Rib foiling question

If your trying to keep them warmfor a long time no, but for an hour a so maybe. What I would do is just FTC them. That's what I may do today with mine. I am also going to add butter and brown sugar inside the foil. I've seen this done on Pitmasters and want to try it, but I'm cooking mine turbo method.

Multiple pieces of small meat touching = 1 big piece of meat. It just doesn't work the same. It has to do with surface area to mass ratio, but listen to SGH, and don't do it. Either wrap individually or don't. You've had good results either way, so just go with what worked before

If it ain't broke. . .

What SGH said.         

What would you have gained?  About 20 cents worth of aluminum foil?             

Great ribs won't come quick/easy. The good thing is if your guests are rib novices, even if they're mediocre, they will still be the best things they've ever eaten.

I disagree. It would be easier to tell them that however they come out, that it is exactly perfect and how they should be! :^o

Rather than try to sell you one way or another regarding your method, I will try to answer the question you asked.

If you decide to foil, foiling them all together in one pan will not cause a problem or extend the cooking time.  They will not cook like one piece of meat. 

Although I no longer foil, yes, you can foil in one large pan.  This will make it easier for you, and the ribs will spend less time cooling as they would if you were to try an wrapped each individually.

The steam is what is cooking them primarily, not direct contact with the liquid, so there is no need to rotate them top to bottom during the braise.

Respecting both opinions, I'm more in Seneca's camp. SWMBO likes her ribs ruined, fall off the bone slathered in some sweet/tangy BBQ sauce. She actually prefers crock pot ribs to those done on the egg. Many of our friends are the same, dry ribs with a chew pull off the bone are simply not cooked, in their opinion. 

Brother you said it best. Ruined and mushy is what you usually get and it's made up for with a heavy slather of sauce. If this is the desired end result then the pan trick is the way to go. But short of that it's not. As I said also I'm just not from the foiling camp. Always preferred my ribs straight cooked. Don't care for the mushy ones at all my friends.

The issue of foiled or not is not at question.  The gentleman asked about foiling singly, or all together.

Based on my experience, I related that multiple slabs foiled in a single pan versus each wrapped singly yielded the same results for the same amount of cook time

It is not possible for multiple slabs of ribs in a pan to go mushy in one hour, while a single slab of ribs wrapped by itself, in the same braising liquid, at the same temperatures would not.

For the multiple ribs wrapped in one pan to go mushy, after all, would require them to cook faster than the singly wrapped ribs sharing the same grill, no?

And yet our tiger tony is being told that to wrap them multiply would actually slow their cooking.

So how could they simultaneously cook more slowly if wrapped together in one pan touching, while also turning to mush (by cooking more), in the same hour?

If your point is that foiled ribs can be mushy, I'd agree.  But only when overcooked in the braise. 

But tigertony seems only to be asking if his typical results (mushy or otherwise) will be significantly altered by foiling together vs. singly for the same period of time.

My experience? No.  And certainly not in an hour's time.
But as you have established, my results have been disastrous, and therefore my experience flawed, and advice inaccurate.  I thank you for clarifying that. tonytiger ought not to try something which could save him time and trouble. He can gain nothing from trying something new for himself.  Best to stick to the rules, even though no reasons are given for them. 

I am perhaps out of sorts given a trip cut short, poor weather multiplying the effect (both there and here). Don't mind me.

When I did them this way, I would stay set up indirect for the last hour.  Try direct if you want.  The sauce will gum up quicker than indirect, but you risk scorching if there is a lot of sugar.

TT - depending on what sauce you are finishing with the use of cider+apple juice is a good sweet tangy mix but may not be needed. I've used everything from tap water to a rather not so good leftover white wine with the same results as the juice and vinegar treatment. 

When steaming in a closed environment (foil or covered pan, basically a braising operation), you have food that is cool relative to the boiling point of water.  Water at the bottom will steam, and that steam will condense on the relatively cool food, change phase back to water and return via gravity to the pool at the bottom, once again to steam and condense.  As the water runs down the meat, it will dissolve salt and mechanically wash (like a dishwasher) the surfaces.  Having a tall stack versus a single stack may increase the dishwasher effect, but since most will sauce and cook direct as a final step, this may not make a difference in the final product.

Braising is a combination of steaming and dry heat, that ratio will also change depending on how you package the contents of your foil.  But will it make a difference?  Probably not over the course of the entire 3-1-1 process.

Those ribs look disastrous brother!!! ) )