Grate temperature

[Oak Smoke]

I’m cooking a bunch of spare ribs next weekend for my birthday get together. I bought the grill expander for Ceramic Grill Store last week and intend to use it in my Big Joe in hopes of getting 5 racks of spare ribs on it at once. My normal set up is with the cooking racks in the highest position with the ceramic deflector on the very bottom setting and one of the round stainless drip catchers from Ceramic Grill Store sitting on top of it to keep all the drippings out of the cooker. Here’s where I lack experience. I’m not sure how much raising a grate into the dome increases the temperature. The new expander is 5 inches tall. There are two ways I can set this up. The first is placing the normal cooking rack on the lowest level which is about 2 inches above the drip catcher and heat deflector with the expander setting on it the top of the expander will be about 2 inches above where the top level normally is and the bottom rack will be about 3 inches below where I normally smoke. With this set up I have no idea what’s temps to expect as neither rack will be where I normal run the smoker. The second possibility is to place the bottom rack in the top position, where I usually have it, and place the expander on to of it. That will give me the bottom rack at the level I am used to running it and the expander rack 5 inches above it in the dome. I like to cook ribs at around 250 F. With the first set up I will have 1 rack lower than usual and one higher than usual with the bottom rack only about 2 inches above the deflector. With the second set up there will be 1 rack where I usually have it and 1 rack 5 inches higher in the dome. I haven’t made up my mind if I want to go with both racks in positions I’ve never smoked at or have 1 where I know what will work and the other 5 inches above it. It’s my understanding that the higher I go in the dome the hotter it will be, 5 inches seems like a lot. I know we have several Kamado users here. I need your thoughts and experiences. I don’t want to mess up that many ribs or my somewhat fragile reputation.

[RonB]

I know you already bought something, but how about this. It would allow you to cook where you are used to cooking. All you need to do is flip the racks top to bottom about half way through.

[HawkerXP]

or this. Up to 8 racks......

[hoovarmin]

Beat me to it. I have a Big Joe III, but it won't beat the performance of the PBC for multiple racks of ribs.