12 racks of ribs

[mainly_a_lurker]

I'm going to smoke 12 racks of back ribs tomorrow - OBS with no mods.   Since I don't control the schedule I need to have them done in approximately 6 hours.

I think the largest number of ribs I smoked at once was 5 racks which took a bit longer than usual.  At 12 racks I don't think I stand a chance of getting up to temp.

Here's my plan:
- Smoke for 2 - 2.5 hours in the OBS
- Foil ribs (in aluminum tray w/ splash of apple juice) and move to grill for 3 hours, hold temp at around 275
- Remove from foil, sauce and keep on grill for last 30 mins

I have rib racks, even with those it's going to be a bit of a challenge fitting all 12 in the OBS!  I'll take pics though...

I'd love to hear if anyone thinks that plan is workable or not.  I'm hoping moving to the grill at 275 will compensate for the lower temps I expect in the Bradley.  Even with that I'm going with 6 hours instead of the usual 5 for back ribs.

[beefmann]

i have got up to 6 racks of ribs in my  4 rack,,, though I think your  on the  right  track by smoking them in your  smoker  then transferring to a grill for the reaming cook , You may want to consider using a 3 2 1 process
3 hours in the smoker at 225 with  smoke, 2 hours in foil into towels and into a cooler with apple juice... then onto the grill for the last hour then apply your favorite bbq sauce

[Redneckinthecity]

I recently did 20 racks in a similar fashion, but not with my Bradley. The group I was feeding didn't all come at once, so I didn't need all 20 racks ready at the same time.   

I have a big rig that has surface space for about 12 racks at a time.  I had smoke rolling from hardwood charcoal and a hickory log at about 250 degrees.  Put 10 racks on, rotated them around the grill since there's a hot spot from the fire (I don't have an offset firebox).  After about 2.5 hours, I put those ribs in an aluminum pan with apple juice, tightly sealed with foil and put the pan over the hot spot while I had the other 10 racks taking smoke.

My 1st batch came out of the pan after about 2.5 hours and back on the grill to crisp up, a last sprinkle of rub and sauce on some.  About the time that the 1st batch was all eaten, I had gotten the 2nd batch to about the same place.   

My biggest issue with having a big pile of ribs in a steamer pan on the grill was that the ones on the bottom were done before the ones at the top.  Also, you need to dilute your apple juice to avoid caramelization of the the sugars and having it burn.  Putting the pan in your oven would probably help with temperature control and avoiding the burning.

[KyNola]

Will be interested to see how you get 12 racks of ribs in a 4 rack Bradley.  If you can get them in there your plan should work .  Be sure to preheat your Bradley as hot as you can get it because when you stuff 12 racks of cold ribs in there the temp is going to drop like a rock and will be hard pressed to recover before you take them out to move them to the grill.  Wrap a brick or two in foil and place them in the bottom of your smoker next to the water bowl prior to the preheat.  They will aid in temp recovery.

Beefmann, did I read your post correctly?  3 hours in the smoker at 225 and then FTC for 2 hours before going to the grill?  Personally I wouldn't be comfortable doing that because 12 racks of ribs in a Bradley 4 rack is going to take a long time to come up to temp.  I'm guessing you have done ribs like this before and everything worked just fine.  I mean no offense.  Just not something I would be comfortable in doing.

[mainly_a_lurker]

Thanks for the replies!  I'll definitely post some pictures after this.

[mainly_a_lurker]

Here's a few pictures of doing the 12 racks of ribs at once.  It was a busy day and I didn't get a chance to take as many pics as I had planned.

Here's the rib racks I used.  I had 3 of these, each holding 4 racks of ribs:



All loaded up in the smoker:
You'll see in the pic that the middle tray is inverted.  That gave just enough room to fit the ribs in on the tray below it.




Here's another pic with the smoke going:



I did 2.5 hours in the smoker, then boated them in foil containers with a bit of apple juice and put on the grill for 2 hrs, then finished off for 45 mins uncovered.
Here they are starting to go on the grill:



After that, no more pictures.  This was a rib competition at a charity event (I placed second) and once the ribs were done it was way too busy to get a pic going.  It was a lot of fun though - this was my first time doing something like this.

The Bradley's temp did better than I expected.  After 30 mins the temp was already 190 at the bottom rack and about 150 at the top.  It slowly climbed during the 2.5 hrs, never really making it over 200 but still pretty good considering the amount of meat in it.

My only problem was one of the foil containers had a small hold in the one corner.   I never noticed and when I took the ribs off the grill the 3 racks in that container were dry.

If I do this again I think I'll try to keep them in the smoker the whole time, or at least do just the final 30-60 mins on the grill.  Sometimes in the winter I'll preheat some bricks in the oven - preheating them at a high temp really helps get the OBS temp up on a cold day.  Doing something like that would likely get the temp up enough to do all 12 racks at once in the smoker.

And next time I'll take more pics :)   Definitely a mistake not to get one of the finished product!

[muebe]

I did not think you would be able to get them all in there but you did!

Congrats on the second place win ;)

[mikecorn.1]

Wow! Congrats. Most I've done is 6 racks.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[beefmann]

Will be interested to see how you get 12 racks of ribs in a 4 rack Bradley.  If you can get them in there your plan should work .  Be sure to preheat your Bradley as hot as you can get it because when you stuff 12 racks of cold ribs in there the temp is going to drop like a rock and will be hard pressed to recover before you take them out to move them to the grill.  Wrap a brick or two in foil and place them in the bottom of your smoker next to the water bowl prior to the preheat.  They will aid in temp recovery.

Beefmann, did I read your post correctly?  3 hours in the smoker at 225 and then FTC for 2 hours before going to the grill?  Personally I wouldn't be comfortable doing that because 12 racks of ribs in a Bradley 4 rack is going to take a long time to come up to temp.  I'm guessing you have done ribs like this before and everything worked just fine.  I mean no offense.  Just not something I would be comfortable in doing.

yes you  did, i did not take into account the 12 rack of ribs,,, i have done up to 6 racks of ribs spread out across 3 racks in the smoker,,, and congrats on second place

[Redneckinthecity]

Congrats, indeed.  You didn't mention that you were competing with the 12 racks. 

I've had the same problem with holes in the foil when doing the crutch.  Now I just use aluminum steamer pans and seal them on top with foil.  No leaks.

You'll be winning next time!

[Smoker John]

Great job on the ribs