3 BBR on a 22" Weber?

[Tim Clark]

In a couple of days I'm meeting a couple who have been hiking the Appalachian Trail southbound since June. Needless to say, they've been eating a lot of questionable food along the way so one of the things I want to cook for them is some ribs. So, here's the dilemma. I've got 3 BBR about 3 pounds each in the freezer. I need to cook them all on my 22" Weber with the Sns. I've got a Weber rib rack which I find almost useless but may come in handy for this. Mostly I've found the rack doesn't work for SLC ribs but maybe for these it'll work. In any case 3 racks is a lot for a 22". Any advise on how to get the best results with this amount of ribs would be appreciated.

[Huskee]

You could try coiling them into circles and pin the ends together to hold them with skewers or even toothpicks. Pit Boss has a pic doing several racks of ribs done this way. Then you're taking advantage of the height in the kettle instead of only flat grate space.

[fuzzydaddy]

You are doing a great thing! I don't have David Parrish's photo handy, but I know he cooked several racks on his kettle and SnS by coiling them into a circle and securing them with wood skewers.

I'm slow to complete this post, so Huskee beat me. Haha!

[Tim Clark]

Not quite sure how that would work. Wouldn't you wind up having a lot of the ribs surface hidden from the heat and smoke? I'd like to see pics of how that was done.

[Huskee]

I'm slow to complete this post, so Huskee beat me. Haha!

[fuzzydaddy]

You're so funny!

[Huskee]

Tim Clark Coil them, pin them and stand them on end like a big meaty beer coozy. The most you'd have to do is maybe rotate them once or twice and flip them halfway through. I'm sure Pit Boss will be around soon to share his pic.

[Tim Clark]

Thanks! It'll be an interesting cook that's for sure. May be about 15 degrees when I do it with starving hikers waiting for the ribs to be done. Plus, one of them is from Texas and, even though they may be brain dead from the hike, they'll probably still have a memory of what good ribs taste like.

[fuzzydaddy]

I found 2 pics posted by Pit Boss.

​

[Tim Clark]

Thanks fuzzydaddy. For some reason your links aren't showing up. Could you post them again?

[fuzzydaddy]

Tim Clark Apologies for the late reply. I've been away from the internet since this morning. I see that Pit Boss posted the photos below. You're going to put some serious smiles on their faces and great food in their stomachs!

[jgg85234]

Hi Tim

I've done ribs coiled that way many times (only way to fit them on a 14.5 WSM). I use wood skewers. Coil the ribs,push 2 skewers through at the second rib and continue through the ones facing from the other end. Don't let the ends touch as they won't brown or get any smoke if they do. The wood will keep them apart. Standing them up I can get 2 racks on the 14.5 diameter. You should be able to put 3 racks on a 22.5 kettle even with an SNS. What I didn't ever do was take a photo. At least not one that I found.

Normally I cook SLC ribs, but I have done BBRs the same way.

Best regards,

Jim

[OneEyedJack]

I've done three racks of BBR on a 22inch Weber by rotating their position on the grill about every 45 minutes. The rack closest to the fire gets moved to the edge of the kettle and the other two get moved up closer to the fire. I don't use the SnS for this because I want more grill real estate, rather I just used the wire coal fences to set up a two zone cook. Also, I put a pan of water under the meat to add humidity. I use a small fire of maybe 20 coals and add 4 - 8 every meat shift. These were flat and not coiled, although coiling looks like a good option if they're not too tight.

[David Parrish]

Here are the coiled ribs. It's important to flip them top to bottom at least once so they cook evenly.

[David Parrish]

Toothpick test works as well as the "un bend test".

[j_keegan]

Thanks Dave - toothpick method worked well.

[David Parrish]

Thanks. Good to know!

[FireMan]

Pit Boss, what you've done is a prime example of the excellence of this site. Tim Clark thanks you, & we all thank you.

[Tim Clark]

I heartily agree!

[David Parrish]

Glad to help, but don't give me toooo much credit. I didn't invent this technique. It's been around quite a while.

[FireMan]

Just enough credit Q'bro, just enough.

[gijsveltman]

The coiling method looks awesome. What are the advantages of doing it this way instead of a rib holder? I'm also trying to cook some 3-4 BBRs tomorrow evening on a 22" Kettle.

[Spinaker]

There is some advantage over the rack because of the fact that you can fit a lot more racks on the cooker. They are great for that. But, IMO, The rib holder doesn't work nearly as well. With the coil method the whole outside of the meat is exposed to the smoke. In a holder. They are framed right next to each other and you get a cold bubble around the rib in the middle of the rack. In my experience, anyway.

[Spinaker]

gijsveltman

[EdF]

The proof is in the pudding!

[EdF]

Still in the stall. Work gets in the way. And the weather hasn't been motivating for tightening bolts and scarring knuckles outside. We'll get there - delayed gratification and all that.

[Spinaker]

I just don't know how your doing it. I took a half day when I got mine. Your stronger than me!! EdF

[EdF]

Maybe just lazier. Or maybe it's mental training? ;-)

[Al S.]

I just did three racks on the kettle with the sns. I found a good solution! The hover grill! I cut the racks in half & put three on the bottom grill & three on the top. I don't know if it was needed but I switched the top & bottom racks about half way thru the cook, for fear of the top ones being too hot. They came out pretty good for the first time using this set up.
David, do you think there is much temp. difference on the racks that were a few inches higher?
Al