Question about cooking 4 Rack Spare Ribs on WSM 22.5

[bakerman]

Howdy Pilgrims,

I am setting up for a 4 rack smoke this July 4th. I have a question about using both grates for ribs. Is this a good way to go? The ribs I have are pretty big. I was thinking 2 per grate. What problems should I prepare for? Would it be wise to rotate the racks from upper to lower grate for an even cook? Since this will be my third cook on this and the ribs cost way too much , I wanted to be sure I was headed in the right direction.

I checked out a vid on YouTube and a BBQ'er from New Zealand was doing St.Louis style ribs @ 3 and 3 per grate. I think I will be okay, just wanted to hear any suggestions you people might share. One of the reasons I got the WSM 22.5 is to cook more than I could fit on my old gasser.

Plan on 3-2-1 method with cherry wood chunks and Kingsford Blue, temp around 225-250. Spritz them with either cola or root-beer after an hour, then every half hour to keep 'em moist. I will try to remember to take some pictures this time.

Wish me luck!

 

[kilo charlie]

Looks like a good plan to me! God luck and do post up pics when you can!

 

[BigW.]

Weber also makes a rib rack that holds the ribs upright. Using 3-2-1, they'll be plenty moist. Could add cola to the wrap if you want the flavor. Then skip the spritz.

 

[bakerman]

Weber also makes a rib rack that holds the ribs upright. Using 3-2-1, they'll be plenty moist. Could add cola to the wrap if you want the flavor. Then skip the spritz.

Thanks for the reply, I have some rib racks somewhere in my house, but I think I'm going to lay them flat. I have never done the "spritz" routine, just thought I would try something different.

 

[bakerman]

Looks like a good plan to me! God luck and do post up pics when you can!

Always the positive vibe Kilo! Thanks

 

[thirdeye]

You could do some variation of a 'rolled rib' technique. I used some cooking twine poked through to hold these intact.

 

[bakerman]

Happy July 4th (belated),

I smoked some ribs on my WSM 22.5 this past 4th. I'm still learning a lot about this cooker so bear with me.

Loaded up 2/3rds full with Kingsford Blue and a small pile of leftover lump charcoal ( 1st mistake). Filled water pan.
Fired up chimney and placed hot coals on the pile, kinda Minion method.
Prepped the ribs with slather and rub. Smoker temps getting close to 250, closed up the vents except one and the lid vent. Temps took off to 325 and rising. Shut off all air to get temps down to 250-275. Reached 270-285 and put on all 4 racks. The smoker was full.

Temps once again took off (340-360 ), same deal closed off air vents to regulate down to 270. After 30 minutes things settled down at 280. Managed to goose it down to 250 and re-opened one vent and the lid. Stayed at 250 -280 fluctuating for about 2 hours. Kept adjusting air flow until it finally stopped jumping around 260 (perfect).

4 hours in wrapped in foil with brown sugar, Tiger Sauce, butter, and peach honey. Let cook at 260 for another hour. Added some root beer to the foil packs. Let them go for another 40-60 minutes. Temps started to go down to 250. then 240, 230.....pulled them off and let them rest. Bend test worked on 2 of the 4. The other 2 were falling apart.

Sliced them up and the rest is history. Everyone said they were perfect , but I know they were two over cooked racks. One rack completely fell apart when I was moving it to the cutting board. Bark was great on two racks, not so great on the other two. Taste was there, but I can do better.

This is where I think I made a big mistake. I placed all the leftover lump charcoal in the center of my Minion ring and dumped my hot chimney onto those lumps, creating a too hot fire to start. I filled my charcoal ring about 3/4 full with Kingsford, with some hickory and Cherry chunks. It was a little breezy in the morning giving way to no breeze at all after noon. I fought my temps all morning. It finally settled in after about 3 hours, but by then it was hard to judge the ribs for how far along they were. I erred on the side of caution and probably left them on for an hour too long.

2nd mistake:I tried spritzing for the second time ever and realized I don't care for the resulting bark. It was too mushy. Flavour wise they were pretty good, even though a bit over cooked. The family had no complaints and my wife made some killer corn pudding, so it was a good feed at the end of the day.

Thanks to all for the ideas and support. Still getting used to this way of smoking, but it was much more forgiving then my gasser. A bit more work, but that's on me. Next time just Kingsford blue for low and slow. I'll keep the lump for hot and fast.
My initial 3-2-1 turned into 5-2-0. The coals died after 8 hours , so next time I will do a full ring without the lump.

 

[bakerman]

I even posted pictures!

 

[BigW.]

I'd certainly enjoy those. Like that you kept them full spares.