Cooking loin back and spare ribs at the same time

[Martin S]

Hey guys - still a relative n00b here, and I was wondering about smoking two different types of ribs simultaneously. I searched the forum, but didn't come up with anything too helpful although I'm sure it's been discussed before.

Basically, I assume you'd want to cook the spare ribs on the bottom rack, and the loin back ribs on the top since they take less time to cook.

Is there anything special I need to look out for? Is there an issue with opening the lid for extended periods of time to check doneness and such?

 

[Richard Diaz]

You should not have any problems, if you are doing 2 racks your looking at 3 to 4 hours, the loins will be done first. I would cook them on the same level.

To determine when my ribs are ready/done I do three tests. The first is visual. You want to look at how much bone exposure you have. The bone should be exposed around a quarter of an inch or the tip of your pinky. I do not touch it unless the meet has pulled back to this level. The second is the bend test. Grab one end of the ribs with your tongs and lift, it will bend, what your looking for is the bark to break/crack where it bends and expose the cooked white meat. The last test is to take a tooth pick and push it thru the meat. If it slides thru back and forth with easy your good if you have trouble pushing it thru and it sticks then your not done yet. Hope this helps good luck and post pictures.