I Have a Weber Grill and a Slab of BabyBack Ribs. Now What?

[Chas.Alpha]

I have never successfully cooked a rack of ribs. Any suggestions will be greatly appreciated.

CAH

[Capn_Jackson]

I’d keep the coals on one side of the kettle, so you have a “hot” zone and an “indirect heat” zone. Try to rotate lots, in the indirect zone, so you don’t cook any one spot too fast. The kettle is not my preferred way of doing ribs, but it can work. Enjoy, and good luck!

[riderpride]

I stick to the oven for ribs as I haven't found a solution on the grill.

Oven: Cover in aluminum foil after adding s&p and cook at 275 for 3hrs flipping at the 1/2 or 2/3 mark. An additional 20 min uncovered with sauce of choice. 

Perhaps similar on the top rack?

Good luck!

[Çnote]

26 minutes ago, Capn_Jackson said:

I’d keep the coals on one side of the kettle, so you have a “hot” zone and an “indirect heat” zone. Try to rotate lots, in the indirect zone, so you don’t cook any one spot too fast. The kettle is not my preferred way of doing ribs, but it can work. Enjoy, and good luck!

I honestly expected more here. What secrets are you hiding?

[Capn_Jackson]

8 hours ago, Çnote said:

I honestly expected more here. What secrets are you hiding?

🤣 🤣 🤣 I do ribs in an offset stick-burner, or an upright pellet smoker. It can be done on the Weber, if the heat is handled correctly, but I’ve not had great results that way.

[helix]

Ribs, its been done, folks, a hundred ways. Look it up, 😎pick one. Any decent recipe will be fall off the bones . IMHO.

[Çnote]

https://share.google/yOswqJd5Sg00eHsE0

https://share.google/EFnUd57B3QvGVRXzK

https://share.google/aXeussjk01xdavBMb

Google 'weber ribs youtube'

These look long enough to have some useful examples of techniques on the coals. 

I personally would do them slow in the oven and then char them up a little on the grill. Offset hardwood is the gold standard, but that's not webering.

You can also try the snake coal layout and try to get offset results in a Weber.

[westg]

Order some charcoal from Fuzz. Dry age the ribs for a few weeks whilst you are waiting for the charcoal to arrive...cook them and then eat them. Best ribs ever. 💯💥

[Namisgr11]

Baby back ribs for two. A mix of hardwood and charcoal on one half of the large kettle. Out of the foil and smeared with more sauce for the finish.

[Chitmo]

There are many ways to do everything. I don’t have a smoker myself, but I do have an immersion circulator (sous vide). I’ll cook them overnight in the immersion circulator at 165 for 8-10 hrs, then into the fridge they go. Then you can just put them on the grill in whatever serving size you like whenever you’re ready to eat and sauce them, doesn’t take more than 10-15 minutes.

[BrightonCorgi]

Put the charcoal on one side, the meat on the other. You want indirect heat for the whole time. Think of the Weber as an oven rather than a grill. Keep the temp under 400. When the meat starts to shrink a touch on the bone, baste them and cook until there is a touch of movement between ribs. Like you can sense the meat will be tender with some bite.  

Baby back don't take as long as spareribs. Around 2 hours on the Weber?

[BrightonCorgi]

7 hours ago, Capn_Jackson said:

🤣 🤣 🤣I do ribs in an offset stick-burner, or an upright pellet smoker. It can be done on the Weber, if the heat is handled correctly, but I’ve not had great results that way.

Weber gets really hot and the circular shape is doing no favors.

[Nevrknow]

Small fire on one side. They make a box just for this. Used them when I started before my "several" smokers arrived in my life.

Thermoworks remote thermometer for the actual grill temp. Most factory dials get close but no cigar on accurate temps. What I miss about doing them on the grill is when your temperature gets to high you can drop it almost instantly just by opening the lid. That doesn't work so well on bigger smokers. And not at all on some. It gets hotter! I will add, every grill/smoker seems to cook it's own way. Even the same models.

Do NOT skimp on charcoal. For the first run, definitely Kingsford. You can experiment later but 'Ole tried and true will never fail you on your first run.

Forget about food temp. With babybacks especially, go by look and feel. 3-2-1 method on babybacks will make them tough and/or dry. In my case anyway. That method works best, for ME, 225* on my offset with a whole rack of spare ribs. I don't trim those. The extra meat I call chefs candy for while I'm smoking.

Shoot for 1hr then 45mins and then maybe 30 mins for the finish. You'll know they are close when the meat peels back on the bone ends and they almost bend in half when picked up with tongs. Remember this, you can always leave them on longer. I have yet discovered how to UNCOOK meat.

Your first rack probably wont be perfect. Don't sweat it. Dig in and eat.  Out of all the meats I smoke it seems like these are the hardest to master  consistently. Don't sweat it. Just keep smoking.

You'll get into your own groove and figure out how YOU like to do it and what YOUR definition of a great rib is.

THEN, get a brisket point, chuck roast ( poor man's brisket ), then........................ it never stops.

 

[Capn_Jackson]

6 hours ago, Çnote said:

You can also try the snake coal layout and try to get offset results in a Weber.

Lots of friends have done the snake method. To me, constantly lighting and burn-off from charcoal around the snake seems a bit creosote-y, but they’ve told me it’s not to a problematic extent. Only a few getting lit at any given time.

[Capn_Jackson]

27 minutes ago, Nevrknow said:

Small fire on one side. They make a box just for this. Used them when I started before my "several" smokers arrived in my life.

I love my Slow n Sear, and use it for steaks. Would probably work well for this too.

 

27 minutes ago, Nevrknow said:

Thermoworks remote thermometer for the actual grill temp.

I have that and a Maverick XR-50. I prefer the Maverick but both are very good.

27 minutes ago, Nevrknow said:

Do NOT skimp on charcoal. For the first run, definitely Kingsford. You can experiment later but 'Ole tried and true will never fail you on your first run.

Kingsford all the way!

27 minutes ago, Nevrknow said:

3-2-1 method on babybacks will make them tough and/or dry. In my case anyway.

I would add that 3-2-1 on St Louis style ribs has often overcooked them, in my experience. At 250 degrees, it’s overkill. Instead of meat falling off the bone, I get bone falling OUT of meat 🤣. At 225, it can be alright. A little too done for me. I go 3 - 1.5 - 45mins on St Louis, 2-1-45mins on baby backs.

27 minutes ago, Nevrknow said:

You'll know they are close when the meat peels back on the bone ends and they almost bend in half when picked up with tongs.

The bend test, absolutely.

27 minutes ago, Nevrknow said:

I have yet discovered how to UNCOOK meat.

They make this “Meat Time Machine” in Smackover, Arkansas…🤪

[Capn_Jackson]

8 hours ago, Çnote said:

I honestly expected more here. What secrets are you hiding?

Additionally, I was actually too busy cleaning up from smoking 6 racks for Ella’s party to answer throughly. 😆

[Capn_Jackson]

42 minutes ago, BrightonCorgi said:

Weber gets really hot and the circular shape is doing no favors.

Yes. Taking the lid off periodically, as @Nevrknow mentioned, helps alleviate the overheating. I usually do between 3 and 6 racks at a time, so the kettle isn’t my favorite way to go. Could get one of those rib-smoking rack setups, but I like my offset or my upright for most smoking things.

[rcarlson]

7 hours ago, Capn_Jackson said:

Lots of friends have don’t the snake method. To me, constantly lighting and burn-off from charcoal around the snake seems a bit creosote-y, but they’ve told me it’s not to a problematic extent. Only a few getting lit at any given time.

I've done the snake method countless times with terrific results.  Never found it got creasote-y. And a few pieces of favorite smoking wood built into the chain are perfect for pork. The snake is as good as you can do for maintaining a constant temp in Weber (not easy; gotta keep an eye on it), and since the burn rotates, you don't have to turn and rotate which requires constantly lifting the lid and causing temp fluctuations. Pork, especially ribs, is pretty hard to mess up so long as you don't cook too fast or too hot, and make sure they're not overcooked. The snake takes care of all three.      

[Capn_Jackson]

6 hours ago, rcarlson said:

I've done the snake method countless times with terrific results. Never found it got creasote-y. And a few pieces of favorite smoking wood built into the chain are perfect for pork. The snake is as good as you can do for maintaining a constant temp in Weber (not easy; gotta keep an eye on it), and since the burn rotates, you don't have to turn and rotate which requires constantly lifting the lid and causing temp fluctuations. Pork, especially ribs, is pretty hard to mess up so long as you don't cook too fast or too hot, and make sure they're not overcooked. The snake takes care of all three.      

Awesome! Yeah, I hadn’t thought about the rotating heat dissolving the need for rotating the meat. I know the guys that do it put a chunk of wood under the snake every five or six inches, right?

I might try it sometime just for fun. Although, still, if I’m doing ribs it’s usually for a crowd, and so I’d run outta space on the kettle pretty quick, unless I got one of those racks that keeps the ribs vertical. Seems like it’d work well with the Slow n Sear.

[Capn_Jackson]

 

Yesterday was the most I’ve done at once in a long time. 6 racks. Most got eaten. Again, though, this was in my upright.

[rcarlson]

6 hours ago, Capn_Jackson said:

Awesome! Yeah, I hadn’t thought about the rotating heat dissolving the need for rotating the meat. I know the guys that do it put a chunk of wood under the snake every five or six inches, right?

Yup. When the burn hits the wood it'll cause a spike in temperature, but it settles back in after a bit. That's thing about Webers: they don't do the best job of maintaining steady temps. But the way the snake burns, if the briquets are stacked consistently, corrects a lot of that. I found that the heat follows the top vent. So I just rotate the lid to be opposite the point of burn, which has the added benefit of causing the heat to pass over ribs (as opposed to along one side. 

I recommend giving it a shot when you are only cooking up a rack or two. Works really well for Boston Butt too. 

[rcarlson]

Oh, and you gotta work with the lower and upper vents. After you got it going, pull back big on the lower vent (1/4 -1/3 open), and do the same with the top (1/2-2/3). Adjust heat within the 10-15 degree range from the top. If it stalls, go for the lower vent to restoke. You have to do it in small increments and be patient with changes or you'll start a temp yo-yo that's nearly impossible to stabilize.   

[Capn_Jackson]

I like what you’re saying about rotating the lid so the exhaust goes in different directions. I do this when I use the vortex cone to cook wings. With the wings all lying around the perimeter, and the heat source in the middle, rotating the lid ensures that all the wings get some of that smoke. That reminds me, I should do wings again soon!

[rcarlson]

Damn. Now I'm hungry!

[Nevrknow]

There you go @Chas.Alpha, after the tip or twelve we just handed you, should be no more than 6 or 7 hours of you tube searching to find you a method to the madness. 😂

Welcome to the rabbit hole!

Pics when your done!