Need Help - Brisket & Ribs for 24ish people (Labor Day Smoke)


 
M

Mike Sydnes

TVWBB Member
My brother has some in-laws coming in town next weekend from Georgia (Big football weekend here in Oklahoma!)anyway, I've been asked to do fire up the smoker for some brisket and ribs.
Now I've cooked for 10 to 12 people quite a few times, but it sounds like he'll be having twice that amount over to the house. I'm thinking two briskets and 6 slabs of pork spares should be plenty... does that sound about right? (that crew can really put down some Q!)
My plan was to put one 10-13lb. packer on my OTG and another on the Performer (high temp cooks on both) then load the WSM (old style 18") with the six slabs of ribs.
Since this is my first fairly big cook on more than one type of meat, I'm open to any feedback regarding the best/easiest way to approach this task, so if you've any ideas please let me know!
Thanks in advance for all the help!
(And GO COWBOYS!)
 
Mike,

As long as you plan on slicing all of the briskets including the points I think that is probably enough beef. If you figure 3 ribs per person (some will eat less/some more) at 24 folks = 72 ribs. 6 slabs of spares at 11 each = 66 ribs. You might be a little light on ribs. Just my .02.

Go Cowboys. I'm a Horns fan, but have family up in Perryton with lots of OSU connections. Good luck this weekend. It's going to be a good game. Props to OSU for scheduling a real out of conference opponent.

Let us know how it goes.

Brad
 
Well, maybe its just me, but I think you need to switch the meat/cookers.

I would get 2 packers in the 10-12 lb range, and do those in the WSM. Then, do the ribs in a single kettle using a ribrack. You should be able to get 6 slabs in there (lay the 6th on top of the others if necessary - don't worry the smoke gets everywhere). This would require only 2 fires instead of 3, with much less fire tending/babysitting.

Good luck!
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by doug ep:
Well, maybe its just me, but I think you need to switch the meat/cookers.

I would get 2 packers in the 10-12 lb range, and do those in the WSM. Then, do the ribs in a single kettle using a ribrack. You should be able to get 6 slabs in there (lay the 6th on top of the others if necessary - don't worry the smoke gets everywhere). This would require only 2 fires instead of 3, with much less fire tending/babysitting.

Good luck! </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

...That's a good idea! I like the idea of one less fire too. Since I've always done ribs on the WSM, this will be my first time doing them on the kettle. Do you typically split the fuel on each side of the kettle, and leave the middle secion open for indirect heat, or do you just load one side of the kettle with fuel and load the ribs... does it matter one way or the other? Again, thanks in advance for your input.
 
You could also do your high-heat cook on the briskets simultaneously and then hold them in a cooler while you cook the ribs on the same cooker, if you have time to do them back-to-back
 
A 22" kettle will be pretty full with 6 slabs, so you will only be able to put the fuel on one side. Be sure to use foil to protect the closest ribs from direct fire exposure. A good fuel load will go for a long time, just don't use too much lit initially.

Kettle temps vary widely from lid temp to grate temp, I have found good results at about 275 lid temp (Performer lid therm), which gives about 230-240 grate temp. Been a long time since I've done ribs on the P, but prob in the 4-6 hour range. Higher temp will cook a little faster, do you have a remote therm (ET73) to monitor meat temps?

Leave lid vent wide open, control temp with bottom vent. Hopefully you have already marked the vent ring above the one touch lever, so you know when the bottom vents are fully closed and fully open.
 
just fyi for anyone who hasnt smoked that much on kettle, i use weber OTS with the smokenator 1000 piece it cooks very nice and very close to wsm with its temp control ---its same concept as wsm minion method you can do 4-5 hours on 60 - charcoal ( starting with lighting only 12 briqs on good warm day) then you can add more if need be and only about $ 50.00 look it up on you tube-- or go to the smokenator web site its a good back up in a situation like this where you need just a bit more space and dont have extra wsm around have fun
 
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