Hanging Ribs in WSM


 
M

Myk D

New member
I have been seeing people smoking ribs by hanging them in their WSM or other barrel smoker. I could understand doing this to maximize space as you could probably hang 5 or 6 racks of ribs. But I also see that the ends by the charcoal get charred. I was looking to try this method and wanted to see if anyone had any input good or bad. Thanks.
 
I have not yet hung ribs in the WSM but I also have a PBC (Pit Barrel Cooker) and have done so in that smoker. I have no complaints about it. Sometimes, I lose one rib but other times I don't (a single rib, not a rack, and it is due to it touching the coals); hooking them down a little farther into the meat--say the third rib--can sometimes help with that issue. I don't know of any place where Weber discusses the science behind using this method on their now discontinued hanger but you could read PBC's thoughts about it, along with checking out a few video recipes, which are short in length.
 
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I've got the hanging rack and it's been something I've been meaning to try. I watched the T-Roy cooks video where they compared hanging in the WSM vs the PBC. I imagine the PBC being narrower will get a more concentrated effect of the drippings hitting the charcoal. Some people don't enjoy that flavor though. The way the did it in the video, they didn't have the hanging rack and just hanged it from the grate. I'm not sure that's the best way to go.
 
Dustin Dorsey said:
I've got the hanging rack and it's been something I've been meaning to try. I watched the T-Roy cooks video where they compared hanging in the WSM vs the PBC. I imagine the PBC being narrower will get a more concentrated effect of the drippings hitting the charcoal. Some people don't enjoy that flavor though. The way the did it in the video, they didn't have the hanging rack and just hanged it from the grate. I'm not sure that's the best way to go.
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I just watched that video, thanks. I don't think it was a fair comparison he hung the ribs on the WSM off to the side so any drippings were most likely not falling on burning coals compared to the PBC. If he would have taken the center ring out and hung it there where the fire normally is they would have been the same IMO.

Have not done ribs hanging yet. I have an 18" WSM and the Gateway drums 30 gal. rib hanger kit fits pretty well in the WSM. I also have the Cajun Bandit stacker ring for it so the meat does hang higher, more like a 30 gal. drum and also a PBC.

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So far have only done beef with the hangers, I purchased hooks and skewers from PBC. The meat seems to cook fairly evenly with the exception of the very most bottom that is exposed to the coals. And that has been the tastiest part of the cooks so far :D

Will do hanging ribs at some point soon. I like the taste of meat juices dripping on the coals with what I have done so far, sure the ribs will turn out well too. Did a turkey on the CB roti over the coals and it was the best turkey I have done, and I've done a lot of turkeys by various means, but usually with a roti on the kettle, gasser or now the WSM

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So far the only drawback I see is what makes it taste so good. The meat juices dripping on the coals make the remaining charcoal pretty much unusable again for something different and I throw them out after the cook. I know some do reuse them but so far mine have been covered in meat grease and I don't like keeping them around. Learning to judge how much charcoal to put in to begin with helps.
 
I'm intrigued by the concept of cooking over direct heat while simultaneous smoking. In the Q&A section of this forum, Famous Dave recommends a similar approach. He notes that his tastes and roots where formed while growing up and enjoying ribs cooked directly over wood in the aquarium style smokers on the south side of Chicago.

I'd like to experiment with this style and just realized I don't need to hang my ribs, but just remove the water pan and cook the ribs on the lower rack of the WSM. This will also promote a more even style of cooking/smoking as apposed to the hanging method that cooks unevenly and in proportion to which end of the ribs is closest to the coals. My one concern is getting accurate internal smoker temps from my Thermopro tp20 digital thermometer as the probe sits directly above the heat source without the water pan acting as a diffuser. Any thoughts on mitigating this issue would be appreciated. I guess I will just need to babysit the process and check on them regularly with the eye test.
 
J Griff said:
This will also promote a more even style of cooking/smoking as apposed to the hanging method that cooks unevenly and in proportion to which end of the ribs is closest to the coals.
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I hold the opinion that you are making an inaccurate assumption that hanging=uneven doneness. I cannot comment on your actual question, because I'm not grasping what you believe to be the issue.
 
J Griff said:
I'd like to experiment with this style and just realized I don't need to hang my ribs, but just remove the water pan and cook the ribs on the lower rack of the WSM. This will also promote a more even style of cooking/smoking as apposed to the hanging method that cooks unevenly and in proportion to which end of the ribs is closest to the coals.
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Let us know how your experiment turns out.
 
I bought a gateway hanging rack & cooked 2 racks of baby backs. I cut them in half & hooked them in middle of rack (2-3 bones) to keep them further away from coals. They came out ok. Wasn't doing cartwheels over them. Also can't put things in there & walk away for hours on end- meat might end up in fire.
 
BFletcher said:
I hold the opinion that you are making an inaccurate assumption that hanging=uneven doneness. I cannot comment on your actual question, because I'm not grasping what you believe to be the issue.
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It's not my assumption. Rather, it was documented in the video linked by Matty H. The rib end closest to the fire was cooked more thoroughly (by 5 to 10 degrees) based on internal temps measured by a thermapen. His observations sounded reasonable to me, so I accepted them as fact.

I have no question other than wondering if smoking without the heat diffusion effect of the water pan would spike the readings on my digital thermometer. I also wanted to stir the conversation for more input and opinions because I find the concept intriguing and intend to experiment with it, but don't want to replicate problems encountered and resolved by others.

Vincent Carrocci, I'll provide feedback and observations when available. Thanks for asking.
 
J Griff said:
It's not my assumption. Rather, it was documented in the video linked by Matty H.
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Okay. I guess it was myself making an assumption that you were referring to some huge temperature difference. I am not discerning enough nor expert to be able to tell a distinction in small temp differences. In my world, poultry, cuts like brisket, Tri-Tip, etc. do not come out without variances in temperatures, so hanging ribs is nothing that concerns me the slightest. I have had occasions where the last rib has come in contact with charcoal but I am very satisfied with that method of doing ribs. I don't always hang but I do it more oft than not.
 
BFletcher said:
Okay. I guess it was myself making an assumption that you were referring to some huge temperature difference. I am not discerning enough nor expert to be able to tell a distinction in small temp differences. In my world, poultry, cuts like brisket, Tri-Tip, etc. do not come out without variances in temperatures, so hanging ribs is nothing that concerns me the slightest. I have had occasions where the last rib has come in contact with charcoal but I am very satisfied with that method of doing ribs. I don't always hang but I do it more oft than not.
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Thanks for sharing Fletch. I wasn't aware you're a hanger. Do you get flare-ups very often when you hang your ribs? Do you have a need to babysit the pit more often due to flare-ups? Do you get accurate reads on your thermometer when you hang ribs, assuming you use one? And at what temp do you smoke them?

I assume you like the product of this cooking style since you do it more often than not. Can you share some of what you've learned and what you prefer about hanging ribs.

Thanks again for sharing. I'm fairly new to all this and I'm trying to gather information.
 
I don't remove my lid to check on things until I believe they are nearing their time for mopping toward the end but I'm not aware that flareups occur. But near the end I have seen my wood chunks ignite sometimes if I keep the lid off for a length of time. I let my ribs smoke at a higher temp; looking at some log entries I'm seeing several pit temp readings of 300-310 with the probe suspended just a little below where the lid rests on the base. I would say my best learning experience was changing the determining factor for pulling them. Initially, I pulled based on a certain temperature of the ribs but now I look at two visual indicators, one is looking for the meat to be pulled back from the bones and the other is utilizing the bend test. This means placing a pair of tongs near the middle of the rack and suspending it horizontally and checking to see if it looks like the meat is willing to "tear" a little. I am by no means an expert, especially compared to many others here. In my opinion, if I'm doing several racks, its simpler from a real-estate perspective to hang rather than maneuver for grate space. I suppose that, plus the fact that most of my other smokes are done on the grate might be two contributing factors for hanging... just to change things up. I am happy to eat them either way :).
 
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