Thanks y'all...the beef back ribs are pretty easy - not as labor intensive. Plus, they are tasty. When you pick up one of those ribs, you know you have a hunk of meat - cave man food.
Ed, I have seen how the smoke and heat move around in my smoker and I believe I got better results with the meat side down. The heat and smoke seem to swirl upward from below the meat instead of coming down or even moving laterally across the ribs - if that makes any sense.
Right now, I am doing one rack at a time to experiment with the smoker as well as the ribs. I'm trying different techniques, etc until I find one that will give me consistent results. Then I will feel more comfortable about cooking multiple racks at once - of course, that'll change things up inside the pit as well. Ah, well, I guess that's what retirement will bring...more time to practice.
B T W, Deb made a trip to WalMart to pick up another couple of packages of those Beef Back ribs. she really likes 'em.