fitting more ribs on my smallish UDS,

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Debmar

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2 questions.

some more info first. I have been asked to smoke some SpareRibs (Stl style) on my ( kind of ) UDS (old water pressure tank) for this Thursday for a (for me) big group. 20 adults and 7 kids under 10. Smoker is not as big as a normal UDS (the grill I have in it is 20 - 21" diameter). I built it to eventually have 2 grates but to date I have not made the 2nd grate. So I need to build something over the next couple days to increase its capacity. I am new to smoking (less than a year) and have done spares both wrapped and unwrapped but was thinking to simplify this one I would not wrap. I normally do 3 racks of spares at once and maybe trim the small bits of of 2 of them so they don't touch the sides when on the rack.

1ST QUESTION is how many spares would you suggest I need to do for a group this size. There will be other food as well but I think the ribs will be the main item.

and 2ND QUESTION could I even fit enough on a smoker this size? I was thinking of building a 2nd grate and standing the ribs on edge with skewers to get enough ribs on but I have also seen where people hang them. what would you suggest is a better route to go?

thanks for the help. any advice appreciated.

I have no experience hanging ribs but always wondered how the bottoms don't burn with that much difference in height above the coals?
 
As a rough go to for MINIMUM amount, and this being the only meat, I plan on 1/3 of a rack for everyone. That will sort of even out, for the light eaters (kids) vs heavy eaters (people who aren't considerate and take too many) if there will be plenty of sides for a good scoop on all plates. That would be 27 people ÷ 3 = 9 racks. If you can hang them, that will be about the only way to make 9 or 10 racks work at the same time on your rig I think? But it will be crowded, so plan an extra two hours for cooking just in case.
 
If you figure 4 bones per adult, and 2 per kid, you would need 108 bones or about 9 racks (to have leftovers).

I don't know what type of top you have in your UDS (I use a Weber kettle lid), but if you have the headroom, you could buy a rib rack, and do 4-5 racks at a time with 1 grate.

You could also (gasp) build a new UDS, with enough space between the 1st and 2nd grates to allow you to use a rib rack to get 8-10 spares on there.
 
I don't know how to link to another post, but I cooked 12 slabs on my UDS and I could've fit 14 on there. Two layers, search for 'Ribs for fifty on my UDS' to check it out.
 
You can definitely hang them. Or possibly with a second grate and rib racks if there is enough height.

Hip shot guess is ten racks of spares but beware, slot of big eaters can mess up #s. Big fellas can finish a 1/2 + easily
 
I do full spares and 6 would cover 20 regular people easily. I recently did ribs for around 25 and made 8 full spares just to be sure. wound up having 2 slabs left over which were gladly taken home by the guests.

Don’t know how you will fit them in one drum. Might be an excuse to buy/build another drum or get a WSM as a backup. Chris
 
Last edited:
Debmar said:
2 questions.

some more info first. I have been asked to smoke some SpareRibs (Stl style) on my ( kind of ) UDS (old water pressure tank) for this Thursday for a (for me) big group. 20 adults and 7 kids under 10. Smoker is not as big as a normal UDS (the grill I have in it is 20 - 21" diameter). I built it to eventually have 2 grates but to date I have not made the 2nd grate. So I need to build something over the next couple days to increase its capacity. I am new to smoking (less than a year) and have done spares both wrapped and unwrapped but was thinking to simplify this one I would not wrap. I normally do 3 racks of spares at once and maybe trim the small bits of of 2 of them so they don't touch the sides when on the rack.

1ST QUESTION is how many spares would you suggest I need to do for a group this size. There will be other food as well but I think the ribs will be the main item.

and 2ND QUESTION could I even fit enough on a smoker this size? I was thinking of building a 2nd grate and standing the ribs on edge with skewers to get enough ribs on but I have also seen where people hang them. what would you suggest is a better route to go?

thanks for the help. any advice appreciated.

I have no experience hanging ribs but always wondered how the bottoms don't burn with that much difference in height above the coals?
Click to expand...

If you can hang them, hang away. If not....throw half on and smoke for 3 hours, wrap put in oven and put on the rest. Put the oven ribs in cooler when they are done while the others finish up.
 
Is the party at your place, or elsewhere? If you are taking the ribs to a party, check if they have a grill available. If so, you can smoke the ribs the day before and then finish them on the grill at the party. It will only take about 30 minutes to reheat on the grill. Just undercook them a tad the day before and they will be fine.
 
Thanks for the tips

I am scared to commit to hanging with a bunch of ribs and not having done so before.

but the idea of maybe doing 2 batches and holding and then saucing on the grill would probably work. will be at neighbors so moving them would be easy.

probably try the hanging thing with a smaller batch before going with large amount.

Thanks again
 
Keep in mind my uds temps vary as you get further away from the fire.
 
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