Beef Back Ribs on Weber Performer

[Alabama Smoke]

Some of you might remember I purchased a nice Performer, 2 years old last Christmas. Because of my work time frame during the recent tax season (I am the owner of a local CPA firm specializing in taxes), I have not even had time to use it yet!! That is to change tomorrow, as I plan to smoke some beef back ribs on the performer with the SnS Deluxe.

I have always cooked these ribs on my Jumbo Joe, so I do have some knowledge as to how to cook them, but my real question is the best way to obtain and maintain approximately 250 F at grate level for the 8 to 9 hours I expect it to take.

On the JJ, a full load of charcoal in the SnS basket will run approximately 6 hours. With bottom vent just cracked and the top vent approx. half open, I can achieve the wanted temp range for that 6 hours.

So.....I am looking for information and suggestions as to how much charcoal to use in the SnS Deluxe and best approach to lighting the coals. Should it be loaded to the gills, or would that just make me have a hard time with the temps? Half a load of charcoal across the entire SnS? How many charcoals in the chimney to dump into the SnS?

Dump coals on one end of SnS on top of unlit or under the un lit coals?

My purpose in asking is not to try to save charcoal. I am looking for the best way for the cook to last for at least 9 hours, if needed and to achieve the kettle temp of approx 250F and no higher than 275F.

Experienced comments and suggestions are requested and will be much appreciated!

Tom

[Redwng]

The way I have done it on my Performer is similar to what you have done on the JJ. Per the SnS website I start with 12-15 briquettes in the Weber chimney until they ash and then put them in a corner of the SnS basket and fill the rest with briquettes. I will put some smoking wood on top and put the lid on top. When the cooker internal temps gets to 190-200 I start cutting down the bottom vent to about 3/8 open and the top vent at 1/2. It will get to about 250 pretty quick but I only get 6-7 hours cook time at 250. I do use the Smoke to monitor temps at grate level.

Let us know how you get along....with pics of course.

[Alabama Smoke]

Thanks Redwng for those pointers. I have some Weber charcoal that I am hoping will extend my cook time enough that I will not have to reload. But if I do, so what. One point of clarification please. Do you normally put the fresh hot coal from the chimney into a bottom corner or do you add them on top of the unlit coals in the SnS? I think you put them in before adding any unlit coals to the SnS, but am trying to be sure I understand. Thanks again, Tom

[cgrover60]

I have had good luck with skipping the chimey altogether. I light a weber cube in the corner of the SNS and pile 12 coals over and around it. Once those are ashed over I fill up the SNS and then pretty much follow the warm up to temp vent settings Redwng mentions above.

[Troutman]

+1, low and slow for back ribs

[Alabama Smoke]

Thanks cgrover60 for the comments. That is the way I start my Jumbo Joe, except I fill the basket first then simply move 3 or 4 coals in the corner (the JJ basket it much smaller and less deep, light them with a cube then drop the unlit coals back on top of them.

[jfmorris]

Tom,

As you know I have a Performer Deluxe and the SNS and while I've not smoked beef ribs, I've smoked a lot of stuff on it.

For me to smoke around 250F on the Performer, I pretty much follow the SNS lighting instructions, lighting about a dozen briquettes either in a chimney or in a little pile over the gas ignition on the Performer. Once I am ready to smoke, I use tongs or a charcoal scoop to pile these up in the corner of the SNS, as tightly into that corner as possible, from top to bottom, and then fill in the rest with unlit charcoal, and add 3 to 4 wood chunks across the top. I then put a quart of hot water in the SNS, and install the cooking grate, and DNG if using it as a drip pan.

Assuming you are not using a temp controller, what I do then is let the top and bottom vent run wide open until the dome thermometer hits 200F or so, knowing that the grate level is lower (usually about 75 lower). I then set the top vent to about 1/3, and the bottom vent to about 1/2 to 1/3 open (I've memorized the position needed as having the lever between the 2nd and 3rd holes on the ash sweep mechanism on my model Performer).

This tends to let it creep up to 325 to 350 on the dome thermometer, which my Smoke says is 250 to 275 at the grate. If its too hot, just a touch on the top or bottom vent is usually enough to damp it down.

What I have found is that over the course of a few hours, the dome thermometer and grate level thermometer approach each other, but that is usually only on really long smokes.

With Weber charcoal smoking at 225 to 250, I see cook times around 12 hours on a load.

[Alabama Smoke]

jfmorris Jim, thanks for those detailed instructions. It seems everyone is doing essentially the same thing, with methodology slightly different to obtain the same result..

[Alabama Smoke]

Folks, I just thought of a completely different question!! First, my JJ has no dome thermometer so I had not thought about placement. Weber installs their dome unit directly opposite the top vent. Now I know I want the vent over the meat on the cool side. That places the thermometer directly over the SnS.

I will be using my Smoke to watch cooking and meat temps, but I wonder if I should worry about that dome unit being destroyed directly over the SnS?? I guess if it is, so what I am more interested in my ribs than that dome unit but what do all of you do with that?

[jfmorris]

Tom, the dome thermometer will be just fine. When smoking, the temp of the dome for me usually runs about 75 degrees hotter than the grate for the first few hours of the cook. I've also pegged that dome thermometer at 550-600 degrees when doing wood fired pizza on the kettle, and never damaged it.

[jfmorris]

Also, remember the SNS is still below grate level, and although heat rises, its not like you are putting that bimetal thermometer right into the fire. The fire itself is just smoldering across the SNS for that matter.

[Alabama Smoke]

Jim, thanks for the reassurance. I figured it would be ok, even if I have to read it upside down! Assuming I place the SnS directly across from me which seems a good place for it. Where do you put yours (and remember I do not have gas assist).

[jfmorris]

Tom because I drilled a fan hole on my Performer in front, when using the fan I put the SNS in the back, and the vent in the front. Like you say, it means the dome thermometer is rotated away from you. If I am not using the fan controller, I put the SNS in the front, so that I can have the vent at the back and nor blowing smoke in my face.

[Alabama Smoke]

Happened to be looking over old posts I have made and noticed I never got back on my first attempt on the performer. There is somewhat of a learning curve between it and the JJ, why I am not sure. For one thing it takes the larger kettle about three times as long as the JJ to get temps up...........lesson start earlier! The beef ribs were tough, but I think it was just not a good cut of ribs as I got them to a little over 200 at temps between 250 and 275. They were not too pretty either. Over all a disappointment as a result I never took pics, also honestly I forgot to do so. Since then, I have smoked burgers as well as wings (different cooks), forgot to take pics, but I am getting the learning curve finally. Those wings were great. Pics next time I promise!

[Razor]

I know it’s an old post, but since you brought it back up , I’ve pretty much ditched the baskets all together and now use the snake method on the charcoal grate around the parameter of the kettle. Two wide by two high. I know this won’t be a popular opinion but I’ve have had much better luck controlling temps that way than using any type of basket, Weber or SnS.

[Polarbear777]

…and while I've not smoked beef ribs….

Well, this statement is clearly something that needs to be remedied ASAP!

[jfmorris]

I've done plenty of "kalbi" or flanken style beef ribs, which are short ribs cut across the bone about 1/2 inch thick. But those are grilled hot and fast, not smoked... in fact, there are some in the freezer, calling out to be cooked soon!