Smoked baby back ribs for the first time on the Weber 22" kettle yesterday. (Normally use a BGE) Overall I was happy with the results but the ribs weren't cooked as evenly as I would have liked. Cooked three racks standing on edge in a rib rack. I think i should have maybe flipped and rotated them mid cook but didn't want to disrupt the temperature. Temp was holding steady at 225-250.
Is it normal to need to rotate my ribs?
Weber Kettle 22"
Slow n Sear
Maverick ET-733
Kingsford Professional briquets
The higher in the kettle you go, the higher the temp will be. And the closer to the charcoal you get, the higher the temp will be. When I use a rib rack, I flip top to bottom, and switch places for ribs 1 and 3.
Geekandproud, Like RonB Said Above You Have To Manage Your Cookâ—ï¸ You May Also Want To Consider Adding A Drip and Griddle by AdrenalineBBQCo to Your S 'n S, Weber Combinationâ—ï¸ IMLTHOP, The Drip and Griddle Is the Single Most Important Thing In Temp Control in A Weber Kettle Next to Dry Charcoal‼ï¸
Eat Well and Prosperâ—ï¸ From a Backyard Cremator in Fargo ND, Dan
Interesting. How does the Drip n Griddle help with temperature control? I've only had the Weber a short time but my greatest challenge so far has been temp control. That's why I didn't mess with my ribs yesterday, because I was so happy that I wasn't having temp issues.
Geekandproud, The Drip and Griddle Covers All the Area on the Coal Grate Between the S 'n S and the Kettle Sidesâ—ï¸ This Causes All of Air From the Lower Vents To Pass Through The S 'n S Providing Fire and Temp Control, IMLTHOPâ€¼ï¸ Contact @ABCBBQDAVE , Owner of AdrenalineBBQCo for More Infoâ—ï¸ Dan
If you don't want to buy the DnG, you can wrap the exposed portion of the charcoal grate with foil. Another option would be to have someone cut you a circle from an ss sheet. Then cut off the section that would be under the SnS. 18.25" is just about the right diameter if I remember correctly.
I do exactly what RonB said, and if I have one rack that is smaller than the others it'll go in the middle. I need to get me some fancier gloves that can handle hot and sticky meat, last time I flipped and rotated with tongs the ribs were more done than I expected and started to tear a bit.
Perfect, that's what I need @RonB... that, and some more Weber briquettes for $12/bag from Lowes, I'm nearly out and get panic attacks when that happens! :P
Hi, my name is Darrell. I'm an OTR truck driver for over 25 years. During my off time I love doing backyard cooks. I have a 48" Lang Deluxe smoker, Rec-Tec pellet smoker,1 Weber Genesis 330, 1 Weber Performer (blue), 2 Weber kettles (1 black and 1 Copper), 1 26" Weber kettle, a WSM, 8 Maverick Redi Chek thermometers, a PartyQ, 2 SnS, Grill Grates, Cast Iron grates, 1 ThermoPop (orange) and 2 ThermoPens (pink and orange) and planning on adding more cooking accessories. Now I have an Anova sous vide, the Dragon blower and 2 Chef alarms from Thermoworks.
If you can squeeze them in without using a rib rack, do that. Otherwise, as has already been stated, you'll need to do some maneuvering. You should have been able to squeeze 3 baby back slabs on the grate, although you may have needed to cut one slab in half in order to Tetris all of the slabs on the rack and still cook indirect.
If not cooking outdoors, I am cooking on the stovetop with my 14" carbon steel wok, 12" CI skillet, or in the oven with my two Lodge CI pizza pans, or two dutch ovens. I've also got a nifty Lodge carbon steel grill pan that rocks for veggies outdoors.
I always cook 3 slabs of ribs at a time, as that is what comes in the packs I buy at Sam's or Costco. I've found that I need to flip the slabs of ribs end to end about halfway through the cook (2 hours or so). As others have said, there is a big temperature gradient from the grate to the lid of the Weber kettle, and the edge that is closer to the dome cooks faster. I usually also rotate the inner and outer slabs - I use a Weber rack, and leave a space between the slabs of ribs, so swap the position of the slab closest to the coals and farthest, at the same time I flip them all end to end.
As others said, cooking flat on the grate will lead to more even results, but that is not really an option for 3 slabs of ribs on a 22" kettle with a device like the SNS taking up 1/3 of the grilling space.
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