Just Got Thrown a Nice Rib Curveball...

vb4677

I was planning on doing my first Turbo Butts and my first full packer brisket this next weekend.  Then, the visiting 12 year old niece says she now prefers RIBS over brisket!  Since hardly any of my immediate family doesn't eat anything off of the bone (don't ask...)  I'm jumping all over this one!  Ribs it is!! The pink butcher paper I just ordered will have to wait another week or so...

I also found that I can do the Turbo Ribs at the same 350F that I was gonna Turbo the butts, so I'm hoping to double up on my cook!

I figure I can put the two 8-9 pound butts on my LBGE grid atop the platesetter legs.  And then I've got a DIY bolt grid that's 17" diameter and just about 5" up from the main grid.  Also, I'll have a raised drip pan with all that porky goodness in there...


So, how many racks of ribs (either baby back or spares) do you think I could fit on the top grid?  Think I'll have enough airflow/smokeflow ?

And, has anyone done 2 batches of Turbo Ribs while doing 1 Turbo Butt cook?

Foghorn

You're asking good questions - and so far there don't seem to be good answers.  That means you may be in "Do it and take pictures and tell us how it turns out" land.  

I'll tell you what I know - which may or may not be helpful.

- Someone here has put up to 20 racks of ribs on a large (18") grid.  But you astutely asked about airflow.  On a grid that size I would think 3 racks would be easily doable - especially if you cut one rack in half and put the halves on each end.  Do you have a rib rack so you can stand them in a vertical position.

- On a turbo cook it is extremely important that the rising hot air not be able to directly rise to any of the meat.  At that temp, the underside of the meat can easily get burned very quickly.  This is also true of the radiant heat off the platesetter.  I ruined a couple of racks of turbo ribs one day by not having a small air gap and then a drip pan on top of my platesetter.

- When the egg is fully loaded, don't sweat the exact temp on the dome thermometer as all that cold meat will create a significant gradient between the temp that the bottom meat is seeing and the temp that the thermometer is seeing.  You have to use some judgement based on how the meat is cooking to get an idea.   Or a grate thermometer.  When I've loaded a kamado that full of meat, if I can get the dome temp anywhere above 250 I'm pretty sure I'm cooking at turbo temps - then I look at the meat over the course of 30-60 minutes and confirm it.  

- Doing multiple rib cooks during a turbo butt cook sounds like a good idea to me - but I'm always in favor of more meat...

Mickey

Sounds good and take lots of pictures please. 
My only comment is why the drip pan for the ribs?? All that porky goodness SHOULD drip on the butts! The drip pan could be over the platesetter or replace the platesetter as it will do the same thing. Now if over be sure there is some separation between the two so it will not burn. If you do that aluminum balls work fine. 

SmokeyPitt

I think it depends on the length of the racks. Like Foghorn mentioned you don't want the ribs to be hanging over into the "air stream" too far or those ribs will overcook. I think this is especially true at higher temps. I think I would plan on 2 racks at a time on the top rack. Perhaps one full rack laying down across the center then a half rack on each side. As you mentioned you can always do a couple of batches while the butts cook. You can FTC the ribs or hold them in a low oven. If need be you could use the oven to finish cooking the first batch of ribs (foiled) if you are short on time. While the butts FTC finish the ribs on the egg with sauce if you like. 

vb4677

Thanks gang!  I'll be taking a lot of shots as I do this one...
Should be a fun, porky-goodness time!

vb4677

Mickey said:

Sounds good and take lots of pictures please. 
My only comment is why the drip pan for the ribs?? All that porky goodness SHOULD drip on the butts! The drip pan could be over the platesetter or replace the platesetter as it will do the same thing. Now if over be sure there is some separation between the two so it will not burn. If you do that aluminum balls work fine. 

Just a point of clarity - I'll have the platesetter legs up - then I've sacrificed one of my fire bricks and used 3 good sized pieces to hold up a 16" pizza pan that I use as a drip pan.  This helps me in a couple of ways - the air gap between platesetter and pan, then the 16" circumference raised up a tad pushes the hot air more towards the LBGE's sides so I have less 'hot' areas (or more "cooking space")  
And all this to say the drip pan is to catch the butt's renderings... the ribs will be above the butts.