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View Full Version : Help, I've officially bitten off more than I can chew!


platys
03-12-2010, 01:07 PM
Hi everyone! Sorry for disappearing on everyone. I was busy making a quilt for my baby nephew, who turned one this month. In fact, I'm flying out to Colorado this weekend for his 1st birthday party!

My sister, hearing my my adventures smoking ribs on my weber q, wants me to make ribs for the party. The problem? She only has a weber kettle. I've never done it over charcoal, and I was so busy last weekend doing this:

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2695/4408477133_7460dcc65c_m.jpg

That I never got my practice run in. So, um, any guidelines for me? Don't worry, the ribs will only be a small contribution to the spread, so if things go horrifically wrong, people will not be wandering Denver in packs, looking for food.

I do have the charcoal dividers for the weber, so I can put the three racks down the middle with indirect heat, with the coals on the sides. How many coals should I start with? I know I want to get it no hotter than 250 degrees. I'm planning on 2 hours in smoke, one hour in foil, and one hour on the grill.

ModelMaker
03-12-2010, 01:17 PM
Ideal would be a rib rack, second best just roll them into a circle and toothpick them so you can move upsidedown and L to R.
And most importantly BBQ is done when its done. Don't count on your schedule to table idea. They're done when the meat has pulled back exposing 1/2" to 3/4" bone and the rack bends over very easily when picked up a couple inches in with tongs.
It would be much better if they were done an hour or so early and wrapped in foil and put in a cooler with some towels.
Good luck, and let us know how it turned out.
Ed
ModelMaker

platys
03-12-2010, 01:20 PM
I do have a rib rack here, but I don't know if there is room in my luggage for it. I was planning on putting two down the middle with one on top, and then rotating - at least Swineola told me that would work. :)

landarc
03-12-2010, 01:39 PM
If you are using briquettes I would do this.

1. Place a pile of briquettes directly on the fire grate, maybe 30 to 35 of them, leave a depression in the middle. This will be used later.

2. Take on of the Wever charcoal holders, turning the flat side towards the charcoal, push it towards the charcoal until it create a pile this would be about 6 to 7 inches from the kettle edge, place a couple of burned out cans of water, or a brick double wrapped in aluminum foil, to hold the holder in place.

3. Light 6 to 8 briquettes fully and place in depression in the charcoal pile. Let grill come to temperature of 225F, for my kettle, I find that setting the top vent wide open and the bottom vent to about the width of a pencil at the widest point works, older kettle, two vents closed, one open 1/4 to 1/2.

4. Place racks like shingle, fat edge towards heat, offset from charcoals. This will run for 2 hours at 225F to 230F, go out and turn racks 180 degrees. If you do 3-2-1 then go 1 hour and foil, if you do no foil, then go another 2 hours and turn 180 degrees again. Check for how close the ribs are to being done. You should not need racks at all, the ribs will cook fine flat on the grate.

tommykendall
03-12-2010, 01:43 PM
How many boy? :wink:

landarc
03-12-2010, 01:46 PM
http://i166.photobucket.com/albums/u105/landarc/P1010640.jpg?t=1262714151
http://i166.photobucket.com/albums/u105/landarc/PC250624.jpg?t=1261786917
Look at those photos, you can see how I have set up the cooker for offset cooking before. Either of these two setups work well. The one with the pork butt has a couple of heat reflectors made from 4 layers of very heavy duty aluminum foil to reflect heat away from the meat.

platys
03-12-2010, 01:52 PM
Thanks! I'm a little confused by step 2. Do I start out on step one with the coals all over the fire grate, with a depression in the middle, and then shove them over? Wouldn't that get rid of my depression? Or am I totally not thinking of this right?

landarc
03-12-2010, 02:28 PM
I wrote it wrong, sorry, you start with the pile, push it over, then make the depression. The lit coals go into the depression, I have found it really help to have at least one layer of briquettes under the lit coals.

slowerlowerbbq
03-12-2010, 02:36 PM
I do BBs on my Weber kettle all the time. Usually I'm cooking a pack of 3 since that's how they come in the cryo. On mine, I will put a chimney full of lit coals off to one side and stack the ribs on top of each other on the other side. The only thing you have to worry about is rotating them at least every 20-30 minutes. This might work for you in a pinch...and like all things BBQ, they will be done when they are done, usually about 2.5-3 hours and I normally don't foil mine. No matter what, i dont think you'll be able to do more than 3 at a time on the kettle.

Diver
03-12-2010, 02:45 PM
All good advice so far. I will just add that if you stack or roll the ribs, anywhere the meat is covered, you will have a lighter color that looks like it is not cooking right. It is though and evening the color is one reason to rotate the stack. The weber site has instructional videos for setting up the kettle for indirect and even has one specifically for stacking ribs. I think this may help. http://www.webernation.com/

Odin the Dog
03-12-2010, 02:51 PM
I follow the same routine as landarc. In addition, I find a few crumpled balls of foil can be used to prop up the ribs so the smoke will reach most of the surfaces. I usually cook untrimmed spares.

landarc
03-12-2010, 02:56 PM
must not hijack must not hijack...

Yes, if you stack or shingle, you need to turn and flip to get even color if that matters. It does to me.

thomasjurisd
03-12-2010, 03:23 PM
Another usefull approximate rule of thumb I learned for dutch ovens and have found to be helpful with the kettle is that each briquette contributes between 10 and 15 degrees of heat. I've never actually used it to get an inital reading but have used it successfully once I have get the kettle close to desired temp and need to add or subtract a few coals....just FYI.

aquablue22
03-12-2010, 04:38 PM
If you set the kettle up for indirect cooking, with 10 to 15 coals per side you can maintain 225 degrees for as long as you like. Tend the fire every 45 minutes to an hour by adding 2 or 3 coals per side and some additional chips if that is what your using for smoke. I have a Weber rib rack and can smoke 6 full rack on my kettle. You can also use bamboo skewers, soak them in water, stand the ribs up and thread the skewer through each rack separated by a couple of inches to hold them up, works pretty good.

BobBrisket
03-12-2010, 04:50 PM
Nice quilt by the way..........

platys
03-12-2010, 06:38 PM
Nice quilt by the way..........

Thanks! It ended up 9 feet long and 8 feet wide. Its all his special onesies from his firsy year and a bunch of blanks I made him.

Thanks everyone for all the advice! I'm feeling much better. It helps that my mom is bringing two smoked briskets that my 5th grade teacher makes. After she retired her and her husband got a smoke wagon. So we won't starve!

I'm at the airport now waiting to board my flight