This post isn’t really for the regulars (Andrew, Sako, Bob, Sportster, etc.--you guys can move along) who have a PBC and cook with it regularly. It’s actually for the lurkers and worriers. I’m in the process of reading the entire thread (almost completely done), and there are a lot of posts that raise 2 concerns:
1. Seems like newbies to the PBC get worried over moderately elevated temps at the start of the cook
2. Seems like newbies to the PBC have serious doubts about the PBC’s ability to hold steady temps even over short periods of time.
So here’s a shot from my igrill during yesterday's cook on the PBC. Weather was a bit windy and temps in the 20s, so a bit challenging but no biggie. It was just a humble cook of chicken quarters, so nothing fun or fancy there. That’s not the point. The point is to try to give reassurance to the 2 concerns above.
You’ll see that after initial lighting the temp did run a little hot—about 290. But don’t sweat it. In the first place, the PBC can do just fine in that range if that’s really where it settles, so who cares? In the second place, notice the reduction in temp after putting the chickens on. That happens for me on just about every cook. Runs hot at first, meat cools it off. So, if it’s running hotter than you want after lighting but prior to putting the meat on, don’t freak out. Put the meat on and watch it come down a bit. It’ll be fine.
Also, how about the steady temp? Once it got dialed in, it stayed between 253 and 256 the whole time. Granted, this is a very short timeframe, and I don’t trust it enough to ignore it for more than a couple hours, but not too shabby, eh?! (It usually runs in the 270s for me, which is great, but weather was pretty tough so I figured it would run a little cooler, which it did, and that’s fine too. I cracked the lid for the last 25 minutes to crisp the skin--forgot to screenshot the entire cook temp so that's not shown.)
Final note on the temp control: notice the dip at 3:38. I took the lid off for a couple minutes to mess with the chicken and snap a photo. See how nicely the PBC comes right back to temp? So, yeah, assuming you’ve done the right things during your lighting procedure you can trust the black beauty to hold a temp.
And yes, I know that part of the appeal and purpose of the PBC is to NOT be obsessive about temps, but I’m trying to address what I think are some fairly common concerns.
*Oh, and the chicken? Spectacular.