First Ribs

Cornbread Willy

Made my first batch of 3-1-1 ribs yesterday (3 racks). They were so good they made me want to stand up and slap my mama (which I didn't do, of course)! Seriously, they were absolutely awesome - wish some were left over for breakfast. Anyway, since I don't have all my accessories yet, I rigged a second level with a grid and some beer cans over my drip pan and was able to indirect the 6 half racks on that. My question is this - how many racks are reasonably possible to do on a large BGE? I was using a vertical rack to place the ribs thru the first 2 stages, but I feel like I would have been hard-pressed to fit any more. Any suggestions or should I just quit inviting people over and hoard the ribs for my own enjoyment? Thanks!

Unknown

Cornbread Willy,[p]There can be confusion over the term "rack." I buy pork back ribs from Sam's Club, where they come vacuum packed, with three "racks" to the package. I cooked six of these racks on my large BGE this weekend, using a two level setup, and could have easily fit another two or three racks.

Bordello

Mister J,
Did you cook em direct or????? I have one slab of spares to cook.
Thanks,
New Bob

JSlot

Cornbread Willy,[p]I believe what Mr. J is talking about are baby back ribs. I don't do 'em so I can't give you an idea on quantity. However, if you are doing spare ribs, I can be of service. I also buy my spareribs at Sam's and they usually come the same way with three slabs to a package. I cut them in half which gives me six half slabs. Five of these fit vertically in my rack with the extra one leaning against the side of the others. BTW, I cut the chine portion everything below the knuckle) off of the ribs and cook that separately. I routinely feed 10 people with that amount and usually have leftovers. When feeding more, I just do two batches in a row. One extra tip- when buying ribs at Sam's, ask someone in the meat department for the case price on the ribs. It is usually 20%-30% cheaper than buying individual packages. Enjoy!!!![p]Keep the smoke risin',
Jim

Unknown

New Bob,[p]Yes, I cooked them indirect. I had to improvise - I had a bunch of people coming over, and a bunch of ribs to cook, and at first I didn't know how I was going to fit them all on the egg.[p]I took out the fire ring and put an inverted plate setter on top of it. I put the grate on top of the inverted plate setter, and put an inverted "V" rack on top of the grate. I loaded up the "V" rack with ribs.[p]Then (and this part will be kind of hard to explain without a picture) I attached a grill extender (or whatever the thing is called - it is just another grate on legs) to the inverted V rack by wedging the legs of the grill extender into the ends of the inverted V rack.[p]On top of the grill extender, I put a rib rack, and filled it with ribs.[p]Only thing to be careful about is to not put too much lump in the firebox, because if it is too close to the plate setter it won't burn well.[p]I'm sure there are others here who have much better setups/advice, but this is the best I could come up with in a panic, and the ribs turned out great.

Bordello

Mister J,
Your very creative, there is just no end to what eggers will come up with. How long did the ribs take to cook???
Thanks,
New Bob

Unknown

New Bob,[p]I cooked them about 3.5 - 4.0 hours at 250. I used Cat's rub, which I have used several times in the past. Tasty.

Rumrunner

Cornbread Willy,
Those beer cans were EMPTY, I hope ???!!!!

Cornbread Willy

rumrunner,
...safely drained by me the evening before while egging a turkey breast...