Lower Grill Question ???


 
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John Vale

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I am cooking baby back ribs today. I have a rib rack for use on the upper grill surface. But it looks like I will not be able to fit all the ribs on the top cook surface. So, I will probably also have to use the lower grill. I don't have another rib rack which means I will have to lay the ribs flat on the lower grill. I plan to use the BRITU process, which suggests the ribs be turned over after 3 hours followed by 1-2 hours of additional smoking.

My question is, do I put the ribs meat side or bone side down for the first three hours.

I am fairly new at this and have never used the lower grill surface.

Thanks in advance for your help.

John
Marblehead, MA current outside temp is 48 degrees
 
John,
Have you considered rolling the ribs as illustrated in the cooking section of this forum? Take a look at this link (you'll have to scroll down a bit to see the rolls).
Rolled BRITU
 
Hi Phil:

I should have mentioned that I was only able to get ribs that had been pre-cut into half-rack lengths, so they are too short to roll. But thanks for the suggestion.

John
 
Ahhh, in that case, I think I'd be inclined to place them bones down (bone towards the grill). I wouldn't even turn them over at that point. You may consider foiling them for about an hour towards the end just to get the extra tenderness and then unfoiling the very last hour. Enjoy!
 
Rather than deal with the lower grill issue, I squeezed all of the ribs onto the top grill surface. In about 2 1/2 hours, we will find out if that was a wise decision.
 
I did an experiment last night and heres how it went. I use the 6 dollar char broil rib racks and always cut the racks in 1/2. 3 halfs on top and 3 halfs on bottom. I put all the smaller halfs on the bottom and the larger omes on the top (top usually runs a little hotter). I usually switch the shelves at 3 hours before I crank the heat from 225 to 250. This time I started the cook with a probe in the meat on top and bottom racks, I was determined to leave the cooker closed and not switch them around due to the 20 degree weather. Well the end result is the temps went up within 5 degrees of each other for the whole 5 1/2 hours. No turning, rotating, or peeking for any reason. It worked awesome. Give it a shot next time. Small meat on bottom big meat on top.
 
John, how many half slabs did you have? I have fit 11 halfs(with some special stacking)on one rack before!

Hope everything turned out ok!
 
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