I finally found the time to try to perfect hanging ribs on my 22″ Weber Smokey Mountain.  Once again ribs were on sale at my local Sprouts and I purchased two racks for $7 each.  To prepare the ribs,  you want to remove the membrane from the back of the racks. This take a little practice but it allows the smoke to penetrate the back side of the ribs better if it is removed. I use a butter knife starting at the end of the rack and insert the knife under membrane and the bone. At that point you need to grab the end and give it pull and it should come off in a sheet.

For the rub, I used a store bought Weber version and I spread it both sides of the racks of the ribs

 

 

 

 

 

 

I had some left over coals that line the bottom of the smoker, and I topped that off with more unlit charcoal. I then lit about 1/2 a chimney full and dropped them on and assembled the smoker. As with most smoked pork, I added hickory wood as the smoke wood. I added 3 chunks spread out on the bottom.

 

 

 

 

 

I positioned the ribs so they would be directly over the coals and set the smoker to achieve 225 at the lid. I did check on the ribs every hour or so for smoker temp and I did rotate the ribs by moving the rack a few inches left or right.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I continued to monitor the ribs and I had planned to smoke them for about 6 hours. On my first attempt I was worried that I would cook them too long and they would fall into the fire.  At the 4 hour mark I did spritz them with apple juice every 30 minutes until they were removed.

 

 

 

 

 

I removed them close to the 6 hours mark. I was concerned with how to remove them without dropping them in the fire. I decided to remove the entire hanging rack with the ribs attached and positioned them over a large sheet pan. I then lowered them onto the pan.

 

 

 

 

 

I did spritz them one last time and covered in foil and let them rest for approx 15 minutes before slicing and serving.

 

 

 

 

 

Finished product, was fantastic, cooked perfect, very moist and tender. I am really impressed with taste of the smoked ribs after dripping over the hot coals and hickory.