Spares: Pros/Cons of vertical/rib rack vs. laying flat


 
Sean M.

Sean M.

TVWBB Fan
Hello;
I always roll my BBs when I do 3 racks. Today I am doing 2 racks of spares. I have never
laid the racks flat. I will not be foiling.

Questions:

Smoke intensity in the ribs vertical vs. flat?
Cooking time any different?

Anything else I should know?

Thanks!
~ Sean
 
Sean M. said:
Hello;
I always roll my BBs when I do 3 racks. Today I am doing 2 racks of spares. I have never
laid the racks flat. I will not be foiling.

Questions:

Smoke intensity in the ribs vertical vs. flat?
Cooking time any different?

Anything else I should know?

Thanks!
~ Sean
Click to expand...

The only real difference I have found is the presentation is better looking when cooked flat versus rolling.
 
I tend to prefer to roll them as well. When I lay them flat, the ends tend to get burned or over cooked ( I use a WSM btw). I've tried putting foil under the ends but I never really liked the results. When I cut them up and place on a vertical rack, I tend to get all the rub and some of the meat stuck on the rack. Not to mention when they start to sag over each other, not everything gets smoked. Rolling seems to be the best way to get an even cook while leaving all the flavor in place. For me anyway.
 
Another roller here. I use two skewers per rack to keep them in a nice "apostrophe" shape and always place them breastbone side down. When I set them on the grate, I usually try to keep the ends facing the center. Water in the pan, no foiling until they are done (tear test) -- then a tight foil wrap and 30 minutes of rest. We prefer them not "fall off the bone" mushy, but slightly firm.
 
What I've done once before and plan on trying this weekend on my Jumbo Joe is a rackless vertical arrangement. Basically, I'm gonna take the rack, split it in half, then use some bamboo skewers to hold the two halves together in a vertical (on-edge) orientation. I'm planning to place the whole shebang on a rack set in a shallow foil pan set on the charcoal grate with one char-basket to the side. I'll rotate them probably every 30 minutes and cook at around 275-300 (my JJ seems to like that temp range best). The only problem is that with the patio still under about 18-24" of snow, I'll have to do this in the garage or on the driveway out front. It might be tough to fend off the neighbors.
 
I have long used two rib racks (one on each grate) on my 14.5" and 18.5" WSM. I cut the rib racks in half (the meat racks:rolleyes:) and do three halves on each rack. I get perfect even cooking without the burned ends I used the experience when doing whole racks of meat. I have NO problem with smoke flavor nor even cooking. I LOVE the rib racks.

I generally foil my ribs. When doing so, I remove the metal racks from the smoker and just stack the foiled rib packets (three on a grate). One thing I DO do is to switch racks when foiling (ribs that were on the bottom grate get finished on the top grate and vice versa. My thinking is to even out the temperature differences between the two grates.

I always do three racks at once (three half racks on each grate) (in other words the whole pack of ribs) and vacuum pack and freeze the left overs.

Dale53
 
Some great tips there Robert. I just got a rib rack and will definitely be using your tips.
 
FWIW, this is how I cooked a single rack on my JJ this past weekend:


It worked for the most part. I didn't consider how flexible ribs get when they start to warm and loosen up, so when I checked in at the 30 minute mark, they had flopped over, so I had to shift them around and poke in a couple more skewers. Every 30 minutes, I rotated them. First front to back, then top to bottom, alternating at each interval. The skewers did make it fairly easy to move them around as a single "piece".

In the end, the ribs had about 3 hours of smoke at ~250-275, then went into foil and a 250 degree oven for another 1.5 hours. They probably could have used another 30-45 minutes (they weren't terribly tender), but dinner was late as it was.
 
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