rib racks. yay or nay?

[gordon1]

having our house warming party this weekend and I'm doing lots of ribs. thinking about getting some rib racks to make more of my space. what are y'alls thoughts on them? anything I should know? does it change smoking time etc to be elevated off the grate? do you rotate them so one side isn't down the whole time?

 

[Gary in VA]

buy the cheap ones and bend them a little bit.. you can fit up to 7 racks of ribs in each rack if you need to.

I'd rather lay em flat, but if I have alot of ribs to do, I use the racks

 

[Finney]

Use them if you need to get more ribs in the cooker... don't use them if you don't need to.

 

[LarryWolfe]

Use them if you need to get more ribs in the cooker... don't use them if you don't need to.

You're a Rocket Scientist..........

You can get about 16 full racks of BB's and about 10 full racks of spares on the WSM using rib racks.

Here's six uncut racks of LB's on the top grate. You can lay two more racks over top of these and repeat on the lower grate, giving you a total of 16 racks.

Here's 4 St. Louis cut racks of spares cut in half, add one more cut rack on top and repeat on the lower grate, giving you a total of 10 racks.

 

[wittdog]

Use them if you need to get more ribs in the cooker... don't use them if you don't need to.

You're a Rocket Scientist..........

You can get about 16 full racks of BB's and about 8 full racks of spares on the WSM using rib racks.

No but he is an engineer….

 

[Woodman1]

Well, I differ on this one. I guess it depends on the racks. I can say the ones I bought with my Klose are WORTHLESS!!!!! Yes, you can cook more ribs, but by the time you add time for the fact that very little hot air can circulate between the ribs, and the jockying of racks to allow for even cooking. If I had 9 hours to cook ribs, I could use them!!!! The first time I tried them, I found that the front side of the first rack, and the back side of the last rack looked great in three hours. The other 8 sides looked pretty raw because no air circulated betwixt them! I would recommend using only every other space. you can achieve the same effect by stacking the ribs IMHO! Good luck. WM

 

[gordon1]

so what about 3 on the rack and three on the grate? seems this could be a good solution for me if there is room.


edit: how much room is needed between racks? this is the one I bought with and without packaged ribs. I'm use to about 5 hours for baby backs.

 

[LarryWolfe]

Woodman,

Having said that, I can still finish my ribs in the requisite 6 hours as long as I run my WSM at about 250º as measured in the lid.

Ditto! I always shoot for a dome temp in the 245º-260º range when cooking on the WSM for ribs, butts, brisket and turkey. I've never had a problem with airflow when stacking the ribs either.

 

[Big Ron1]

I agree with Stogie on this one. The Charbroil rack is a great investment. I was able to fit 40 slabs of baby backs using 6 racks. Left room in my pit for 8 briskets also. For $7 it is well worth it. I also prefer to lay them flat, but if you need the space these are the best ones to get in my opinion.