*Update 2-FINAL* Ribolator on Performer in Action (Pron)

[redhawk]

Got a surprise afternoon off so decided to break in my brand new Ribolator for my Performer. Went to Sam's and picked up a three pack of babybacks. I usually do spare ribs, but didn't feel like cutting them down to St. Louis style today. This is my first time ever doing babybacks after hundreds of spare cooks.

Here they are:

http://i150.photobucket.com/albums/s91/redhawk94/Ribolator/100_2906.jpg

I rubbed the all down with my own rub. (still trying to get mine right) It's black pepper, cayenne, garlic, onion and chili powder, paprika and turbinado sugar. I put the salt on separate.

http://i150.photobucket.com/albums/s91/redhawk94/Ribolator/100_2908.jpg

I then setup my kettle for a minion start. I lit up 10 briquettes. I loaded up both charcoal trays trying to keep the charcoal against the sides to create a bigger indirect zone. I scattered apple wood chips on the bottom layers of charcoal and put a foil pouch of apple chips on top of the lit. I then put a water pan in between. I put the grate on just in case one of the ribs might flipover.

http://i150.photobucket.com/albums/s91/redhawk94/Ribolator/100_2911.jpg

I then set up the ribolator. My initial impression is that you have to make sure everything is balanced correctly, but it is hard to try and get the trays on perfectly straight since the wingnuts are on only one side which then tilts the trays slightly. But that shouldn't be that big of a deal.

http://i150.photobucket.com/albums/s91/redhawk94/Ribolator/100_2912.jpg

http://i150.photobucket.com/albums/s91/redhawk94/Ribolator/100_2913.jpg

I then put the ribs on. I was going to do all three with a counterweight on the third tray, but I couldn't find anything I wanted to try on that tray and decided to just do two racks. I vacuum sealed the other rack for later.

http://i150.photobucket.com/albums/s91/redhawk94/Ribolator/100_2915.jpg

http://i150.photobucket.com/albums/s91/redhawk94/Ribolator/100_2917.jpg

http://i150.photobucket.com/albums/s91/redhawk94/Ribolator/000_0041.jpg

Aiming for 250 lid temp. Will cook in smoke for about 3 hours, then 45 minutes in foil and then out of foil until done. Will spray with apple juice everytime I crack the lid and baste with Sweet Baby Rays at the end of the cook.

How do my times sound? I also couldn't remove the membrane from one of the racks. Everytime I tried, it would just splinter up and I couldn't grab a hold of it. I've never had this happen to me before after countless rib cooks. Has anybody ever encountered that?

[Smokin Turkey]

For your membrane problem, do you pat dry with a papertowel then pick a part of the membrane with a knife and grab it with another dry papertowel? This is the way I have been told to do it last year and have been doing it ever since! I always get those same ribs you got and so far (fingers crossed) havent had a problem with this membrane method.

[Smokey Al Gold]

Looks awesome so far I'm liking that Rib O Later. I usually grab the membrane with a paper towel from one end of the rack and pull and can usually get the whole thing in one shot. Sometimes you get a stubborn one. Looking forward to the finished pics. I've been wanting to try smoking with apple haven't tried it yet.

[swamprb]

Got a surprise afternoon off so decided to break in my brand new Ribolator for my Performer. Went to Sam's and picked up a three pack of babybacks. I usually do spare ribs, but didn't feel like cutting them down to St. Louis style today. This is my first time ever doing babybacks after hundreds of spare cooks.

Here they are:

http://i150.photobucket.com/albums/s91/redhawk94/Ribolator/100_2906.jpg

I rubbed the all down with my own rub. (still trying to get mine right) It's black pepper, cayenne, garlic, onion and chili powder, paprika and turbinado sugar. I put the salt on separate.

http://i150.photobucket.com/albums/s91/redhawk94/Ribolator/100_2908.jpg

I then setup my kettle for a minion start. I lit up 10 briquettes. I loaded up both charcoal trays trying to keep the charcoal against the sides to create a bigger indirect zone. I scattered apple wood chips on the bottom layers of charcoal and put a foil pouch of apple chips on top of the lit. I then put a water pan in between. I put the grate on just in case one of the ribs might flipover.

http://i150.photobucket.com/albums/s91/redhawk94/Ribolator/100_2911.jpg

I then set up the ribolator. My initial impression is that you have to make sure everything is balanced correctly, but it is hard to try and get the trays on perfectly straight since the wingnuts are on only one side which then tilts the trays slightly. But that shouldn't be that big of a deal.

http://i150.photobucket.com/albums/s91/redhawk94/Ribolator/100_2912.jpg

http://i150.photobucket.com/albums/s91/redhawk94/Ribolator/100_2913.jpg

I then put the ribs on. I was going to do all three with a counterweight on the third tray, but I couldn't find anything I wanted to try on that tray and decided to just do two racks. I vacuum sealed the other rack for later.

http://i150.photobucket.com/albums/s91/redhawk94/Ribolator/100_2915.jpg

http://i150.photobucket.com/albums/s91/redhawk94/Ribolator/100_2917.jpg

Aiming for 250 lid temp. Will cook in smoke for about 3 hours, then 45 minutes in foil and then out of foil until done. Will spray with apple juice everytime I crack the lid and baste with Sweet Baby Rays at the end of the cook.

How do my times sound? I also couldn't remove the membrane from one of the racks. Everytime I tried, it would just splinter up and I couldn't grab a hold of it. I've never had this happen to me before after countless rib cooks. Has anybody ever encountered that?

You are right about balancing out the ROL, I suggest assembling it on a flat surface and giving it a spin test in your hands, then setting it on the ring.
You won't need the counterweight with the ROL.

You'll be adding coals during the cook and probably spew ash all over doing that-be careful. I've only cooked chicken with the setup you are describing and it will cook FAST. I doubt you will be able to maintain 250* temps, it'll be more like 350*

Keep us posted!

Chief Charcoal Rib-O-Lator Test Pilot

[Cuelio]

Are you sure you've got membrane on that one rack?

Reason I ask is that I've bought ribs from Costco (not Sam's) and sometimes I've seen them come without membrane. Don't know why, but after some attempts at peeling, I realize that it's not there. The experience I describe is inconsistent with the ribs I get at my grocer. But I've seen some racks without the membrane out of Costco.

[redhawk]

I tried my usual method of sliding a butter knife under the membrane on about the second or third big bone from the end and then prying up and then grabbing hold with a paper towel and letting rip. I usually get it all off in one swoop. But on this one rack, the membrane would just shred instead of coming off in one piece. I finally gave up on it after messing around with it. Figured it would be better to have ribs with some of the membrane connected instead of having both membrane completely off and the ribs falling apart.

[pinehollow]

Looks like your in for a fun afternoon. Sounds like you have a good plan going.

To take the membrane off of the BB's I usually take the back end of a utensil (knife, fork,spoon) that is relatively slim, or a butter knife and slide in under the membrane in the middle of the rack. Once it is pulled up enough, I get my fingers under there and pull it up. This usually lets me get a nice big area up and you can easily grab it and peel it off. Not always though....

Have fun!

[redhawk]

Are you sure you've got membrane on that one rack?

Reason I ask is that I've bought ribs from Costco (not Sam's) and sometimes I've seen them come without membrane. Don't know why, but after some attempts at peeling, I realize that it's not there. The experience I describe is inconsistent with the ribs I get at my grocer. But I've seen some racks without the membrane out of Costco.

I'm thinking you are correct. It looked like the membrane was already removed from this one rack because I couldn't get in between the membranes, but only under the entire membrane leaving the rib bones uncovered.

After about an hour, I'm holding steady at 275 degrees lid temp with the dampers completely shut down. With the Weber Rotisseries ring, I've noticed their are plenty of air gaps so shutting down the one touch system doesn't snuff out the fire.

[redhawk]

*Update 1*
After 3 hours with lid temps between 240 and 275, I cracked the lid for the first time. The ribs look great and evenly cooked with no hot spots noticed. I sprayed with apple juice and then put in foil and back on the ribolator.

I also noticed I was almost out of fuel and added some more unlit on top of what was left after shaking the baskets to knock the ash off. Didn't worry about the ash, since the ribs were already in foil when I added more fuel.

http://i150.photobucket.com/albums/s91/redhawk94/Ribolator/100_2921.jpg

http://i150.photobucket.com/albums/s91/redhawk94/Ribolator/100_2920.jpg

http://i150.photobucket.com/albums/s91/redhawk94/Ribolator/100_2922.jpg

http://i150.photobucket.com/albums/s91/redhawk94/Ribolator/100_2923.jpg

[redhawk]

*Update 2 Final*

After an hour in the foil they are back on and getting basted with a Sweet Baby Rays and Apple Vinegar sauce.

http://i150.photobucket.com/albums/s91/redhawk94/Ribolator/000_0040.jpg

http://i150.photobucket.com/albums/s91/redhawk94/Ribolator/000_0039.jpg


After about 20 minutes of being glazed up, they are off the grill and resting.

http://i150.photobucket.com/albums/s91/redhawk94/Ribolator/000_0044.jpg

http://i150.photobucket.com/albums/s91/redhawk94/Ribolator/000_0046.jpg

http://i150.photobucket.com/albums/s91/redhawk94/Ribolator/000_0047.jpg


Here they are cut up into individual ribs.

http://i150.photobucket.com/albums/s91/redhawk94/Ribolator/100_2928.jpg

http://i150.photobucket.com/albums/s91/redhawk94/Ribolator/000_0049.jpg

And the end results:

http://i150.photobucket.com/albums/s91/redhawk94/Ribolator/100_2929.jpg

Conclusion: This was a dream cook where everything went off without a hitch. The ribolator worked as advertised and these ribs were spot on. I loved the fact the ribs lay flat and there are no hot spots, whereas in my 18.5 WSM I had to cut ribs in half and put in a rib rack and it had hot spots on the outer edges outside the water pan.

First time doing Babybacks and I was amazed at how much meat was on the bone. They do cost more, but if you cut spares into St. Louis style you are cutting a lot of the meat off that you are paying for.

I have to say I was in mid-season form eating these ribs too. I remembered to keep my pinky clean so that I could still change the remote control without getting it dirty with BBQ sauce.

I would recommend this setup to anyone. I cooked on my kettle with this setup for about 5.5 hours maintaining a lid temp between 230 and 275 with little adjusting or work. Next time I will add more fuel at the beginning so that I won't have to add any. I only had the baskets about half full to begin.

[swamprb]

Great report, nice lookin' bones!

[Queensnewbie]

Are you sure you've got membrane on that one rack?

Reason I ask is that I've bought ribs from Costco (not Sam's) and sometimes I've seen them come without membrane. Don't know why, but after some attempts at peeling, I realize that it's not there. The experience I describe is inconsistent with the ribs I get at my grocer. But I've seen some racks without the membrane out of Costco.


Yeah Ive seen that too
I spent 15 minutes one time with a some baby backs from there thinking it was like the others, felt like a fool!:cool:

[bigabyte]

Looks like they came out fantastic! I'm thinking bout picking one up for my 22" OTS.