Butts and Ribs; can i do it?


 
T

Tom A.

TVWBB Member
We are having some people over this weekend and would like to serve pork butt and bb ribs. I'm going to be smoking a double pack of boneless butts and a triple rack of ribs (Costco). The problem is I only have a single 18.5 smoker.

I'm planning on serving dinner at 7:30. Does anyone have ideas of how I can pull this off?

Thanks!
 
Yes, you can. You have enough room. It all depends on how your going to cook the everything. If you do low and slow for the butts you will be looking at 15 hours or so if you do a high heat you can get them done in 9 hours, this depends on the weight. Your better off having the butts come off 2-4 hours early and hold them in a igloo. What kind of ribs are your doing? Baby backs will take you 4-4.5 hours are 275, if your doing spares you can add another hour or two.

Last year I did 12 racks and 4 butts for a tailgate. I started at 7:30pm the night before, the butts were done by 7am, put them in a igloo to hold the temperature, I then through the 12 racks on and they were done at 11:30am. To save time I let the meat come up to room temperature. The smoker was still running I just kept adding wood for smoke flavor. I managed to do all of that on one load. I have a 22.5. You may need more then one load of K, I think you will have to refill once.

Just make sure you plan ahead of time, have everything rubbed the night before, have all your K and wood ready. Grab a 6 or a 12 pack and off you go. Make sure your sauce is ready too, unless its store bought.

Good Luck and take pictures.
 
I think Richard has filled you in well. I've done butts and ribs. To hit the same or similar finish time you need to start the butts earlier and add the ribs towards the end. You can get the butts off and hold till the ribs are done.
 
Thanks for the response. I'll be doing baby backs.

Please let me know how this plan sounds.

-begin cooking butts Friday 8pm alloting for 15 hours of cooking.
-remove the butts from smoker around 11:30, double wrap in foil place in cooler with towels and heating pad set to low.
-begin cooking ribs at 12-1 allowing for 5+ hours of cooking.

I know the butts should keep in the cooler with the heating pad but what can I do with the baby back ribs if I want to serve at 7? The ribs could be ready as early as 5:30-6. How can I keep them warm without drying them out?

Thanks!
 
Drying out = overcooked. In the cooler with the heating pad should be fine.

Don't forget to tie up your butt.
 
You've gotten some good advice and have a good plan but I did notice that you actually have a WSM + 3 grills.
You could do your butts on the WSM and your ribs on the Performer or the 900. Just build a low slow indirect fire, use a rib rack, and do your ribs on the grill. If you have the side charcoal baskets this will be even easier. You'll probably need to have some additional charcoal and/or wood chips or chunks. I've 'cued many times on one of my kettles, before I bought my 1st WSM or when I'm just doing a rack or two of ribs or a single roast.
I often have 2 or more of my grills or smokers going at the same time.
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Richard Diaz:
I then through the 12 racks on and they were done at 11:30am. To save time I let the meat come up to room temperature. The smoker was still running I just kept adding wood for smoke flavor. I managed to do all of that on one load. I have a 22.5. You may need more then one load of K, I think you will have to refill once. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Richard, Am I reading this right, 12 racks at once? How did u organize the 12 racks in the WSM?
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Ned C:
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Richard Diaz:
I then through the 12 racks on and they were done at 11:30am. To save time I let the meat come up to room temperature. The smoker was still running I just kept adding wood for smoke flavor. I managed to do all of that on one load. I have a 22.5. You may need more then one load of K, I think you will have to refill once. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>


Richard, Am I reading this right, 12 racks at once? How did u organize the 12 racks in the WSM? </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Hi Ned,

This is how I did it. I have two rib racks that hold 6 ribs each. I put one full rack on each level. Here is the link to the rib rack on Amazon.com. I got both of mine at TJ Maxx on clearance. They always have them. I also use them for roasts. Its a good investment. I am pretty confident that I can do 16 if I wanted to, just lay two rack on top of the 6 and have 8 racks at each level. During this cook I actually placed one across the top to see how it would do, you can see in the picture it did fine and did not affect the ribs beneath it. I was concerned the juices from the ribs laying across would affect the rub of the ribs below in the rack, but it didn't.

One thing I recommend is to either cover the ends of the ribs with aluminum foil to protect them from burning or to lay some foil down on the cooking grate under the ends of the ribs so the ends do not dry out & burn. I recommend the latter. Remember the heat in the WSM comes up hits the water pan and travels up the sides to the top, so the sides in my opinion will always be warmer and cook whatever is on the ends quicker.

Good Luck!
 
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