Pressing my luck: Cooking two different items on my 18.5" WSM


 
K

KrisDecker

TVWBB Member
OK, since Ive done the pork butt, time to move on. This weekend's challenge: beef back ribs AND baby back ribs

Any suggestion on method? I am thinking 2-1.5-1 method at 225? That is what I have been doing for baby backs... Can I do the beef back ribs the same way? Which would you do put on top vs bottom rack?
 
Kris, to me 225F for beef ribs is too low and too slow. My experience is steady 250Ffor minimum 6 hours. Then probe test.
So if you usea lower temp you will need longer time. IMO, you should start beef ribs in advance.
Ive no idea what should up or down. Sorry.
 
If I go 250, I think I'll be ok on baby backs..

So, you dont need to wrap beef ribs like babybacks? I use a stoker, so I was thinking I might need to wrap either way, if I need to mess with the coals at all...
 
You seem to have picked a pretty difficult combo there. Iv done brisket/porkbutt, and Porkbutt/SpareRibs before. What i would say makes the Beef ribs/Pork ribs tough is neither of them use a thermometer for internal temp. When doing ribs and porkbutt or brisket, you can keep an eye on internal temp of the big meat on the bottom grill, and work the ribs on the top one.

You are a brave man. I am curious to hear your attack and how it comes out.

rb
 
Time for the beef ribs will all depend on the thickness of them. If they nice and meaty like Enrico's then 6ish hours at 250. Throw the spares on 2 hours later so they will have 4 hours. That will get you done for both around the same time. Nice and easy. You can also start early and hold each item until you are ready to serve.
 
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I'm seriously confused, going off of Harry Soo's instructions, beef ribs were to take less amount of time than spares...:confused: (this is a 275* cook tho). Not that I take his word for gospel on all things, just going off what I've read thus far. May have read the booklet wrong but I'm pretty sure that's what it stated.

I need to get my hands on a non flanken cut beef ribs, but me thinks it's tough to find here.

EDIT: Reading for the loss, I just read baby backs. sorry.
 
not spares: baby back ribs :)

I got the beef rips on 'manager's special' at Shop Rite-- cryo frozen. Doesnt look like all that much meat on them.

I have a maverick probe and the probe for my Auber stoker. Wonder if I should use the auber probe in the bottom, with the beef ribs (set to keep the fire at 250 ON THE BOTTOM). Then use the maverick on the top to see what the temp is doing for the baby backs, since those need more tending?

Still a newbie-- save to assume top rack is hotter than bottom? Maybe I should reverse this order (auber/beef ribs on top / baby back & maverick on bottom!)
 
Kris, to me 225F for beef ribs is too low and too slow. My experience is steady 250Ffor minimum 6 hours. Then probe test.
So if you usea lower temp you will need longer time. IMO, you should start beef ribs in advance.
Ive no idea what should up or down. Sorry.
Click to expand...


Enrico. Thanks! If there isnt much meat on the beef ribs, do you stand by this recommendation? OR does the timing start to agree with a 2-2-1 baby back approach..?
 
Kris...
Once you master those other cooks, might revisit the pork butt. While both chopping and pulling are the easiest (least challenging) pork butt preparations, such things as sliced money muscle and pulled tubes are much more challenging to perfect.
 
Wow...that's pretty aggressive Kris. I've never smoked those two ribs together in the same smoker. And, I always do beef ribs at 275*-290*...and baby backs at 225*-250*. But, I've always been a stickburner guy, so what do I know. I just ordered a 22.5 WSM, which should be in next week. Normally, for beef ribs though, whether you're talking the 3-bone plate ribs or the 4-bone chuck ribs, I season with salt and pepper only, and put them on rib side down, for about 6-7 hours, according to the size of the ribs. No wrapping, just let them go...and start checking on them after about 6 hours.

I do a lot of spatchcocked turkey breasts with beef ribs though...and put the beef ribs on 2 hours before the spatchcocked turkey breast. The reason, all the women in my family like smoked turkey, while the men love beef ribs. Below, you'll see a spatchcocked turkey breast (it was brined for 18 hours prior to the smoke) on the left, with a rack of chuck ribs on the right back, and a rack of plate ribs on the right front. This big turkey breast took about 4 1/2 hours to get to 165* internal, and both racks of beef ribs took about 6 1/2 hours. All turned out well.

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This is the plate rib after it was cut....Mmmm, Mmmm!! I even had that little one the next morning for breakfast...and it was still great! This is what I want to learn to do on the WSM.

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Question on brisket/pork butt

Rusty Breaux said:
You seem to have picked a pretty difficult combo there. Iv done brisket/porkbutt, and Porkbutt/SpareRibs before. What i would say makes the Beef ribs/Pork ribs tough is neither of them use a thermometer for internal temp. When doing ribs and porkbutt or brisket, you can keep an eye on internal temp of the big meat on the bottom grill, and work the ribs on the top one.

You are a brave man. I am curious to hear your attack and how it comes out.

rb
Click to expand...

Rusty, I am planning on doing a pork butt and beef brisket at the same time, what was your experience like? What temps and times did you use, and which did you put on top? Please let me know. Thanks!
 
So, Beef Ribs came out pretty well! I went a little heavy on the rub, and they shrunk waaaaaaay down--thought I might have dried them out, as I had a last minute errand to run and it took way longer than expected, so the ribs were on 6 hours (didnt get to check them at 4.5 as I'd hoped)

The baby back ribs: I took the opportunity to sauce them at 6 hours and put them back on at 250 (they were 225 for 6 hours, uncovered). left them on for an hour.

I have been noticing that I dont get the 'break' in the baby backs when I bounce them to check doneness. I barely saw the meat pulling back on the bones either. I think I prefer the wrap over smoking straight through. Maybe I will try one more time, but hit it with apple juice during the cook... They were a little dry, I thought.

The challenge with 2-2-1 on the baby backs was that I had them below the beef back ribs. I had to-- higher temp on top rack. So, I would have had to pull the beef ribs to get to the baby backs, which I didnt want to do.
 
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