advice needed with my first st. louis rib

[TeddyC]

Hey gang,

I have the new Mastertouch kettle adn I'm ready to do a rack of St. Louis style rib. 

generally in my WSM I'll smoke at 275* and it'll be ready in about 4 hours. 

I'd like to duplicate this method in my new kettle.

So, my question is, what's the best method for cooking for about 4 hours?  Should I go with a snake?  and if so, how should I set it up: 2/2/1 or 2/1?  And, how long should the snake be?  And, is it true that the snake should be lit counter clockwise?

Or,

should I dump a chimney of coals to one side and have the meat on the otherside/indirect?

  I don't want to keep opening the lid because it takes so long to get back up to temp. 

Since this is my first time using the kettle, I want to keep it simple.   Just rub and cook.  No spritzing and no wrapping.

Thanks all

[Troy]

Congrats on the new grill!!

ALl of those methods you've mentioned will work.
It doesn't matter if you use the right side or left side, or which way the snake burns. We sometimes pretend that it matters to have fun and mess with people

I prefer banked coals instead of snake when cooking ribs - just so you don't have to rotate the grates for optimal indirect heat.

I would bank a full chimney of unlit, then add 10 lit briquettes to the top. It's always easier to catch the temps on the way up then it is to try to bring temps down.

You should definitely keep the lid closed, but no need to adjust plans for it. The heat actually  recovers VERY fast.

Post up some pics with you're all done!

[1buckie]

"And, is it true that the snake should be lit counter clockwise?"

well, it is pork, after all.....

The way Troy described will work fine, just let the machine get up to temp before you add food....20 minutes or a bit more if it's cold outside.............

These were fulls, done just about like that & top vent open, bottoms closed down quite a bit (will vary depending on your specific conditions)



...will get you about 250, 260 or about there, at the grate level.......



remember the lid therm will be different.......how much different varies by state & province....J/K'ing....you need to test the difference to see how much & then going by the lid therm you'll know where you are.....
Usually, it seems like it's higher, just from reading what people report.....and over the length of a long cook will come closer to being the same as the grate temp......

The length of cook will be somewhat close to your WSM time........maybe slightly quicker....

Have fun w/ the new M/T !!!!

[Jammato]

I did ribs last weekend at 225 degrees on my maasters touch
Took just over 5 hours
I see no issue of 4 hours at 260ish

[Johnpv]

So you're not going to like what I say.  It has to be said though, and it'll make things easier for you in the long run.  DO A TEST RUN.   See how the temps go without any meat in there.  For me right now if I was trying to do a 4 hour cook, its so cold and windy, I would probably need my snake to go almost completely around the grill and probably do a 3/2/2 setup.  What's the point of what I said?  Basically that your environment is going to dictate how big of a snake, and how long it is to hold the temps you want for however long. 

In the Summer time here, I can probably do a 1/4 kettle length 2/2 snake starting with maybe 10 coals, with my air vents just barely open at top and bottom.  That'll give me EASILY 225 - 250 for at LEAST 6 hours.  I have about 2 maybe 4 weeks if I'm lucky where that setup works.  Then its just modifying it from there.  The only way to learn though is to do. 

I suggest doing a dry run with out any meat.  Maybe start with a 1/2 kettle length snake  of 2/2 and see how it goes, and how adjusting those vents changes things.  Don't forget to put a water pan full of steaming hot water on the charcoal grate.  When I started doing that it really helped with keeping my temps stabilized.

[WNC]

Hey Teddy, I liked what Troy said. I probably going to do some ribs this weekend trying a similar method. I've also done a couple of rib cooks lately using my charcoal baskets.

http://weberkettleclub.com/forums/grilling-bbqing/using-charcoal-baskets-for-mini-minion-method/

http://weberkettleclub.com/forums/bbq-food-pics/rib-lunch/

Jammato, has also been doing some experiments with charcoal baskets too, so you can search some his stuff too.

Good luck, and don't forget to post some pictures!

[TeddyC]

Thanks guys.  Johnpv, I appreciate your feedback.  I will do a test run but not today. 

First time in 6 months the weather man was right.  It actually snowed a bit last night but it's only a dusting.   It's about 35* today.  Tomorrow it'll be a high of 48*; however, it's going to be a hard rain. 

All night those ribs were calling to me.  About noonish, I'm gonna get the fire going and put in 1 rack.  For this cook, I'm gonna follow Troys suggestion of dumping a chimney of unlit on one side.  Since it is cold out, I'll use about 15 lit, along with hot water in the drip pan.

I'll post pictures after.  Darn, I only have 3 beers in the fridge.  Ugh...

Thanks all!

[Jammato]

here is some info on how I did a mod with the baskets to do a minion cook in them
http://weberkettleclub.com/forums/weber-kettles-accessories/new-weber-charcoal-baskets-minion-style/
and here is the first cook that came out just as I wanted
http://weberkettleclub.com/forums/weber-kettles-accessories/first-run-of-the-weber-basket-minion/
I am really pleased with the combined basket for cooking ribs, I get over 5 hours of cooking time and still have coals left over after I choke the vents down to kill the coals

[MacEggs]

I used to use the snake for ribs. But, I now go with what @Troy mentioned.  However, I use a homemade basket to achieve the same.

Here is a thread of mine from back when the weather was warm. 
This has now become my go-to method for both back ribs and St. Louis cut spares.

http://weberkettleclub.com/forums/grilling-bbqing/k-i-s-s-ribs/