Back on topic,
Phil, did you have any worries about loosing your ribs since you didn't foil? I'm not a foil'er. I've been wondering about how best to do ribs and butts. I figured both would get pulled off the hooks and onto the rack. But, that sort-of defeats the space benefits of the PBC and I might have to cross my fingers and hope I have enough charcoal for a large butt.
Also, when you say that the ribs are a very different product than when foiled and sauced. Was there something different about unsauced ribs on the PBC than from unsauced on other cookers. Or was this just a sauced vs. unsauced comment?
I hooked the ribs under the 3rd(maybe 4th) rib, so they were on there plenty tight. there was no risk of them tearing off the hooks.
now, im not a food scientist, and i could be wrong, but I dont thing the pbc(or uds) has the same cooking environment as an offset.. and IMO, i think its the lower humidity levels and the radiant heat(and higher direct temps) in the drums that mad eit different. The bark on the ribs was beautifully dry and crunchy with a deep mahogony color.. it was just too nice to foil, start steaming and mess up. Only time i got bark like that in the offsets was to cook at higher temps >310. The ribs had a different texture also, very tender, pulled off bones clean, they were just not a soft(does that make sense?) I try not to foil ribs when they are for home. I like dry rub, with light to no glaze. The ribs on the PBC were crunchy, not sticky and that was good for me.
i havent done one yet, but when i cook a butt on the pbc, im going to tie it up with butchers twin, form a bit of a net and hook it with the twine.