Ribs: How many is too many on a large?

cbegg

Usually only cook three racks but I need to cook 12 racks tomorrow.  Usually cook for 4.5 hours on 250, no foil, no looking. Would like to limit the number of "cooks" tomorrow to two. With the setup in the pics I can arrange 7 racks. Thoughts? 

Ragtop99

Is that a rib rack holding up the second grill?  One solution is to use that and turn them sideways. 
If you get six in the rack, that's two cooks.  Get some bolts to raise the second grid higher and use a second rib rack.  Being up in the dome you may not be able to fit full slabs.

cbegg

Its more of a rack to keep a roast up and out of a pan but looks like it could work like you suggest. The racks will be touching one another, that ok?

Ragtop99

They'll only be touching in a couple places, so it's no big deal.

See this example (not from an egg but same concept):

cbegg

How much more time should I expect them to take with 6 racks? If any, thanks for your help!

lousubcap

Looks like you could flip that roast rack upside down and use to keep your racks close to vertical as suggested by @Ragtop99.  Depending on how many you could get with that, then use the second grate to get you to six/load.  FWIW- Cook time should be about the same as with fewer racks given the same temperature as you are familiar with.  Toothpick test (in and out with no resistance in the thick part of the rib) is a great finish indicator as is the bend test.  But the bend may be a bit of challenge with the quantity of ribs.  Good luck-it will turn out just fine.

mdozier

Why not put a few racks on the bottom grate then more on the extender in the middle then stack the roast rack on top also filled? You may be able to squeeze more than you think. If you can minimize contact more racks don't necessarily take longer.

cbegg

Thanks again everyone, appreciate your time! Hope to get some pics on here tomorrow.

Chubbs

Someone will post the pic--- someone put like 20 racks in a large at one time.

njl

The trouble is, a full rack is usually about as long as the egg is wide...so I'd be surprised if you could arrange many full racks on the lower grid, even using a rib rack to stand them up.  If you did a couple (2-3) full racks standing up, and then arranged as many half racks as would fit in the remaining space, and then a second level (where I doubt you'd fit any full racks), I can see getting maybe as many as 8 full racks worth into a LG without having to get crazy creative.

Someone needs to design a "rib tree" that would maximize the number of half racks you could fit in egg with minimal or no overlap.  This is one place where the egg really does kind of fall short.  There's just not enough easily usable space inside...and it makes the Primo oval shaped units seem like a great idea.

R2Egg2Q

Here's the 20 racks post: http://eggheadforum.com/discussion/62119/20-racks-of-ribs

The thread doesn't give a lot of details as to how he (someone named Wil but shows up in the thread as Unknown) set up the cook. Can't see the platesetter and would imagine there'd be some burning from the direct heat coming around the platesetter. I would think the bark wouldn't be quite as good as doing a smaller number but I'm not about to try to copy that cook.

cbegg - Is that one of roaster racks to you can turn over and use as a rib rack?

cbegg

R2..I dont think it was designed for that purpose because the bars along the bottom don't allow the racks to slide thru. This was a make shift idea I had in a pinch. Definetly need to invest in something meant to hold the ribs vertically. 

sumoconnell

One word....turbo!