Stacking ribs - HELP?

[shoresdiver]

Its me again with another newbie question...   ;D

I have a 4 tray OBS, and I want to maximize the number of baby backs I can get in to it. 

Being Scottish, and therefore frugal, I can't pass up the Costco 3 rack baby back cryopacks -- they only sell three rack packages. 

Three racks isn't really enough for the crowd I need to feed, and I can't figure out how to fit six into the OBS.  I can only seem to fit 1 rack per tray, and I don't want to buy six racks, and freeze two for a later smoke.

Any thoughts?  (I know, I probably should have realized I'd need a six tray smoker...) :'(

[classicrockgriller]

You should be able to get 6 racks of BB's in a 4 rack smoker.

They will shrink when you start smokin them.

You can do it!

[Habanero Smoker]

If you have another set of trays, you can invert a tray and place in on top of another tray, so you can place two racks per shelf. This works will for thinner cuts of meat, but I've never tried it with baby backs.

The pros are you can cook more ribs at one time.

The cons are that with a larger load it will take longer to cook. Smoke penetration may be some what impeded do to lack of circulation space around the meat. It will be more difficult to rotate racks, and check the ribs that are beneath the inverted trays or if you mop or foil.

[FLBentRider]

I have been able to get two racks of baby backs on a rack with a little trimming and a little scrunching.

It depends on the ribs. some racks are bigger than others.  ;D

[Ka Honu]

...some racks are bigger than others. 

I knew that.

[ExpatCanadian]

Being Scottish, and therefore frugal, I can't pass up the Costco 3 rack baby back cryopacks -- they only sell three rack packages. 

Are you actually in Scotland?  If so, how strange, as our Costco locations down here in London have only 4 rack cryopacks...  cheap as chips too, which is fantastic for rib addicted maniacs like ourselves!

[lumpy]

You can also buy yourself a rib rack stand. It stands the ribs up.

rib rack

[ArnieM]

I'd cut the six racks up as required to fit them with minimum overlap.  Then use anything - even crumpled up tin foil - to make some space between the overlapped ribs.  The goal being to allow smoke circulation around the ribs.  I'd certainly rotate (front/back, top/bottom) a few times during the smoke cycle.  Once the smoke is done, I'd finish 'em off in the oven where you can boat 'em, sauce 'em, etc.

[TTNuge]

I've done 6 racks a couple times in my OBS but with the help of the extra rack kit from Scott's place.  If this is something that is going to be a regular occurance for you I would seriously consider adding a few more racks.  It's so helpful for large amounts, and also helps with smaller amounts giving you the added flexibility in where you place your racks as well as when you are rotating racks around.

[Paddlinpaul]

I was going to suggest the same thing as Lumpy.

[FLBentRider]

This is how I do it:

[Rich_91360]

I'm impresssed!  Look like full slab ribs, not baby back ribs.

[Paddlinpaul]

What is the difference between back ribs and baby back ribs?

[FLBentRider]

I'm impresssed!  Look like full slab ribs, not baby back ribs.

Those might have been spare ribs. I don't seem to have a pic of the baby backs.

baby backs are smaller and more tender.

[BigJohnT]

Any thoughts?  (I know, I probably should have realized I'd need a six tray smoker...) :'(

Not really cause you can get an extra rack kit from Scott's Place and add up to 8 more racks to your 4 rack OBS.

JT