"Tons" of ribs!

Steve-O

I did my first cook of ribs yesterday to celebrate the 4th and the first four weeks of having our large BGE. And thanks to the information gathered here on this forum and from Tim M's website, the ribs came out great! When cooking for lots of people I always error on the side of caution and tend to prepare too much food. We were feeding ten people, so I cooked about 20lbs of spare ribs indirect over my new plate setter. And yes, there were some left overs which I will just have to eat myself! As I began to load up the rib rack, I suddenly realized that it would only hold about half of the slabs I had cut up for cooking - I hadn't thought that through very well. Fortunately I was able to lean the other slabs against the sides of the rack, but could barely close the dome without pinching those outside ribs in between the top and bottom. When it was time to turn them every 30 minutes I moved everything around to make sure the ribs were all exposed to the same amount of heat over the cooking time. One thing I noticed was how long it took for the dome temp to rise up to 350 degrees with the plate setter in use. It took all of 45 minutes. Once there, I had no trouble holding it, but I hadn't realized how much the plate setter would affect the dome temps. One mistake I made was in not using a large enough drip pan, so my new plate setter is a MESS. Any suggestions for cleaning it would be appreciated. I have read that the pizza stone is never to be washed, so I am guessing that the same applies to the plate setter. Thanks for all of the information and suggestions here on this forum - you guys are great!

Chuck

Steve-O,[p]I have cranked the egg up to 600* with my plate setter in it to get it clean. Burns everything off it. You may want to put some foil on it the next time you do a "messy" cook. I always foil mine for jerky, butts and whatever else might drip all over it. Sounds like you had some great ribs though.[p]Chuck <><

Shelby

Steve-O,
First, you don't need to put the plate setter in while the egg heats up. Once started, set the vents and let the egg come to temp and then add the plate setter, drip pan, etc.
I came to realize that the plate setter is not going to stay nice and white. Heating it up to 600 should burn off some of the stuff. And since it's that hot, might as well do a pizza too! Whatever you do, don't wash it.

Unknown

Steve-O, great job - what was the cooking time at 350 degrees?

Steve-O

Bully,
They were on for a little over 4 hours total. The first three hours+ were at 350. When I turned them the 5th or 6th time they were beginning to fall of the bone, so I dropped the temp to 300 and let them go another hour mopping them with BBQ sause while the beans finished up in the kitchen oven. Next time I do this I hope to have a small egg to go along with our large so I can do the beans on the small while the ribs are roasting in the large.egg, or at least I hope I have the presense of mind to prepare the beans ahead of time so I can smoke them on our large before starting the ribs.