16 lbs rib eye roast suggestions

  • Some of the links on this forum allow SMF, at no cost to you, to earn a small commission when you click through and make a purchase. Let me know if you have any questions about this.
SMF is reader-supported. When you buy through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.

moist

Fire Starter
Original poster
Jan 12, 2015
51
10
Abbotsford, BC
So my wife's family is having a camp out, and I got nominated to cook the roast. I'm bringing up my weber bullet, as it's the only thing we have that will fit the roast. My plan originally was to inject it with some beef broth, however I'm guessing it's gonna be close to 8 hours before it hits 140 degrees so that's a no go. So I figured just go basic with the rub, some salt, pepper, garlic powder. Gonna cook it between 250-275 with water in the water bowl. I'll spray it with beef broth as well to help keep it moist. I've never done this big of a cut of beef before. I don't plan on adding any smoke. Any tips for pulling this off? How long to let it rest once it's done? Any idea on timeline?
 
Type "prime rib" into the search bar and you'll get lots of threads to read if you still have questions post them and we'll be more than glad to help
 
First, I've never smoked a 16 lbs ribeye roast, but I've done plenty of large cuts of meat.  I'm going to assume this is a thawed roast.

Second, if you are going to run your smoker at 250-275F don't bother with water in the bowl.  All you are doing is using available heat to rapidly boil water.  Water is a heat sink to keep temps low.  If you were going to smoke at 215-225, water is fine.  At 250-275, you are fighting physics.  The water is trying to keep the temps low and you are trying to run it hotter. 

Third, you are way off on your timing.  Even 16 lbs at 250-275F, you are looking at around 4 to 4.5 hours for the roast to hit 140F. 

Fourth, 140F is WAY too hot a target internal temp for a ribeye roast unless you want it well done.  125F to 130F is a much better, medium rare target.   

Suggestion: 250-275F chamber temp is fine, don't use water, then decide if you want it rare, medium, medium well, or well done (a waste of good meat in my book).  With a final IT of 125F-130F for medium rare in a 250-275F smoker you are looking at a total cook time of 3.5-4 hours, but check the temp at the 3 hour mark if you are not using a Maverick.  When you hit your target, pull it off and let it rest an hour. 

Rub looks good.  No need to spray.      
 
Last edited:
 
First, I've never smoked a 16 lbs ribeye roast, but I've done plenty of large cuts of meat.  I'm going to assume this is a thawed roast.

Second, if you are going to run your smoker at 250-275F don't bother with water in the bowl.  All you are doing is using available heat to rapidly boil water.  Water is a heat sink to keep temps low.  If you were going to smoke at 215-225, water is fine.  At 250-275, you are fighting physics.  The water is trying to keep the temps low and you are trying to run it hotter. 

Third, you are way off on your timing.  Even 16 lbs at 250-275F, you are looking at around 4 to 4.5 hours for the roast to hit 140F. 

Fourth, 140F is WAY too hot a target internal temp for a ribeye roast unless you want it well done.  125F to 130F is a much better, medium rare target.   

Suggestion: 250-275F chamber temp if fine, don't use water, then decide if you want it rare, medium, medium well, or well done (a waste of good meat in my book).  With a final IT of 125F-130F for medium rare in a 250-275F smoker you are looking at a total cook time of 3.5-4 hours, but check the temp at the 3 hour mark if you are not using a Maverick.  When you hit your target, pull it off and let it rest an hour. 

Rub looks good.  No need to spray.      
What he said!  No water in the pan will give you that crispy crust that you want in a rib roast and help keep the temp in the range you want with ease.  If some in the crowd like it a little more well done you can cut that monster in half and bring the two halves to different ITs.  I always go to 125 and it might coast up to 130 or so when resting, depending on the actual cooking temp.  Check out bear's step by step on Prime Rib.  I can't wait to see the qview!
 
Just saw bears step by step. He cooked his at 220. What am I better off with in regards to temp. I'll have the whole day. I'm thinking about throwing one chunk of cherry wood on it to help give it a nice colour, but I do t want to over smoke it
 
Lower temps are better for beef.  It won't add much time at all to your overall smoke, maybe half an hour max.  The nice thing is you avoid getting that overdone ring of meat around the exterior.  You get a nice consistent color from edge to center.  And don't sweat this.  I don't know what it is about camping but even marginal food get inhaled with "this is GREAT" comments. 

If you are dry smoking (no water), and avoid the white or grey smoke, it is tough to over smoke flavor your meat.  A chunk of cherry will work fine.  I prefer hickory or oak for flavor, reserving cherry for pork and chicken, but I suspect there's an unspoken reason you don't want to put smoke flavor on your meat.  No worries.  You got this! 
 
Yep yep, low and slow around 225 gets you a nice consistent edge to edge color instead of the outer edges being overcooked.

This:


Instead of this:


Note that this isn't about the temperature that you want your meat to be at (rare, mid rare, medium, etc, but rather, the consistency of color/temp.   

One bit of advice that I'd differ with Noboundaries on is the use of water.   IF you can run your WSM cleanly at 225, then yes, go without the water.  If you can't, use water or sand as it will absorb some of the heat and will naturally lower your chamber temps.

Go low and slow at 225.  If you want a nice crust, pull the loin about 10 degrees sooner than you normally would, remove the middle section of your WSM and then quickly sear the loin.

Also, as Noboundaries stated, your timing is definitely off.  Cook time for Prime Rib is based on the thickness of the loin, not it's weight.  Say you were to cut 1/'3 or the loin off, it wouldn't change the cook time as the thickness hasn't changed.   At 225 ish, you are looking at 4-5 hours.
 
Last edited:
I agree with using a chunk of cherry. It'll give you a good color and it won't taste oversmoked. I've done the same with beef roasts in the past.
I know you don't want to use water, but I'd also give Chef Jimmy J's Au Jus recipe a look. It is the perfect compliment to a good roast.
http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/t/121418/looking-for-chef-jimmyjs-smokey-au-jus-recipe

I'll second ms the Au Jus! If not Au Jus a pan of roasting veggies under the roast is another good option.

I like to mix cherry and pecan, or cherry and Kiawe for beef.

I am a no water pan guy but I will do a batch of the Au jus!
 
You already got a lot of Great help above, but I will repeat what Piney said, That Roast is basically the same as a Prime Rib.

Also like some said, it won't take as long as you thought because you would go by thickness, not weight.

And you can get pink from bark to bark all the way up to 144° IT, but you should take it to where you want it. If you do want Pink from Bark to bark, try not to run your smoker above 250°.

Below is a bunch of Prime Rib Smokes that show you smoker temp (and Time smoking), pulling temp, and what the finished meat looked like finished and sliced:
*New--------Smoked PRIME RIB (Multiple Woods)    5-3-2015

Hope this helps,

Bear
 
  • Like
Reactions: demosthenes9
+1 to everything Bear said.   Follow any of his step by steps and you can't go wrong.

BTW, I missed it earlier, but you don't want to spray it to keep it moist.   For one thing, it will slow down your cook.  Secondly, you want the outside to dry a bit and start to develop a nice bark.
 
Last edited:
SmokingMeatForums.com is reader supported and as an Amazon Associate, we may earn commissions from qualifying purchases.

Latest posts

Clicky