rib cook time

[whitey]

O.K here We go.. I know that Baby backs take right at 5-5.5 hours to cook,(3,2,1) so I had a gig last saturday for this fella that wanted ribs for about 30 people. So I head to cash and carry. They had St Louis style ribs on sell so I figured why not. Is it Me or do they (Louis Ribs) take about 2 hours longer. I ran the 3,2,1 on them after about 6 hours they where close but had a little to much pull so I kept them running at 225 for a total of 9 hours and they where perfect. I would have never thought 3 hours. hours for Baby backs,9 hours for St louis ribs and 12 hours for small spares. Is this what it takes you all or just a fluke?
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Lang 84 delux long neck chargrill.
The Lil Squealer (UDS)
My Lab is smarter than Your Honor role student!!
Chicken Throwdown Champ..2010..
Almost the Biggest Liar on the "Ring"

[Teleking]

I think the that 3-2-1 for BB is to long. Most use the 2-1-1 for those. I have never had spares go longer than 3-2-1 at 225*f to 250*F. Sounds over cooked to me considering you can do a picnic or a butt in the 8 to 12 hour range.
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“Franken Smoker”

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[whitey]

No they werent over cooked at all. They where a hit but the spares did take about 10.5 or 11 hours. Does the amount of meat in the chamber have anything to do with cook time?I had 15 racks and 30 lbs of buts running at the same time.
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Lang 84 delux long neck chargrill.
The Lil Squealer (UDS)
My Lab is smarter than Your Honor role student!!
Chicken Throwdown Champ..2010..
Almost the Biggest Liar on the "Ring"

[Hell Fire Grill]

When my cooker is fully loaded it always takes longer to get everything cooked although the thermo says everything is normal inside. I dont know exactly how to explain why it happens but I think it has to do with the meat absorbing the heat from the inside of the cooker and changing the way the air flows through the cooker. My speculation.

[SoEzzy]

When was the last time you checked the thermometer that said you were cooking at 250 F for accuracy?

Where is it compared to the meat on the pit?

What pit were you cooking on?

Did you mop or spritz, if you did then how often?

How long does it take your pit to recover to cooking temperature?

Where are the pictures?





Just joking about the pictures!


The amount of meat matters, but there are several other factors that can speed a cook up like this, here are some suggestions.

When prepping the pit and the meat, don't take cold meat out of the fridge and load it straight into the pit, let it warm to room temperature (a 45 - 80 minute task)!

Because loading that much meat into a pit takes a while, overheat your pit and run it at that higher temperature for the heat to get into the metal of your cooking chamber (300 -325 to cook at 225- 250). Then when you have the doors open and are loading meat to the grates, your recover time to your true cooking temperature will be as low as it can be.

Don't look in the pit if you can avoid it for at least the first 3 - 4 hours, if all is cooking well but you know you have hot or cold spots, open it only to rotate the meat, (as quickly as possible), then get the doors shut again!

Make sure you stay on top of the fuel needs, if you're using gas with wood assist you're pretty stable, but if you are using charcoal an wood or wood only, then maintain your fire within a 10 F swing in the cooking chamber.

What that really means, is that you can maintain the coal, (lighted embers, not anthracite), base in your fire with either enough pre-heated wood, or with a pre-heated wood and lit charcoal so that the cooking chamber doesn't spike or dip in temperature more than 10 up or down, of your cooking temperature.
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Here's a change Robert.

I still work here!

[whitey]

O.K The thermometers are TelTru which are right level with the upper grill, and I havent checked them since last fall.The cooker I am using is my Lang 84. I had butts,spares, and St louis so I mop about every 45-60 minutes.The pit after opening recovers in about 15-20 minutes. Sorry I really wished I had taken the camera,this event was pretty neat. The Lang I have is all wood no gas.We had 16 racks and 30lbs of butts so the chamber did have the racks kindof full. The outside air temp in the morning when I started was 27 and warmed up at My drop dead time to about 45. I did get lots of thumbs up. I served them with Bob gibsons Mustard sauce(That I made) and Apple city BBQ sauce also made at the same time.I did notice it took about alot more wood to finish this cook as it normally does. In all the ribs came off real good it was just a big blessing the crowd I was cooking for wasnt ready on time which gave be the added break To finish the louis rib. Thanks for the help
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Lang 84 delux long neck chargrill.
The Lil Squealer (UDS)
My Lab is smarter than Your Honor role student!!
Chicken Throwdown Champ..2010..
Almost the Biggest Liar on the "Ring"

[SoEzzy]

Thanks for the extra information.

I'd really look at starting your fire with a chimney of charcoal, and the gas assist, (if you have it), you can even do the preheat with the gas assist only, then add the charcoal base, the as your maintaining the fire with the splits, pre-heat them on top of the firebox, every 2nd or 3rd refuel, add another 3/4 chimney of lit charcoal, (so you'll need to start this about 20 minutes before you're thinking of refueling.

By mixing charcoal and wood in this way, and only adding lit charcoal or pre-heated wood, I think you'll find your cooking times will drop back by as much as 1/3rd.

Give it a go on the next big, (NOT time dependent), cook you do, and keep a close eye on times and temperatures, both in the pit and the meat and in the surroundings, I think you'll find it a good basis to temperature control on the Lang.

YMMV JM2C!
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Here's a change Robert.

I still work here!

[mgwerks]

I know I'll catch some flak for this, but don't knock it if you haven't tried it. Once y our ribs are prepped and membrane pulled, brine them for about 4 hours. Then rinse very well, get to room temperature, and prepare as usual. They will be ready sooner and it decreases the 'pull' and increases the juiciness.

Just try one rack next to one prepared the way you usually do.

[chilepeppa]

It takes @ 4.5-5 hours at 220 deg in my smoker for St.Louis's , opening the cooker only after hitting the 4 hour mark to check doneness and begin basting if serving wet. Took a little longer this past weekend, like 5:15 as it was only in the teens outside.
I put them on cold.
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