Tim M's BBQ cooking area
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3 - 1 - 1.5
3 - 1 - 1
Method

Baby Back Ribs - Foil Wrapped
combination indirect then direct methods

1 rack of Baby Back ribs

Here is my setup:
main grid with my "double boiler" drip pan then the raised grid over it with ribs on top. This allows indirect cooking (less burning and drying out over time with higher temps) and also direct cooking when I remove the pan to finish them up for the last hour.

3 - 1 - 1
or
3 - 1 - 1.5 method

The plan is to cook indirect:
3 hrs @ 250-275 deg (flip 45 min)
1 hr in foil wrap 250-275 deg
1.5 hr direct at 250 deg
 
Baby Backs - indirect phase
Here the ribs have been on for 3 hrs. Still some yellow mustard visible- going into foil now.

 

Now 1 hr direct at 250-260 deg and I will add sauce and flip every 20 min. This part firms the meat after the foil and I like BBQ sauce to burn on the outside. Here is the rack-o-ribs after it's all over 5.5hrs - the meat temp was 197 deg. The black crust is a sugary BBQ sauce that burns nicely, keep the last hour at 250 or lower if you don't want the sauce to burn - 275 deg if you like to burn on a little. Yummy!!

 

The finished ribs pictured here. I added sauce for the last full hour. I flipped every 15-20 min and added sauce each time during the last hour. These are baby back ribs, spare ribs can cook 20-30 min longer.

 

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Here is another cook where I did 3 racks of baby backs with the 3-1-1.5 method

Setup at right is the BGE raised grid which is over a pizza pan (drip pan) and that is on a layer of ceramic. A stone, plate setter or firebricks can work or just the drip pan (add a little water to avoid burning the drippings).

 

Here are 3 full racks of baby backs - I cut each in half to better fit. The ribs sat overnight with JJ's rub and I added mustard coat 1 hr before I cooked them. First 3 hrs at 250-275 indirect.

A Plate Setter or firebricks also works for this method and all are about equal as far as results.

Next they are wrapped in foil and back on for 1 hour. You can easily go 1.5-2 hrs if you guests are running late.

 

Here they are after an hour in foil.

 

After the foil we go 1-1.5 hrs out of foil. I add sauce for the last 1 hr and go indirect for 15-20 min before going direct. I did 20 min indirect and then 70 min direct wit sauce.

 

BTW, the meat temp was about 195 deg (180 deg min) - wonderful ribs - wonderful

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