James is spot on. I covered half of the charcoal basket with foil. I also put a lip so that anything dripping onto the foil will not pour into the charcoal, which was a problem I had. And I rotated between indirect and direct, like James said.
Is there a difference between laying them flat, or in a rib rack, or hung? I've only done these combinations:
1. flat & indirect
2. rib rack & indirect
3. hanging & direct/indirect
What I can say is that my crust is better with method 3. And it only takes 1.5hrs, whereas it normally takes me 2.5hrs with method 1 & 2. Some people say the meat is more tender with method 3. Is it? Maybe. It certainly isn't less tender. I think it is either the same or more tender but the gain in crust appearance and depth of a smoke ring, are also hallmarks. It is also more smokey. Not sure if that is a good thing or not.
Martin, the photos you see above are from the competition.
Lastly, the method I use has a reduced chance of blow-out ribs, which as some of you know, has been an issue that I've been struggling with for some time.
The only thing I dislike is how much room it takes. I'm use to cooking all 4 meats in one smoker and you just can't do that when you hang. As a matter of fact, I had a difficult time cooking ribs and chicken in the same smoker with hanging. I tried putting a half moon grill over the indirect side but it doesn't fit very much chicken, plus there is the issue of the chicken being over a direct fire. You basically lose an entire smoker to ribs.