How to smoke 5 racks of ribs & what else to smoke?


 
Aditya

Aditya

New member
Hello,

I am new to smoking (bought an 18.5" WSM a few months ago), but have been grilling (mostly on a gasser) for a long time. Anyway, we are having a BBQ this weekend for about 30 people and I'll have the usual suspects (burgers, dogs, sausage, chicken...), but wanted to also smoke some meat!

I have smoked ribs twice, using the recipe from Amazingribs.com and they came out great, but I was thinking of trying the 3-2-1 method (as outlined on TVWB), so I was thinking of 5 racks of spare ribs on my WSM. I think I have 2 options, but many questions!

1) I can use both the top and bottom grates and lay all 5 racks flat. Foiling would be pretty straightforward, but do I need to adjust the timing/ amount of wood to take into account the volume of meat and the fact that both racks are in use?

2) Use rib racks (or pinwheel) and keep the ribs on the top rack. How would I foil the ribs then? They would have to be stacked, presumably, correct? Would that be like a log cabin, with air gaps in between?

Also, if I just use the top rack, what should I cook on the bottom rack? I'd prefer something with a similar cooking time (~6 hours). Thanks in advance!
 
I have an 18.5" WSM. I use a rib rack from Walmart (it has six "slots" for ribs). The 18.5" is pretty narrow across the top for laying full racks out on the grate. That is why I cut all of my rib racks in two and place the halves on the rack. That allows me to smoke three full racks at once on one grate. If I were doing five full racks of ribs, I would simply buy another rib rack for the bottom grate (my rib rack came with a roasting pan for a total of $7.50). The advantage of using a rib rack, is that the ribs are cooked evenly from end to end (after three hours I turn them over and switch them between ends). There are NO over cooked ends (that I have had happen on the OTG before I got my WSM.

Someone else will have to chime in on times with both grates full as I have not done that, as yet.

Good luck and let us know how it turned out.

FWIW
Dale53
 
Aditya,

First off, welcome to the site and congrats on the new 18.5" WSM. I love mine and I'm sure you will too.

As far as smoking ribs goes, I've not foiled them before but I have rolled/coiled them before. I've only put 3 rolled racks on the top grate but I know you can get at least 4 on there at once. When it comes time to foil the ribs, and I quote Gary S from another thread "If you are doing 3-2-1 simply cut them in half and foil. Once in foil they can go back any way you want on the two racks."

I hope that helps! Oh and don't forget to let us know how the cook turns out!

Say just out of curiosity, does the AmazingRibs.com recipe call for foiling?
 
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At bottom of page http://virtualweberbullet.com/ribselect.html
 
Robert McGee said:
I have an 18.5" WSM. I use a rib rack from Walmart (it has six "slots" for ribs). The 18.5" is pretty narrow across the top for laying full racks out on the grate. That is why I cut all of my rib racks in two and place the halves on the rack. That allows me to smoke three full racks at once on one grate. If I were doing five full racks of ribs, I would simply buy another rib rack for the bottom grate (my rib rack came with a roasting pan for a total of $7.50). The advantage of using a rib rack, is that the ribs are cooked evenly from end to end (after three hours I turn them over and switch them between ends). There are NO over cooked ends (that I have had happen on the OTG before I got my WSM.

Someone else will have to chime in on times with both grates full as I have not done that, as yet.

Good luck and let us know how it turned out.

FWIW
Dale53
Click to expand...

Ditto what Robert said...that's how I did it one time.
 
Aditya said:
Hello,



1) I can use both the top and bottom grates and lay all 5 racks flat. Foiling would be pretty straightforward, but do I need to adjust the timing/ amount of wood to take into account the volume of meat and the fact that both racks are in use?

2) Use rib racks (or pinwheel) and keep the ribs on the top rack. How would I foil the ribs then? They would have to be stacked, presumably, correct? Would that be like a log cabin, with air gaps in between?

Also, if I just use the top rack, what should I cook on the bottom rack? I'd prefer something with a similar cooking time (~6 hours). Thanks in advance!
Click to expand...

Hi Aditya. You will need both cooking racks for the amount of ribs you want to cook. I use Meatheads Memphis Dust too in fact I use two other rubs of his as well. If you coil 4 racks on one grill which you can do easily and one on the other grill you will have room for something else. Your ribs will not take 6 hours, more like 5 or a little less. You could do a pork butt to begin with or lay in a pot of beans below the four racks. Make sure the lid is off. They will take on a smoky flavor and the drippings will be outstanding. I always allow 5 hours for ribs but then I like spareribs and they take a little longer. I find beef ribs will go 6 hours.
Foiling as Brian mentioned after smoking them for 3 hours is no great deal at all. I prefer mine dry rubbed, no foil and that for me is a straight 5 hour cook. It's all about the texture of the meat and that is a very personal preference.
 
Aditya, buy a 2nd top grate, lay the 2nd grate upside down over the original grate and double your grilling space for ribs. You should be able to lay flat 3 racks of ribs on each grate.
 
Thanks guys for all of your help. It seems like the rib rack is the way to go on this one. I'll stop by Home Depot and Wal Mart today/ tomorrow before work to see if they have any left (I know it's kind of late in the season in the Northeast).

Cooking beans on the lower rack is a good idea. I'll search for a recipe on a smoker (I'm sure somebody here posted something).

Brian, the Amazongribs guy suggests not foiling the ribs, but he has an alternative method to 3-2-1 if people want to foil (it's on his site). That's what I was thinking of trying after reading more about foiling the past couple of days.

Actually, I wanted to try the foiling because these ribs are for friends who think "fall off the bone" = awesome. In any case, thanks again for your help. I'll try and post pics of the cook.
 
Gary S said:
Hi Aditya. You will need both cooking racks for the amount of ribs you want to cook. I use Meatheads Memphis Dust too in fact I use two other rubs of his as well. If you coil 4 racks on one grill which you can do easily and one on the other grill you will have room for something else. Your ribs will not take 6 hours, more like 5 or a little less. You could do a pork butt to begin with or lay in a pot of beans below the four racks. Make sure the lid is off. They will take on a smoky flavor and the drippings will be outstanding. I always allow 5 hours for ribs but then I like spareribs and they take a little longer. I find beef ribs will go 6 hours.
Foiling as Brian mentioned after smoking them for 3 hours is no great deal at all. I prefer mine dry rubbed, no foil and that for me is a straight 5 hour cook. It's all about the texture of the meat and that is a very personal preference.
Click to expand...

So, you are suggesting doing 4 on top (coiled or pinwheeled) and 1 on the bottom & something else? I may just do 3 on top & 2 on the bottom, but should I rotate between top and bottom grates? Also, when you coil, do you flip the ribs over (bottom to top) so that each side lays on the grate? Thanks!
 
Aditya said:
So, you are suggesting doing 4 on top (coiled or pinwheeled) and 1 on the bottom & something else? I may just do 3 on top & 2 on the bottom, but should I rotate between top and bottom grates? Also, when you coil, do you flip the ribs over (bottom to top) so that each side lays on the grate? Thanks!
Click to expand...

I do not flip them nor do I rotate them and they have cooked up just fine. I have done them this way several times in my 18.5 and just did the same thing a few weeks ago doing 11 racks in a 22 WSM. I use water so it does even out the temps quite a bit I think. They are really easy to cook, you just have to wait them out. I never lift my lid during the first three hours.
 
Aditya said:
Cooking beans on the lower rack is a good idea. I'll search for a recipe on a smoker (I'm sure somebody here posted something).
Click to expand...

Aditya, I've done this simple doctored up bean recipe a couple of times and they have turned out well. Last time I did them I added some of the rub I used on my ribs before throwing them on the smoker. Actually I don't know if you've looked around on The Virtual Weber Bullet website, but Chirs has some good recipes and tips and general info. Just FYI.

Good luck with the ribs!
 
Gary S said:
I do not flip them nor do I rotate them and they have cooked up just fine. I have done them this way several times in my 18.5 and just did the same thing a few weeks ago doing 11 racks in a 22 WSM. I use water so it does even out the temps quite a bit I think. They are really easy to cook, you just have to wait them out. I never lift my lid during the first three hours.
Click to expand...

You know what... the 1st time I cooked ribs and they were more tender, I used water in the water pan. The 2nd time I didn't. That may have caused the 2nd set to not be as moist, which is why I wanted to foil.

I guess I'll decide to put water in the pan or foil. Your post just triggered that thought... thanks.
 
It's preference thing Aditya. There are some here who do not use water at all, always drypan or clay saucer or metal disc or something but I really like water for ribs and I like them dry over sauced and foiled, but that's me. I would try some both ways and see what you think.
Have a great cook.
 
Thanks for the advice everybody!

I ended up only cooking 2 slabs, because we had enough food otherwise (we had about 18 non-vegetarian adults). They were Spare Ribs from a local butcher and 3.5 lbs each (if I recall correctly), so he had them trimmed and the membrane removed.

I basically followed the amazingribs recipe again, but foiled for 45 minutes. Since it was only 2 racks, I didn't have to cut the ribs down.

Also, this time, I had a Maverick thermomoter (previously, I relied on the built-in temp gage at the top, which was a big mistake). There was about a 40-60 degree difference in temperature from the top grate to the top of the WSM.

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That's incredible to me. I thought there would be 10-20 degrees, but up to 60 is way too much. I'm happy with the thermomoter purchase!

All in all, it was about 1 5.5 hour total cook, with 40 minutes of foiling in apple juice and rub. The bark was good, but the ribs were really juicy (not fall off the bone, but very juicy). Needless to say, they were all gone in a few hours!

Ribs resting

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