Hello from Maple Ridge, BC - Canada (3 hrs north of Seattle!) - Lil' Rib help?

[kingrobb]

Well I did it. I got my Original Bradley Smoker and I am trying it out for the first time today. Is it OK to start off with a question or two right away?!!!

The smoker has been sitting on my deck for a week or so and is pretty cold. It took a long time to get it up to temp just to season the unit. I have my brother coming over for ribs NEXT weekend and so I thought I would do a test run today on my new smoker (I am used to doing ribs on my Weber with a fancy Smoke Daddy attached  - http://www.smokedaddyinc.com/photoalbum.htm ) - but the most I could do was 3 racks of ribs. Anywho ... my question is thus ...

How long should I expect  it take to cook 3 racks of babyback ribs? (which is what I am doing now)
How long to cook 6 racks of babyback ribs? (Which is what I will be doing next week?)

I guess what I saw today was that after putting my 3 racks in (which I let sit out to come to room temp. first) it  took a long time for the smoker to come up to 210. That is just a part of the process. But I am thinking with 6 racks it is going to take a REAL long time for the smoker to get up to temp. So I would have to think it would take even longer to cook. Right?

Further, is it hotter down near the bottom of the unit? Do I need to rotate the ribs around? I hope not as I don't want to open the door up very often.

... do I dare ask more ... ???

How long do people generally smoke their ribs for in thhe bradly smoker? (I'm using Hickory)
Do you bother with the "texas crunch"? (I did this in my BBQ but it was hotter and so I am guessing at 210 - 225 that the ribs should still be reasonably moist without having to do the steam cook thing - or is this just to speed up the cooking process?)

OK that is enough for now ... gee I hope to get some quick answers cuz the ribs are on hour 3 right now .....  :)

THANKS TO ALL WHO TAKE THE TIME TO READ AND RESPOND.
I know I am going to love hanging out around here.

[devo]

This might answer a lot of your questions. Just keep asking if you get stuck

http://forum.bradleysmoker.com/index.php?topic=10182.0

[Quarlow]

Take the time to read it......we freaking live for this. Welcome to the forum. Not quite sure where Maple ditch is, Is it anywhere close to "I am surrey". LOL  ;D You have to wait 2 weeks after you join before you can ask questions normally but since you are a canuck we will make an exception. First piece of advice to you is you should go find the Bradley christmas gift exchange and sign up for it. It is a blast and you don't have much time left to get in on it.
Ribs are done on a basic 3-2-1 method, so you are looking at about 6 hours. This would be the same time for 3 racks or 6 racks or 10 racks. Well it may take a bit longer but only like 30 minutes at the most.
It is hotter near the bottom and for ribs as most things use the upper racks first before the very bottom rack. I would start with 6 racks on the second rack up from the bottom and leave the bottom and the very top one empty unless you need more rack space, then I would fill the top rack and only use the bottom if needed. You should rotate your racks but you are right, you want to open the door as little as possible. "Cause if yer lookin' you ain't cookin'". But that said, you don't want to over cook the lower racks and under cook the uppers, plus it is hotter at the back than it is at the front near the door so rotating and moving them up and down is neccessary.
"Texas Crunch" that sounds like something that Sonny (ClassicRockGriller) might make. You will meet Sonny, he is one of our many experts here and "the smokin' monkey" as he is affectionately know as smokes up a storm down there in Texas.
Now back to your ribs, 3-2-1 is reference to 3 hrs with smoke, wrap them with foil and a splash of juice, like apple or cranapple, back in for 2 hrs and then remove them from the foil lay on some sauce and then back in for another hr. Then maybe even 20 mins on the barbcue to firm up the sauce. Others will put more input into this method as everyone does them abit different so this could be a long discusion.

[SiFumar]

Welcome.....have fun!

[kingrobb]

I'm liking this forum already! Thanks everyone? Of course - more replies are welcome! Thanks Quarlow for your personal advice and suggestions. (Yeah - I like to reference where in Canada I am by where it compares to a USA landmark - that way American's will understand where I am from. Well - it helps :)

[Quarlow]

Well don't waste your breath, these rednecks south of the 49Th all think we live in igloos and never even heard of Canada till I came along.  ;D ;D ;D This is a great forum, the best you will ever find and all the folks on here love to help make your experience the best it can be. Many have made late night longdistance phone calls to someone who was having trouble just to make sure it went well. They are all great, but don't forget, it is not just south of the border. We have folks from the UK, netherlands, Europe well we have friends all over the world on here.
Oh and you will get more welcomes and birthday wishes and you just may get a surprise box now and then. We have packages traveling all over the place from guys sharing their rubs and sauces, trading this and that. Let's just say it is a great place. Oh yeah and don't forget to join us in the chatroom. We usually go there on Tuesday night but just watch, if there are a couple on there it is sure to be fun.