My wife has invited several people over this Saturday and has asked me to cook up some baby back ribs. I've never done a full 8 rack cook. Questions: will this affect cooking time? If so, how much longer should I plan for?
Gear includes: Char-Griller's Grand Champ off set stick burner/smoker, SnS Kamado Deluxe, Weber 22, PBC, Victory gasser, Smoke Hollow electric smoker. ThermoWorks Thermapen Mk4, Smoke, Signals, Meater+, SNS-500, roti fits 22 n gasser, Emeril countertop TO, InkBird Sous Vide, Potane Vac/Sealer. Fire&Ice griddle/cooler ensemble.
Just got into charcoal Dec ‘21 (PBC)
fav is brisky. Love Turkey on PBC. also Turkey in the glass,(any nice bourbon)
Bud has always been my barley pop.
Been smoking a handful of years, just got serious in the last year. Thanks to AR n @glemn picked up an SnS Kamado for appx 1/3 price of new. I dont think he used it twice. Love AR! keep calm n smoke on! Miss you Bonesy.
Depends on what kind of cooker and what method of cooking the varying racks - I have used some rib racks in the past, if it keeps the ribs TOO close together, it will definitely slow down the cook and they could be uneven from rack to rack and even the center vs. edges of each rack. May require some rotating and flipping, etc.
Gear includes: Char-Griller's Grand Champ off set stick burner/smoker, SnS Kamado Deluxe, Weber 22, PBC, Victory gasser, Smoke Hollow electric smoker. ThermoWorks Thermapen Mk4, Smoke, Signals, Meater+, SNS-500, roti fits 22 n gasser, Emeril countertop TO, InkBird Sous Vide, Potane Vac/Sealer. Fire&Ice griddle/cooler ensemble.
Just got into charcoal Dec ‘21 (PBC)
fav is brisky. Love Turkey on PBC. also Turkey in the glass,(any nice bourbon)
Bud has always been my barley pop.
Been smoking a handful of years, just got serious in the last year. Thanks to AR n @glemn picked up an SnS Kamado for appx 1/3 price of new. I dont think he used it twice. Love AR! keep calm n smoke on! Miss you Bonesy.
Oops. Yeah I just look at stuff on the main page, I didn't see this was in a PBC section. My bad. I don't have anything to contribute, I guess, since I have never used one. Once again, my apologies for not looking at what section this was in.
8 racks shouldn't be an issue or impact timing much
My only suggestion would be to make sure the coals are well lit before hanging the ribs and monitor the temp at the beginning. That many ribs shouldn't cause a problem but when I use a full barrel, I find that the dripping fat could snuff out some of the lit charcoal at the beginning, so you just need to keep an eye on it to make sure you are getting the coals lit.
Provided you keep the temps up, I don't think the cook time will be impacted much
It's been a couple of years, but I did 6 racks in the PBC once. I think I let the chimney go for an extra couple minutes longer than normal to make sure I had plenty of heat to start since 6 cold racks of ribs was a lot of thermal mass. I didn't have any real issues that I remember. As long as the drum temp stays in the normal range, it should be ok. Just space the racks as best as you can without having them touching each other or the sides of the drum. For what it's worth, I try to hang ribs that are close to the sides so that the bone side is facing the outside of the drum. I feel like the sides of the drum are hotter than the middle due to the convection that is generated. Or I could be off my meds. Not sure which it is. I don't have any hard data, but my memory is that I was able to keep the drum running around 250 -275 or so and it took about 4 to 4.5 hours.
I hope it all works out. Sounds like my kind of party!
As shify mentioned above--- I don't have a PBC but I did do 7 racks on a Bronco. The first hour was a fight because of the drippings. The fire would snuff and then spike. I just had to be nearby to monitor and work the vents. It settled into a purr after an 60-70 minutes.
I have smoked 8 racks on my PBC once before, 4 racks hanging from each rebar. Yes they touched somewhat here and there but I did place them as evenly apart as I was able. Due to the fact that almost every sq. inch of cooking space was taken I rotated the racks around during the cook once or twice. Also, you will notice a ton of moisture dripping onto the coals so load the charcoal to the gills.
Again, due to the moisture, don't try to cook to slowly. I would be sure to get a good lighting going on the coals, then just let her do her thing on the temp but watch for a possible need to crack the lid if the temp starts down.
I did not notice much difference in the time required. Temp will be your main factor, which will of course be impacted by the excess moisture. Enjoy, they will be great!
Ditto on shify ! Just did 4 full racks untrimmed. Slight problem was not havin a fully lit load of coals, so took a tad (hour) longer. Watch yer coals also, you might have to partially reload over halfway thru cook.
I've done 6 racks, yes, definitely rotate them every so often to share any hot spots. I use the toothpick probe to test for doneness and found some done at least a half hour before the last ones. Good luck!
I've done 8 racks on my PBC. It did take an extra hour or so. I've also stopped hanging full racks as the bottom few bones end up over cooked and dry. I bought extra hooks so I can hang 1/2 racks.
My 8 rack cook turned out to be 6 racks as some folks bailed on coming. Their loss, I'd say. Swift Baby Backs from Costco. They cooked quickly, done in two hours. I use the DigiQ fan system to control temps - set at 290. Ambient probe in center of barrel surrounded by ribs. Here are some pics. As Alan Brice said, "pics or it did not happen".
I am about to cook 6 racks of St. Louis Ribs on my PBC. I see you had one hook per rack of ribs on some of yours. I was worried that one hook might not hold the racks up as they cook but yours came out. Any issues with the single hook?
My toys:
Weber Summit Charcoal Grilling Center (WSCGC) aka Mr. Fancypants
Pit Barrel Cooker (which rocks), named Pretty Baby
Weber Summit S650 Gas Grill, named Hot 'n Fast (used mostly for searing and griddling)
Weber Kettle Premium 22" named Kettle Kid, eager to horn in with more cooks in the future
Camp Chef Somerset IV 4-burner outdoor gas range named AfterBurner due to its 30kBTU burners
Adrenaline BBQ Company Gear:
SnS Low Profile, DnG, and Large Charcoal Basket, for WSCGC
SnS Deluxe for 22" Kettle
Elevated SS Rack for WSCGC
SS Rack for DnG
Cast Iron Griddle
Grill Grate for SnS
Grill Grates: five 17.375 sections (retired to storage)
Grill Grates: six 19.25 panels for exact fit for Summit S650
gasser
Grill Grates for 22" Kettle
2 Grill Grate Griddles
Steelmade Griddle for Summit gas grill
Fireboard Gear:
Extreme BBQ Thermometer Package
Additional control unit
Additional probes: Competition Probes 1" (3) and 4" (1), 3 additional Ambient Probes. 1 additional Food Probe
2 Driver Cables
Pit Viper Fan (to pair with Fireboard Fan Driver Cable)
Pit Viper Fan new design (to pair with Fireboard Fan Driver Cable)
Thermoworks Gear:
Thermapen MK4 (pink)
Thermapen Classic (pink too)
Thermoworks MK4 orange
Temp Test 2 Smart Thermometer
Extra Big and Loud Timer
Timestick Trio
Maverick ET 73 a little workhorse with limited range
Maverick ET 733
Maverick (Ivation) ET 732
Grill Pinz
Vortex (two of them)
18" drip pan for WSCGC
Ceramic Spacers for WSCGC in Kamado Mode: 2 sets each 1/2", 1", 2". The 2" spacers work best with the 18" drip pan. The 1+1/2 inch spacers work best with the 14 inch cake pan.
Two Joule Sous Vide devices
3 Lipavi Sous Vide Tubs with Lids: 12, 18 and 26 quarts
Avid Armor Ultra Pro V32 Chamber Sealer
Instant Pot 6 Quart Electric Pressure Cooker
Instant Pot 10 Quart Electric Pressure Cooker
Charcoal Companion TurboQue
A-Maze-N tube 12 inch tube smoker accessory for use with pellets
BBQ Dragon and Dragon Chimney
Shun Classic Series:
8" Chef Knife
6" Chef's Knife
Gokujo Boning and Fillet Knife
3 1/2 inch Paring Knife
Wow, a 2 hour rib cook at 290° PBC temp. Pretty impressive. I don't think I've ever seen this, or experienced it. My shortest babyback cook was 3 hours at 290° PBC temp.
That PBC and you must both have been in top cooking form! Congrats!
I'm thinking the short cook time was related to temperature difference between the center of the barrel where my probe was, and the sides of the barrel. I hang the probe down centrally by a shorter piece of rebar suspended perpendicular over the rebar where I hang the ribs. I do not have a probe by the wall of the drum. I use the DigiQ and Pit Viper fan system from BBQ Guru to maintain and monitor temps. I was expecting 3 - 3.5 hours. Just my guess as to why it was a fast cook.
I agree, I bet the temp near the outside of the cooking chamber was a good bit hotter - to get done in 2, it had to be. The question is, how did they taste? Not too tough after just a 2h cook?
Comment