Smoking two batches of ribs.

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bigfoot bbq

Newbie
Original poster
Sep 16, 2014
22
10
S.E. Nebr.
Heres's my question and hope it isn't a dumb one. I'm doing 40 racks of ribs for a graduation. Can only do 20 at a time. So what is the best way to keep the first 20 moist and warm while the second batch is being done on my smoker? I did this once before and wrapped the first batch in foil and kept them warm on another grill for four hours. That was disaster as the ribs turned to mush when I removed the foil. So do I cut up the first batch and put in roaster to cool and reheat or leave whole to cool and reheat and cut. I don't have a food warmer but looking for one. Thanks.
 
Not a dumb question at all ...... Theoretically you should have no problem keeping them warm in a foil pan on a second grill, however, how do you maintain temp on the second grill?  Most likely your ribs turned to mush because they were overcooked.  If the temp you are holding them at is higher than the final cooking temp they are just going to keep cooking.  When I'm cooking large batches of food like that I incorporate my Smoke Vault vertical, with the door slightly cracked I can maintain 150 degrees pretty well, that works great for me.  I've also done both cut up and whole in a roaster with good luck but the same principle applies.  I see people all the time throw ribs in a roaster, dial it up to 250 or so, throw the lid on, four or five hours later, pulled mushy pork.  Definitely overcooked.
 
I would leave them whole, wrapped in foil or in foil pans and in a cooler.  Once ribs are sliced, the meat begins to gray and dry fairly quickly.  If you put them in something heated, like frog said, not over 150 to 160 degrees.  With that quantity, you should be able to put them all in a cooler and the mass of hot meat should hold them all nice and warm without overcooking prior to serving.
 
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