Hello every one! I just bought the 4 shelf original smoker on Sunday and already broke it in with a 8 lb brisket. mmm mmm mmmmmm! It tuned out perfect and the new smoker is so easy to use. I want to smoke some ribs tomarrow and was thinking that the smoker isn't wide enough to handle a full rack. Instead of cutting the racks in half, I thought that hanging the full racks of ribs might be the way to go. Has any one else tried this methood for ribs? If so how did they turn out? Any tips would be great...
bbq-addict - Welcome and congrats on your first smoke. I've seen fancy hangers for bacon and such, but I don't recall seeing ribs done that way. The spareribs I did (and maybe overdid a little) wouldn't have hung because they just fell off the bone.
Stand by though, if there is a way to do it, someone will be by soon :)
I would think the issue you may have with hanging the ribs would be keeping them hanging. As the ribs cook the meat starts to come loose from the bones, upon such a time when this happens you would have a clump of ribs on the bottom. There shouldn't be any problem in cutting the racks in half, or just turn them a bit in the racks works as well.
Good luck with the first rib cook!!!
Ditto.
Welcome!
If you do hang the ribs, you'll want to rotate them (somehow) front to back, as the back of the Bradley is a bit hotter than the front. You might have to flip them end to end to get a uniform cook. And hope they don't fall..
Might be 100x easier just to cut them in half, and put on the Bradley racks. ;)
W E L C O M E to the Forum bbq_addict!
I've never tried to hang ribs, I find that most baby back racks will fit if you scrunch them a little.
I would think you may have an issue with the bottom parts getting done before the tops.
I don't cut them in half, I cut them to fit and then have a rack of "ends"
Here ya go .. see this post earlier
http://forum.bradleysmoker.com/index.php?topic=18562.msg225236#msg225236
Congratulations on your purchase and welcome to the forum...Enjoy!
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Thanks for the replys!!!
Thanks for your help and insight on hanging ribs. I have some additional knowledge to share. I didn't have cotton string, so I used sisal twine and it did a great job. I hung 8 full racks of ribs in my smoker by piercing 2 holes behind the second rib on the small end, and put the twine through the holes with a crochet hook. I tied several knots and this held well. I cooked the ribs for 4-4 1/2 hours at 250 degrees. None of the racks fell apart during cooking. I saw that some folks had a concern about the sisal fiber getting into the food. It wasn't a problem. There were only a few loose fibers and they were easy to see and remove. The natural sisal fibers are long and very strong. They didn't disintegrate or anything. Worked well!