to 7 hours to complete the job, give or take an hour each wayHi Friends,
I am asked to BBQ 18 racks of baby back ribs for this Saturday afternoon on the 18" WSM with 2 rib racks. I have to prepare them at home and drive about 2 hours with them to the party.
Any advise for me would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you!
Hi Friends,
I am asked to BBQ 18 racks of baby back ribs for this Saturday afternoon on the 18" WSM with 2 rib racks. I have to prepare them at home and drive about 2 hours with them to the party.
Any advise for me would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you!
I've never done more than six racks at once. I don't think there's any way to get 18 racks on a 18" WSM all at once. I think you'll have to get creative to get even half of them on at once.
I'd suggest getting as many as you can on the WSM and smoking for two to three hours, then pull them, wrap in foil, and stick in the oven to finish while you start smoking the second batch. Repeat, if necessary, for the third batch.
You can easily do 12 racks if your rib racks are a 6 rib, rack. 10 if they are 5 rib racks. If you smoke them at 225-250 degrees, that normally takes just shy of five hours, but because of quantity, you should expect up to 7 hours to complete the job, give or take an hour each way
If you have a kettle handy too, you can do the additional racks not included in the 10 / 12 rib cook in the WSM. If you don't, the remaining uncooked ribs will have to go on after the first cook of 10/12. You will probably want to replace the old charcoal with new charcoal
I've been using a modified 3-2-1 technique mostly following Harry Soo's guidelines. When I do the foil wrap I sprinkle with brown sugar and drizzle with honey. I think the result is awesome. And far less likely to dry out from cooking too long. I'd rather have fall off the bone tender than attack with a hatchet dry and overcooked. But, this is part of what's fun with BBQ -- we each have our own way of arriving at delicious results.I would suggest NO foiling (as Jay suggested) as there is a time element to how long they're foiled--ie risk of overcooking and therefore fall apart meat/bones). You have to stay on top with good time management skills when foiling (even more so with this many racks).
I've done it many times, however only once did I do it where I had racks on both shelves. Granted, they weren't the ribs I got while in Florida in May where I cooked six on a Spirit (those ones rubbed) If photobucket wasn't such a PITA, I'd go find the photo(s) of my filled rib racks on my 18 WSMI don't think I will be able to fit the 6 racks of ribs on the rib rack length wise in the 18" unit.