baby backs

[jjb007]

I got roped into smoking between60-80 lbs of baby backs will the 6 rack unit hold that much? Any suggestions are appreciated.

[Consiglieri]

When I first purchased my 6 rack dbs, I was concerned about capacity since there wasn't really alot of space between racks. A vertical rib rack like you might use in a weber smoker will knock out your ability to use a few of racks, and it seemed to me that the BS racks weren't deep enough to let you fold the ribs back like a U (without pressing the ribs together at the sides). 

I did some research on this site and learned that by cutting the racks in half, you can fit about 1.5 rib racks per BS rack (if you don't mind the edges pressing up close to the smoker wall).  Using this method, you can fit 9 racks of ribs in a 6 rack BS.  Then I looked further and learned that some people place an upside down BS rack on top of each of the other racks and place another 1.5 racks of ribs on each: a total of 18 racks of ribs if you can make this method work.

If each rack is 4 lbs or more, you should make your weight requirements, but I can't give you any guidance on cooking time loaded at that capacity. 

Welcome to the forum and good luck with your project.  Looking forward to hearing how it turned out and how much time it required.

[jjb007]

Wow. Thanks for the quick reply. You are all great.

[IKnowWood]

plan your timing well, that will take a long time.  I do 2 or 3 racks in my OBS and I go with 6 hours for that for tender ribs.  I do not have an issue on temps other than the later every hour spritz with Apple Juice and rotate.  recovering is fast.  I can not imagine what you will deal with if you mop or moisturize them ribs during the cooking period. 

[bluesin]

I don't have one of the 6-rack, just have the propane unit, but I can get 12 racks inside of it by rolling them and trying or skewering them, thus if you can use three racks (1,3,5) to get the space then this method will work for you quite well and do the same amount as the double stack method would do. I think that you'll get much better smoke flow around the meat by rolling them also as well as heat flow in the unit...

Bluesin

[Consiglieri]

Bluesin: I have heard of a technique where you roll into a circle and smoke vertical, like a crown.  Your method sounds like you roll up the racks pretty tight and lay them horizontally on the rack, which I hadn't heard of before.  I'd appreciate hearing a bit more about this approach.

How may racks of ribs are you fitting on each BS rack?  How much clearance do you need between BS Racks?

do you brush on any glaze or sauce using your rolled up method?  Would seem to require a lot of time out of the smoker if you have to unroll, paint, roll, skewer and replace in the BS. 

What about heat distribution?  Seems like you'd have to roll the racks pretty tight and the inner ribs might be insulated from heat exposure.  Any uneven cooking challenges? 

How much time typically does it take to smoke 12 racks in the propane unit?

Thanks in advance.

[bluesin]

Here is a great link on ribs that discusses the rolling method, I usually use trimmed up spareribs to "Kansas city style" and when cooking on my Big Green Egg og the Bradley I usually roll them up as in the picture in the link.

I have not done 12 in the propane unit, I have done 6 and I tested it and rolled up I could get all six on one shelf if I needed to, they will roll up into about 4-5 inch diameter rolls depending on the length of the slab, 5 is easy on one shelf in a "dice 5" pattern and 6 is tight but dooable, when I did the 6 racks I just used three per shelf and two shelves. That is for spareribs, baby backs are smaller, usually only weighing about 1.75 to 2 pounds, so you should be able to easily get 6 racks of baby racks on there, but I have not actually tried that as spareribs are far cheaper per pound and generally cook much better.

As far as time goes, at 225-230 ribs will cook in 4 hours no matter how much you have in any cooker, the issue is it takes much more heat energy to maintain 225 the more you add in the unit as the meat absorbs more heat and your likely to have a rather large temp swing once the temp of the food gets to about 150 and the meat is requiring less and less from the heat source and is in essence generating heat itself.

I have a friend who has this Southern Pride cooker and he can cook nearly 200 racks of baby backs in 4 hours with it. (Bradley should make a home rotisserie smoker like the Southern Pride unit)

If I'm cooking a large amount of food in the propane unit I have to adjust the regulator flow all the way down to its highest setting in order to get 225-230 the first couple of hours of cooking time and the back it off the last couple of hours, but 4 hours is it, its also wise to check the temp at different locations and for the propane unit at least swap out the shelf locations at least once.

I don't add any sauce or anything else until they are cooked, I dust them down well with seasonings and after they are cooked, I take them off the smoker, un-roll them carefully and sauce them up on the grill over low heat for an additional 30 minutes.

Bluesin

[Wildcat]

Welcome to the forum jjboo7.  Let us know how it goes and post some pictures if you can.

[Silverlock]

This may not be practical in terms of time... BUT... I'll offer it up anyway. :D Since you only need about 3 hours of smoke (1/2 the cooking time), couldn't you do it in two batches, using the oven to finish them. By FTC'ing the first batch when the second one is done smoking and knowing that ribs do not require FTC, you could have em all done in 9 hours.
Did that make any sense at all?  ??? LOL

[jimguy]

I have done parties where my OBS was not big enough to do it all at once. I smoked all the baby back ribs I could fit in the smoker the day before, refigerated over night, then warmed in the oven the next day covered at low temp while I smoked another box full, no one noticed any difference between the fresh and day old.