Weber Ranch Kettle First Cook

[Old Dave]

I have lusted for a Weber Ranch Kettle for about 15 years and I just purchased one from a gentleman in Sheridan, Indiana. It is 2 years old and has not been used very much and is in great condition.





Was a tight fit but it did go into my car.







Cleaned it up and am ready to cook something.

I know this is overkill but I decided to cook a couple of St. Louis cut spare ribs over a big pan of Rick Salmon's Pit beans. A fellow has got to learn on something!

I installed (4) Weber Charcoal Rails to hold my charcoal on each side of the cooker. I then split a full Weber chimney of cold Stubb's briquets  (85 pieces) between the two sides of the cooker. Planned to split another 3/4 full Weber chimney of hot coals (70 pieces) on top of the cold briquets. The total weight of the charcoal was six pounds.



I planned to cook the pan of beans on the charcoal grate with the ribs over the top of the pan for additional flavor.



While I was at it, I tried two full pans under the main grid and they fit nicely. I have other ideas for this type of setup.





I prepped the ribs and then got my full pan of beans ready for the cooker. I also poured in my 3/4 chimney of hot coals into the cooker and added some hickory chunks.



Placed my full pan of beans on the charcoal grate and then added my cooking grate.



Placed the ribs over my pan of pit beans.



Cooked at about 250 degrees measured on the cooking grate for about 3 hours and then pulled the ribs.



I wrapped the ribs with the goodies and placed them back on the cooker.



Charcoal was still doing fine and it looked like it was enough for the whole cook.



I also added some slab potatoes at this time. The ribs were cooked an additional 80 minutes in the foil until done at 205-208 degrees internal.



I unwrapped the ribs, put them back on the cooker and then glazed them for a few minutes and took them off the cooker.



I also removed my potatoes and pit beans from the cooker.

The cooker ran about 5 hours and 15 minutes on just the six pounds of charcoal briquets. I did stir them up once but that probably wasn't necessary. Very pleased with the results of this cook.





The ribs, beans, and potatoes looked great.





Added some fresh cut off the cob and fried sweet corn and some fruit and had a wonderful meal.

[1buckie]

That's a heckuva first cookup right there !!!!

Nice idea with the double rails & the bean pan (very fond of bean pans)

Happy Ranch !!!!!!!

[Hogsy]

Great job! Tucker looks awesome as does the Ranch.
Welcome to the club!

[Idahawk]

Fantastic cook , great looking ranch !


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[MrHoss]

Gotta love ribs and beans. Beauty Ranch you got there.

[austin87]

What a great cook to break it in! Awesome looking food!

[bbquy]

Congrats on the ranch and your first cookup on it! I'm getting hungry! Nice job!
Question: What name brand is that cool lookin cart that is sitting next to the Ranch? I like that a lot and would love to have one but I your Ranch is even more cool!

[1911Ron]

Congrats on the Ranch and on the good looking ribs!

[Old Dave]

bbquy,

I received the cart as a gift about 10 years ago and the brand name is "Backyard Gear".

[Nate]

Great cook!

[WNC]

Wow, way to break in that ranch! Ribs look perfect

[bbquy]

bbquy,

I received the cart as a gift about 10 years ago and the brand name is "Backyard Gear".

Thanks for the info! I'll see what I can find on the internet.

[fedex]

Welcome to the Ranch Club.  Awesome cook.  I made a pretty nice Ash Basket for mine with expanded steel.  Holds a little more then 10 lbs and got a 9 hour cook on it.

[SixZeroFour]

Congrats Dave - Sweet Ranch and a great first cook! I love how the ranch makes two full racks look like strips of bacon

[Hoosier]

I saw this one on CL as well. Was wondering what took so long for someone to buy.

Looks good!