<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Dave Wr.:
Dave,
Your enthusiasm for your ribs is contagious!
Couple of questions:
<LI> Do you have the large of small water pan and do you foil it? (I believe you wrote previously that a clean pan was not an issue for you?
One main reason I haven't used water is all I've read upon the problem of the cleanup
I have the large pan, but use my Brinkman charcoal pan for most cooks, especially long ones. My smoker is seasoned, and so is my pan, and if you keep water in your pan it's not gonna smoke. The wsm is thirty years old, and if it didn't make sense to use water in their water smoker, Weber would've sent out a bulletin by now. Learned from a buddy just the other day that spraying Pam in the pan will make the rinsing and any cleaning much easier.
<LI> When do you start checking them - (I would assume being half racks they cook quicker?)
<LI> How long have your last rib cooks been?
Ignore C. Lilly's times/temps, at least to a degree. Things just take longer on the bullet, especially the little one. No, I don't think the half racks cook faster to any degree. They're the same thickness, and none are over the hot zone.
As far as temps/times, I'd suggest shooting for a much faster ramp up in the temp that you'd use for butts/briskets, but I've been cooking ribs on the wsm every way I could and are still a little unsure about avg. cook times. Having said that, nothing wrong with giving 'em a 6 hr window just in case, but I believe that the average time to reach "toothpick tenderness" if cooking 235-250 is gonna be somewhere around 5.25hrs, depending, of course. I check my tips through the door at about the 3.5hr mark, and check the slabs for pullback no sooner than about the 4.5hr mark. I cut it close last time though so I made a note to light my charcoal ring six hours before dinnertime from now on to be on the safe side. It's not the ribs though. Sometimes charcoal just doesn't seem to burn as fast as other times, and that's when an ATC is a temptation. (Remember that although the first part of the cook might be only 235* or so since my cooker is slow, I am targeting 250*. If your's is as well, use only 1.5 gallon or so, and a boiling tea kettle is a great help.)
<LI> I think from your past post you believe there is a better "airflow" using the racks instead of laying them flat?
That idea isn't original to me, but yes, I think that's what I observe. Would I use racks if cooking three slabs in a big bullet? No, I'd probably do different for all the space, but I'm just saying what works best for me in the little bullet. One of the biggest Memphis bbq competitors was famous for hanging his ribs in his smoker if I recall.
<LI> I have Lily's book and recipe - he says 4 hours for the cook but I've read 5-6 is more common?
Yeah, see above.
Sorry if I'm asking too many questions
No problem. Just note that my "method" is really just straight forward and conventional. Nothing original about it, and it works for a lot of others as well. If you don't want to use the racks with half ribs, rolling and skewering is a great way to go as well.
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