Question for the group


 
Tim Campbell

Tim Campbell

TVWBB Diamond Member
So I'm 30 years into a teaching career. My current school does a cool thing between semesters where we have a week to hit pause and we get to teach anything we're passionate about beyond the classroom. My partner is also a bbq/cooking fanatic and an awesome guy. We do Indoor/Outdoor cooking. He handles indoor cooks, I deal with the smoker. It's a blast. Great kids, great food, great times.

So here's my question. I'm doing 5 racks of St. Louis Spares tomorrow. I'm running a WSM and plan to use a rib rack for three of the slabs. I've never had an occasion to use a rib rack.

Should I run the rib rack on the top or bottom shelf? Does it matter? Thanks in advance. Ribs will be on by 8am.

Temps here tomorrow are low 30s fwiw. For perspective, I had 4 spatched birds on the smoker by 9am today in 20° temps. We ate the chicken at 2:30. WSM ran at 275 for the whole ride.
 
I'm never cooked that many racks at one time. But I would put them up on the top rack just because I think on the top rack you can control the heat better. But like I said I don't want to cook to maybe three at one time and they all fit on the top rack and that's what I usually use all the time
 
I was always a top rack guy when I WSM’d. The heat sits at the top and convects around the meat. And with your cold temps, I’d strive for 275-300 so you’re not cooking all day long.
 
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Personally I’m not a fan of rib racks. Since you’re doing St. Louis ribs, why not cut them into pieces and do the high heat cook (275-300) that way you can have them come off in shifts. Maybe do a full rack or two, and the rest of them cut
 
I hate rib racks. The only good way to cook ribs is lying flat. To gauge how much they're done you need to be able to pick up with tongs and bend check them, ....you can't do that with them STUCK to a rib rack. You also can't sauce them worth a darn either standing on their side. Or even hanging.

All that said.... That bottom rack is going to cook a heck of a lot quicker than the top rack does, and you have to access it by removing the top grate every time.

In a nutshell unless you have them all in the same rib rack on the top rack what you're talking about is a royal mess, imo of course. The time it takes you to futz with ribs on the wsm with lid open, introduces air and the temperature spikes to 300 plus and may take a long long time to come down, overcooking your ribs pretty quick.

Keep them all on the top grate and keep the top open minimal time.... Pull the whole rack out quickly when you need to do check, wrap, and put the lid back on fast so temperature doesn't spike bad.

Before you try and put a couple of racks of ribs on the bottom grate try picking something up with tongs down there..... I mean without mangling it and ripping it apart.... Or even sticking your hands down there. For all practical purposes the bottom grate is useless
 
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The only good way to cook ribs is lying flat.

Hanging is a great way to cook ribs in a WSM.

Get 6 meat hooks. Cut the slabs in half. Hang the 6 half slabs down from the top grate.

Kind of a DIY hanging kit. I find rib racks to be a PITA.
 
At the risk of throwing a big grilling/smoking wrench in the mix, I have really liked the “rolling” method (top rack) for multi rack cooks, an 18 is a little tight for more than two flat racks. I’ve gotten five racks rolled on the top rack in the 18, not a centimeter to spare (ooh, bad pun).
 
Thank you all for the help. Ended up using the rib rack up top for three, with two below deck. I swapped them around midway through the cook.

I've only ever used the rib rack a few times. Honestly, I don't love it. Done hundreds of racks flat in the wsm with much better results, imo.

Ribs turned out great. They were on by 8:30am and pulled off around 2pm. They got devoured fast.

Love this site and truly appreciate the feedback. Only a couple pics.

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Jim C in Denver said:
The only good way to cook ribs is lying flat.

Hanging is a great way to cook ribs in a WSM.

Get 6 meat hooks. Cut the slabs in half. Hang the 6 half slabs down from the top grate.

Kind of a DIY hanging kit. I find rib racks to be a PITA.
Click to expand...
Ive hung ribs before in mine, full length. I made a rack and hooks. I stand by what I said about saucing them while hanging....not ez. Neither is wrapping them... Or checking them for doneness..... It's all a hassle to me but to do anything but lay flat.. imo. The 22 has enough real estate to cook a couple of racks flat without cutting them etc. if you predominantly cook ribs get the 22 if your heart is set on a WSM, imo . You can cook three racks laying flat on the top grate, which is enough for most families for dinner as that will feed six. You can get two racks of Babybacks on the top grate of the 18 laying flat but you have to cut one of them in half... Which still works okay. The wider St Louis won't fit like that though. Some people have successfully bent them in a semicircle.too
 
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Martin -- I find laying ribs out to be a pain. Especially if you have an 18 WSM, where the capacity for laying ribs out is very small.

I do hang, no wrap. Very simple and tons of capacity.

If you do want to cook flat and wrap, then you really need to be cooking on the 22 imo.
 
I’m a big fan of hanging multiple racks of ribs with my wsm 18.
I think they taste great too.

My favorite choice would be to lay them flat but I can only do one rack of ribs that way.
I’m not a fan of cooking on my lower rack.
I recently put a charcoal grate on top of my Hunsaker hanging rack thing IMG_6219.jpegand I like that a lot.
 
Tim Campbell said:
Thank you all for the help. Ended up using the rib rack up top for three, with two below deck. I swapped them around midway through the cook. I've only ever used the rib rack a few times. Honestly, I don't love it. Done hundreds of racks flat in the wsm with much better results, imo. Ribs turned out great. They were on by 8:30am and pulled off around 2pm. They got devoured fast. Love this site and truly appreciate the feedback. Only a couple pics.
Click to expand...
Bob Correll used to roll up ribs instead of racking them, I would think that might be a better choice vs a rack. I tried to find a thread where he did it, but the office keeps bugging me while I'm goofing off. BTW, those ribs look great, my racked ribs never looked that good, heck my flat ribs never looked that good
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We normally cook our pork ribs competition style. Flat, and two ribs off each end removed from the rack of 13. Ample room to place those cut off ribs elsewhere on the grates.
 
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