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Disappointing ribs

Jeffersonian
Jeffersonian Posts: 4,244
edited November -1 in EggHead Forum
My guests said they loved them, but I wasn't thrilled.

I did eight slabs, and it took so long to foil them that my Egg heated up the rather shallow drip pan to the point it gave off a nasty smoke that I could taste in the finished ribs. It was the second time I used my adjustable rig, and the first on a low-n-slow. I put water in the drip pan, but it's so shallow that it evaporated quickly and became a scorched mess.

What does everyone else do when using the Spider and AR? How do you keep the drip pan from scorching?

Comments

  • AZRP
    AZRP Posts: 10,116
    Put some spacers between the drip pan and the stone. Then quit the foiling. -RP
  • hdrider
    hdrider Posts: 32
    I'm a newbie but I have used a drip pan successfully on a couple of cooks already by putting small balls of foil under each corner. This keeps the pan off the platesetter and allows airflow under the pan.
  • Beanie-Bean
    Beanie-Bean Posts: 3,092
    Brad,

    Did you have a stone on the spider? Or was your drip pan the indirect piece you were using as a baffle? I don't think that I've done a low-and-slow without a platesetter, or without a stone on the spider. Sorry to her about the experience you had.
  • Celtic Wolf
    Celtic Wolf Posts: 9,773
    Take them all off, close the lid, foil them, put them back in.

    or foil them faster :woohoo:

    It helps to have help when you are foiling.
  • Jeffersonian
    Jeffersonian Posts: 4,244
    I usually do put in spacers, but this time I was using a drip pan sitting on the Spider, not my plate setter, so it was exposed to direct heat from the lump. I'm trying to figure out how to get a drip pan deep enough in the Spider that it won't boil away all my water and scorch.
  • Jeffersonian
    Jeffersonian Posts: 4,244
    No, I just put a drip pan directly into the Spider. I'll have to see if my stone fits into the Spider and do it that way. Thanks!
  • AZRP
    AZRP Posts: 10,116
    I don't use water or any other liquid, but I put the stone on the spider and some copper L's on top with the drip pan on that, no scorching. -RP
  • Jeffersonian
    Jeffersonian Posts: 4,244
    In retrospect, I think that was the way to do it, Pete. I was like a one-armed paper hanger trying to get them all wrapped before it caught fire.
  • Jeffersonian
    Jeffersonian Posts: 4,244
    I see now. Combined with Pete's idea of pulling them all, foiling, then returning is a good idea, too. Thanks...live and learn.
  • Jeffersonian
    Jeffersonian Posts: 4,244
    Yeah, it's coming into focus now. I didn't use a stone, when I should have. I'll remember that for Friday's big butt cook.
  • Car Wash Mike
    Car Wash Mike Posts: 11,244
    Don't foil at all. :woohoo: :woohoo: :woohoo: When I do, I take them all off like CW said. You can't be talking more than a couple minutes. Double wrap and put back on.

    Mike
  • Jeffersonian
    Jeffersonian Posts: 4,244
    Yeah, I was a dope for trying to wrap them as they came off like I do when I'm doing two slabs. Between all the wrapping and my newbie fumbling around with the new 'Rig, I bet it took me 10 minutes or more to get them wrapped. By then, the lump was glowing.
  • Car Wash Mike
    Car Wash Mike Posts: 11,244
    Time to throw on a steak then. I really wish I could say, all my cooks were great, just doesn't happen that way.

    Mike
  • mark9765
    mark9765 Posts: 122
    I personaly don't use foil or a drip pan for my ribs. First off I don't like fall off the bone mushy ribs. I will soak mine for a couple of hour in water and vinegar. I cokk them over the fire on a high grid @ 225-250 for a couple of hours till done. While cookink I will baste them using 2 cups of vinegar and about 1/4 cup salt and pepper more or less.They come off the grill knaw off the bone good. Every one that I have cooked for loves them, moste woun even use barbecue sauce. St Louis style is the best for my taste. Of course every one has their favorite way to cook and if you like your way then it is the best to you.
  • coop
    coop Posts: 1
    I usually start my ribs indoors. Ribs with Dry rub (weber sweet n tangy bbq is good) Brown Sugar is the Key (2-2 1/2 handfull's), sliced onions, garlic and green pepper wrap in foil cook 250 in oven about 4 hours almost fork tender. Place on grill with hickory several hickory chunks. Baste with your sauce and heavy Smoke for approx 2 hours. I have never had a complaint. :)
  • JLOCKHART29
    JLOCKHART29 Posts: 5,897
    Can't help you on the set up BUT I bet even your screwed up ribs were better than any within a 100 miles! ;)
  • Jersey Doug
    Jersey Doug Posts: 460
    I've done a couple of slow cooks at 250º with the drip pan at the 3.0 level (middle) of the Adjustable Rig and had no scorching.
  • Fidel
    Fidel Posts: 10,172
    Here is what you can do to avoid scorching.

    Use pizza stone on spider for indirect. Don't put your drip pan on the pizza stone - put it on a grid on the fire ring level. Then put the rig on top of that grid, put your ribs on the oval and then on another grid on top of the rig.

    This will keep the bottom of your drip pan from being in contact with the indirect barrier and will minimize if not prevent scorching altogether.

    Oh yea, and foil faster..... :evil:
  • Bacchus
    Bacchus Posts: 6,019
    Maybe I am missing something, still a newbie here.
    Why not just set the AR aside and use the PS? Isnt that how you perfected them before? Are you just looking for a new challenge?
  • Jeffersonian
    Jeffersonian Posts: 4,244
    I admit I foil, but generally for just 45 minutes or so to get the ribs tender...I don't like them mushy, either. I haven't trusted my fire-building skills enough to trust I won't have hot spots that burn spots on the ribs, so I do them indirect. Up to now, it's worked out well, but the dynamic of an 8-slab cook tripped me up last night.
  • Jeffersonian
    Jeffersonian Posts: 4,244
    He's gonna get hisself voted off Egg Island :P
  • Fidel
    Fidel Posts: 10,172
    Eight slabs on one grid could present a bit of a challenge.
  • Jeffersonian
    Jeffersonian Posts: 4,244
    They weren't horrible, and I still managed to choke down 9 or 10 :P I just knew they weren't what they could have been.
  • Jeffersonian
    Jeffersonian Posts: 4,244
    That was the issue...I had five whole slabs on the lower grid, with one whole and two cut slabs on top. I cooked them all in V-racks, so there wasn't vertical space to raise the lower grid to make room for a deeper drip pan. Here was the cook build top to bottom:

    3 slabs of ribs
    V-rack
    18" grid on top of AR
    Adjustable Rig
    5 slabs of ribs
    V-rack
    18" grid
    Spider with 14" drip pan
    Fire ring

    Woulda been nice if I'da taken a picture, no? :(