Smoking Baby Backs and Beef Back Ribs at the same time

[btuckertx]

My wife loves beef ribs, so I bought a large bone-in rib roast and cut off the bones, leaving a generous amount of meat. She doesn't like pork ribs so I don't bother cooking them. However, it occurred to me maybe I could cook both of them at the same time with my pellet grill/smoker. So now I'm wondering what that looks like - temperature and cooking time. Anybody have any experience with this or thoughts?

[ItsAllGoneToTheDogs]

At 225-250 Start the beef ribs 2-3 hours before the pork, if super meaty pork ribs then only 1-2 hours early for the beef. Worst case the beef ribs will benefit from a wrapped hold if they finish much earlier than the pork.

[Huskee]

Beef back ribs, which essentially are what's trimmed from a beef rib loin, cook in nearly the same amount of time as pork ribs at least in my personal experiences, 5 to 7 hrs. (Beef short ribs, the thick little guys, take longer). Obviously this depends on the thicknesses of each, so YMMV. Beefies, if they get done quicker, hold well faux cambro style. If you're cooking them on your offset you're fine. If you're stacking some above the others, you may want the beef up top, so a sweeter pork rub doesn't drip on the beef. IMO the savory peppery rub of beef is better dripping on pork than the other way around.

[realdocBBQ]

I agree the beef back ribs cook pretty closely in time to the pork ribs. I'd do them with a wrap, as I've found beef back ribs will get a little chewy due to their lower amount of meat and fat. They can dry out if you overdo them. They still have a decent amount of meat between them. I do them about 3 hours open, then wrap in foil for an hour or so. Usually with porkies at this point they're about falling apart so I remove them from the foil for another 30-60 minutes on the smoker to get some substance back, but the beef ribs I'd just pull at that point and leave them in the wrap, or maybe vent them 10-15 minutes, then wrap back up and let them hold a little while. They're good stuff.

[Jfrosty27]

I do this now and then on my Recteq. As noted above, just start the beef ribs sooner. I always do the beef plate ribs. They take 7-9 hrs. I start them around 7-8:00 AM. Then put the pork ribs (Usually back ribs) on about 11-12:00. I run the cooker at 250. If the beef is dome early, it holds really well until the pork is done.

[johnec00]

When we do "ribs" its always at least one rack each of beef back ribs and pork baby backs. Usually put the beef on about an hour before the baby backs and smoke hanging in the PBC or the vertical propane smoker at about 275º. We like the flavor of the meat, so we go light on rubs and serve sauce on the side.

As to the beef backs, skip the cryovaced at the big box stores, we wait until Publix has boneless ribeye steaks on sale, then get the meat cutter to get us a couple of full racks cut from the rib eyes. The nice person will leave a nice hunk of meat that way.

Here's a post from years ago on the differences in beef back ribs

https://pitmaster.amazingribs.com/forum/the-pit-mastery-program/beef-steak-brisket-roasts-prime-rib-etc/517622-beef-back-ribs-the-bad-and-the-good

[captainlee]

I've been experiencing that holding ribs really doesn't matter. So whatever is done first simply hold in warming oven and no stress.

[bbqLuv]

Great question. I have never done this, so a quick internet search for the timing of each.

Beef Back ribs smoked at 225'F take about 6-8 hours and are done at an internal temperature of 205'F

Pork baby back ribs smoked at 225'F take about 5-6 hours and are done at an internal temperature of 205'F

It appears the start time for the BB ribs is about one hour after the beef ribs.

The rest for each will allow them to be ready together.

Looking forward to your review
Thank you in advance.

[btuckertx]

When we do "ribs" its always at least one rack each of beef back ribs and pork baby backs. Usually put the beef on about an hour before the baby backs and smoke hanging in the PBC or the vertical propane smoker at about 275º. We like the flavor of the meat, so we go light on rubs and serve sauce on the side.

As to the beef backs, skip the cryovaced at the big box stores, we wait until Publix has boneless ribeye steaks on sale, then get the meat cutter to get us a couple of full racks cut from the rib eyes. The nice person will leave a nice hunk of meat that way.

Here's a post from years ago on the differences in beef back ribs
https://pitmaster.amazingribs.com/fo...d-and-the-good

Thanks! That's exactly what I did. Being a retired meat cutter, I bought a bone-in rib roast and cut off the ribs with a hefty portion of meat on them. I'll just salt and pepper the beef.

I'll get a picture of the beef ribs when we're ready to cook next weekend. They look a lot like the 'good ribs' in the post.

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Finally cooked them last Tuesday, the 25th, and the results were pretty good IMHO...

Smear of yellow mustard to hold the rub, which was Morton's Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper. I cut the baby backs in half for no particular reason. Put the beef back ribs in the Weber SmokeFire at about 9:30 a.m., 225 degrees, hickory pellets. Added the baby backs an hour later. The pork ribs were done about 2 hours later than the beef, probably because I put the beef on the top rack and the pork on the bottom - again no particular reason but next time I'll do them on the same rack.

My wife described her beef ribs as "fiercely delicious", which is a compliment she hasn't used before in the 47 years we've been together. So, I'm happy.







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Thanks to everybody for the great advice!