18 racks of baby bck ribs for saturday afternoon
- Thread starter Joe Smith
- Start date
Lew Newby
R.I.P. 1/26/2024
Welcome to the forum. I've never tried 18 racks of ribs but I'm sure someone here can speak from personal experience. That's a lot of ribs. I would cook ahead of time. Reheat in the oven, and use a well insulated container/cooler to transport them 2 hours. Whatever you do, good luck and have fun.
ChuckO
TVWBB 1-Star Olympian
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 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.
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.
Len Dennis
TVWBB Diamond Member
Looking at this in a slightly different way from Chuck, if they're "normal" b.b. (like 2.5 or 3 lb each), the most you can get in an 18" unit is 6 (roll them like a jelly roll, sides NOT touching--like in the pic) and use two wooden shishkabob sticks to hold the roll.
If the rolled rib sides touch, they'll still cook ok but will not form a bark/crust.
Three on top and three on the bottom.
1) Smoke the first set for 2 hours (with 3 chunks of wood) then put them into your oven (still rolled).
2) Put the second 6 on, add the same amount of wood (3 NEW chunks) and smoke those for 2 hours. Into the oven.
3) ADD SOME MORE BRIQUETTES to bring it up to the top of the ring (should be ~ 1/4 full of original briquettes at this point).
Remember, this 3rd set of 6 will be the same as if you were just starting a new smoke from the beginning)
4) Put the 3rd set of 6 in plus 3 NEW chunks of wood for the normal 5 hours.
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).
Jay's use of the oven is how I do it if I need more than 6 or it starts raining and I have no canopy set up.
Two hours each will give all the smoke you need for the 18 racks.
The third set of 6 racks will get the same 2 hr of smoke even though they're in the WSM for the whole time. The wood won't last and the briquettes add little to no flavour.
TIME MANAGMENT: those racks you have in the oven!! Don't forget about them. Note when they went in the oven and take the first set out after 3 hours. Take the second set out 3 hours after you put them in there. Finally, take the last 6 racks should be ready and out of the WSM at the 5 hour mark.
Times are approx based on your WSM temps. Your oven can be consistent at 240-250 but the WSM may/will fluctuate.
WITH A ONE HOUR START TIME FOR THE COALS TO GET GOING, THIS WILL TAKE 10 HOURS START TO FINISH. With your 2 hour drive, going to have to do this the day before.
Gonna have to refrigerate them overnight and re-heat the next day. You could put them (uncovered) in a low (200o) oven for a few hours (or just nuke 'em on a re-heat setting when needed). Nuking will get them hot and ready to eat, the bark just won't be "crispy". I do that with leftovers all the time.
Again, don't set and forget. Time management and watcher skills are very important when doing so many at once.
I don't think I will be able to fit the 6 racks of ribs on the rib rack length wise in the 18" unit.
Bob Correll
R.I.P. 3/31/2022
Some have done 9 or 10:
https://tvwbb.com/showthread.php?64978-How-many-racks-of-baby-back-will-fit-on-WSM-18
Chris A says you can do do 8:
http://virtualweberbullet.com/wsmcapacity.html
https://tvwbb.com/showthread.php?64978-How-many-racks-of-baby-back-will-fit-on-WSM-18
Chris A says you can do do 8:
http://virtualweberbullet.com/wsmcapacity.html
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.
One other thought about cramming a lot of ribs in the WSM -- if you can get three more lower grates you can bolt them together at 2" intervals and get 15 slabs on laying them flat and twisting the ends a bit on the outer racks. I wouldn't want to do it, but I think it just might be possible.
Thinking about this problem makes me covet even more the $1,000 pellet smoker they had at Costco. The main chamber on that thing would hold about a dozen racks and the box on the end would easily hold a dozen more.
Erik Tracy
TVWBB All-Star
I did baby backs on my 18"WSM over the 4th of July weekend.
Took some measurements for my cooking log book.
Each rack was 5 1/2" wide, and 16" long (after trimming off the last tiny rib).
If you use a rib rack then the first and last racks may be touching the dome unless you curl the ends, and they'll definitely be 'overhanging' the width of the water pan and getting the most heat as it comes up the sides of the barrel.
You could consider those ribs as 'sacrificial', or trim down the racks from the tiny end so they 'fit'.
Good luck.
Took some measurements for my cooking log book.
Each rack was 5 1/2" wide, and 16" long (after trimming off the last tiny rib).
If you use a rib rack then the first and last racks may be touching the dome unless you curl the ends, and they'll definitely be 'overhanging' the width of the water pan and getting the most heat as it comes up the sides of the barrel.
You could consider those ribs as 'sacrificial', or trim down the racks from the tiny end so they 'fit'.
Good luck.
ChuckO
TVWBB 1-Star Olympian
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 WSM
https://tvwbb.com/showthread.php?70290-Six-Baby-Backs-on-the-Weber-Spirit
I found where I did six huge racks on the Spirit
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