I’ve never tried stacking or layering ribs but my first thought is that would be a very frustrating, long, and unrewarding endeavor that seems like false economy.
By stacking or layering the ribs you’re going to get uneven temperatures and smoke distribution. One part of a slab may get way overcooked while other parts may never finish. You might get two or three bones from each slab that are near perfect, but this seems like an awful lot of work for that kind of return.
Some shrinkage will occur as the slabs cook down, but not enough to avoid them still being overcrowded.
Plus, every time you open the lid to rotate and re-stack the ribs, lots of valuable heat will be dumped out of the bullet that will take time to recover. During winter cooking, I use a rule of thumb that each time the lid is removed adds at least 10 minutes to the overall cooking time. Multiply that by the number of times you’ll need to frequently rearrange the slabs. Chances are pretty good you could do an equal number of slabs in about the same amount of time over two cooks and with much better results than by loading your bullet to the gunwales during one big extended cook.
Wide temperature spikes and dirty smoke are also very possible as the hot coals are suddenly fed large amounts of oxygen and then just as suddenly starved of it as the lid is removed and replaced.
Rolling the ribs into loose spirals and securing them with bamboo skewers is a good way to cook more ribs at once while also ensuring even temperatures over the surfaces of the ribs. I believe Chris covers this elsewhere on this site. I need to do some site-seeing to refresh my memory!
For my one-fiftieth of a dollar of opinion, you’ve demonstrated your need for a second bullet if you’re going to be cooking for a crowd frequently. When not needed, the second one will sit quietly in the corner, patiently biding its time until it’s called on to serve.
I have both my bullets at work with me right now doing an overnighter for a lunch I’m throwing for my co-workers. One has been humming along for four hours with two butts and a brisket flat while Number 2 will be fired up before long to do five slabs of St. Lou’s and then around 40 ABTs later in the morning. I’ll be a hero to my co-workers for the day.
Of course, on Monday, they’ll fall back on their normal ways and treat me like a baby treats a diaper once again!
Sorry about the long response. Just trying to pass the time. To distill my thoughts about layering ribs down to a single sentence, it would be that it’s not worth the time or the trouble. Roll them or do a smaller amount during two sessions. Or, get another bullet.
OK, I lied. Three sentences.
Ken
