About to try smoking an 8 pound rack of baby backs with my Napoleon gas grill and AMNTS!

[Hauser]

I thawed a beautiful 8 pound rack of baby backs I got back in the summer to smoke up at the lake this weekend, but now I’m stuck working (from home thankfully) with only my Napoleon gas grill and AMNTS to cook this rack with. I had a similar situation in the summer with a pork butt and I got really good results by first sous vide-ing the sumbitch for about 6 hours before finishing it off with about 2 hours of smoke on the grill, but this time I wanna go for it and do the ENTIRE cook with the smoke!

I thought I’d basically turn the grill to 250, light up the AMNTS and hopefully walk away to get some work done (too cold to sit outside here in Toronto unfortunately) but if anyone has any tips re doing baby backs like this I’m all ears as it’s a BEAUTIFUL piece of meat and I want to do it justice! Thanks guys!

 

[atomicsmoke]

It should work fine. Just make sure you find a good spot for the AMNTS (so it stays lit). I've smoked using a similar setup....with good results.

You called this cold?

 

[Hauser]

Ha actually more like too WET - that pretty snowfall all getting turned to mush in this drizzle! Hopefully it’ll stop before I fire up the ribs tomorrow.

Re the tube I was gonna put the ribs on the top rack of the grill and the tube right between the middle two burners with only the outside 2 burners lit, the way the air flows in my grill seems to make everything go straight up, roll around the top a bit then exit the top vents. When I did the butt I kept rotating it to minimize the amount of heat any particular side experienced but for these baby backs I assume I should cook em bone side down the entire time?

 

[wbf610]

Look up the 2-2-1 method for baby backs. Smoke 2 hours, foil wrap with juice for 2, then an hour with the foil open to firm them up. That is generally for a grill/smoker temp of 225. 250 will get them done a little quicker. Once you wrap, you can finish in the oven as no more smoke will be necessary. If you like a good bite, and less fall off the bone, decrease time wrapped in foil and just open the foil sooner, but keep the same timing.

Here are some pics of ones I just did with that method.

 

[SmokinAl]

I would love to see the pig that an 8 lb. rack of babybacks came from.
That is amazing!!
Al

 

[Hauser]

Look up the 2-2-1 method for baby backs. Smoke 2 hours, foil wrap with juice for 2, then an hour with the foil open to firm them up. That is generally for a grill/smoker temp of 225. 250 will get them done a little quicker. Once you wrap, you can finish in the oven as no more smoke will be necessary. If you like a good bite, and less fall off the bone, decrease time wrapped in foil and just open the foil sooner, but keep the same timing.

Here are some pics of ones I just did with that method.
View attachment 380605 View attachment 380606
View attachment 380607

Holy moly, if mine come out looking half that good I’ll be over the moon! Did you rub, spritz, mop, anything besides the 2-2-1?

 

[wbf610]

Holy moly, if mine come out looking half that good I’ll be over the moon! Did you rub, spritz, mop, anything besides the 2-2-1?

Rubbed with Pitfaced regular rub. Smoke was hickory, apple, and cherry. Foiled with a little apple juice and light brown sugar. After the two hours, I dumped the juice from all foil packs into a sauce pan and added some sweet baby ray’s, and simmered for 1/2 hour. Mopped that onto the ribs a few times during the last half hour.

That’s it.

 

[gmc2003]

I want to see those ribs also. Got any pics?

Chris

 

[wbf610]

I want to see those ribs also. Got any pics?

Chris

Me? Just the ones I put up in this thread.

 

[Hauser]

I'll post pics of mine if they turn out worth a damn - all my rub stuff is at the lake and I'm sans car this weekend so I'll likely just do em Texas style with just salt and pepper!

 

[Hauser]

Well I just finished my first test rack with great results! Here’s my setup:

Napoleon P500 running at 250:

AMNTS loaded with pure hickory from CookinPellets:

I ended up moving the tube down to the same level as the flavour bars to minimize direct heat on to the ribs, next time I’ll put them right under a flavour bar since I now know these pellets burn hassle-free.

Here we are at the 3 hour mark pushing 180 internal temp:

And about an hour later when we hit 200!

Edit: I forgot to mention I just did these Texas style with salt and pepper as I didn’t want to interfere with the test results by using some crazy brines/rubs/injections etc.

All in all I’m really happy with the way these came out. They cooked quickly, temps were steady (I verified the grill temp with my infrared and it was spot on consistently), the pellets smelled great and burned smoothly, and the final product was just how I like them with a bit of tooth and not falling off the bone!

However they weren’t perfect as the top bark was crispy in some places but a bit chewy in others, I have another rack on right now that I’ll be spritzing every half hour and I’ll finish this one with a whiskey maple mustard sauce that I love. Next steps will be to figure out a geometry that will allow me to cook as many racks as I can fit on the grill but for today since I’m all alone I think I’ll have to call it a day after two whole racks! :D

 

[Hauser]

And here’s the second rack, spritzed with water every half hour and sauced with Kozlik’s whiskey mustard sauce:

These also came out fantastic although because this was one of those racks that’s twice as thick at one end than the other, it ended up being a bit too fall-off-the-bone for my taste but I’m glad I spent the extra time or the thick part wouldn’t have been nearly as tender.

All in all a successful experiment, next time I’ll try loading next the grill to the max for a dinner party and seeing how well I can use the AMNTS and my grill for a big group!

 

[gmc2003]

Those ribs look awfully good to me - Nice Job.

Point for sure.
Chris

 

[SonnyE]

Looks great Hauser!
I like 3, 2, 1, ribs myself, and fally off the bone. Makes it easier to scarf down and shovel in the meat.

But my Grandpa's Ribs, I've been told "Do NOT mess with the ribs recipe!" :confused:o_O
I've been handcuffed to my grill. :(:cool: