Advice on smoking bone-in ribeye's on Reverse flow offset

[BigBryanSr]

In a couple weeks we are smoking 2 whole (7bone) bone in Ribeye's on HBT Reverse flow gameday smoker. I've been cooking on it pretty regularly and we're still getting to know each other. We are serving a free prime rib dinner to a badass specialized UNIT of Law enforcement in my city. I'm EXTREMELY worried I'm going to screw it up. I have specific questions regarding my smoker, and prime rib techniques you like, but any advice will do.

• Should I cut the whole 18LB ribeyes in half?
• Does anyone have advice on the HBT Reverse flow gameday smoker.
• Any advice on fire managment?
• using a water pan or a drip pan with carrots, onions, cellery?
• or open vs, cracked vs. closed doors on firebox
• or open vs, cracked vs. closed doors on the rib box that we wont be using
• open or closing the daisy wheels for smoke to flow from the cook chamber into the rib box that we wont be using.
• Proper sized splits of post oak for this model

Thanks for your input!!
BD

 

[JLeonard]

heck a cooker. No advice but ill be in for the ride.

Jim

 

[smokerjim]

I'm not familiar with your smoker so not much help there, i will say dont get yourself to worked up, these are really hard to screw up, I personally usually cut the bones off, season underneath then tie them back on, season the rest of it, I've only done a couple of these but I just used salt,pepper and garlic.smoked them between 250-300. Make sure ya have a good thermometer and pull them about 10 degrees of your target temp. As far as cutting them in half i dont think it would matter either way.

 

[JLinza]

I'm not real familiar with your cooker, so I won't say anything on damper position or anything, that's more of a matter of knowing your cooker. And as far as splitting in half I'm sure guys will have different feelings on that as well. I suppose splitting in half could help you get a more even cook, compared to whole where your ends may tend to be more done. But I think as long as you reach 10° below your target temp and then rest it you should be fine either way. Temp is key for a cook like this in my opinion.

 

[civilsmoker]

Here are 3 examples of cooks for you.....
https://www.smokingmeatforums.com/threads/prime-rib-sunday.320029/
https://www.smokingmeatforums.com/threads/the-prime-rib-dinner-in-pictures.318868/
https://www.smokingmeatforums.com/threads/summer-time-smoked-prime-rib-…-yes-the-theme-continues….317107/

If it were me I would remove the ribs and put them on 90 mins before the roast, next I would make it into 3 sections so the cross section of each part is uniform.....IE one end will be smaller and cook faster than the larger end side. I would keep the pit as close to 235 as you can plus or minus. As an FYI I have cooked a PR in the warming oven portion because I could keep that right at 225 in my Copper Pot.

If you have access to a house oven you can smoke them to 125-130 then hold them at 140 for an hour or more without them over cooking. So I would plan on starting earlier and have them resting in the oven. If some don't like MR then you can cook one section to say 140 for those that like medium.

Use the ribs as appetizers and why they are put on sooner as they need more time that the roast.

Good luck and the most important thing between now and then is practice the fire control for 235 ish. This will be easiest with a large amount of coals (like a full chimney) that are well lit and then adding 2 or so splits every 30-40 mins along the cook. You should only need about 3-4 square inches of intake opening to have it run like this........

Final thought is I would try to practice on two smaller roasts on separate cooks before hand to get the system down......

Good Luck!

 

[mike243]

1 thing to remember they will cook quick, it aint like smoking to 205. a good multi probe temp therm is great, no guessing, put 1 in each end and 1 in the middle. I cooked 2 on my Weber Performer. turned out great

 

[mike243]

They were not raw, camera made them look plumb raw but they were perfect

 

[JckDanls 07]

I'm gonna have to disagree with pulling 10 degrees below desired temp (135 for me)... I've never had any to raise a whole 10 degrees after pulling off the heat... Yours, and others, may have different results...

You say you have been cooking on it regularly... By now you should now the smoker and where the vents like to be to run at certain temps... as stated above I would try to cook around 235 degrees...

 

[kevinwi]

Here's step by step on how I did it on my offset:

Prime Rib on the Offset Smoker

 

[BigBryanSr]

Here are 3 examples of cooks for you.....
https://www.smokingmeatforums.com/threads/prime-rib-sunday.320029/
https://www.smokingmeatforums.com/threads/the-prime-rib-dinner-in-pictures.318868/
https://www.smokingmeatforums.com/threads/summer-time-smoked-prime-rib-…-yes-the-theme-continues….317107/

If it were me I would remove the ribs and put them on 90 mins before the roast, next I would make it into 3 sections so the cross section of each part is uniform.....IE one end will be smaller and cook faster than the larger end side. I would keep the pit as close to 235 as you can plus or minus. As an FYI I have cooked a PR in the warming oven portion because I could keep that right at 225 in my Copper Pot.

If you have access to a house oven you can smoke them to 125-130 then hold them at 140 for an hour or more without them over cooking. So I would plan on starting earlier and have them resting in the oven. If some don't like MR then you can cook one section to say 140 for those that like medium.

Use the ribs as appetizers and why they are put on sooner as they need more time that the roast.

Good luck and the most important thing between now and then is practice the fire control for 235 ish. This will be easiest with a large amount of coals (like a full chimney) that are well lit and then adding 2 or so splits every 30-40 mins along the cook. You should only need about 3-4 square inches of intake opening to have it run like this........

Final thought is I would try to practice on two smaller roasts on separate cooks before hand to get the system down......

Good Luck!

Thanks so much for the info. I'm breaking the roasts down and putting in dry aging bags now.

 

[BigBryanSr]

heck a cooker. No advice but ill be in for the ride.

Jim

Thanks my brother. J7st added pix of raw the meat

 

[BigBryanSr]

Here are some pictures from the Prime Rib cook. I used post oak splits for my coalbed and a few chunks of mesquite. Smoked at around 230 degrees until 120 internal. That took about 4 hours. Rested the roasts about 45 minutes. Then Seared on oak and mesquite HOT live fire until 130 internal. That took less that 10 minutes per roast. Wrapped the meat in foil with some compound butter and Au Jus. Stuck them in the Artic cooler with towels for a couple hours until serving time. They came out perfect. Oh, and a few of our guests came in a helicopter. Very cool!