AClarke44
Babbling Farker
Just watch it so it doesn't fall. Even if you don't wrap you may have to finish on the grate.
Pit Barrel Cooker (PBC) Appreciation Thread
- Thread starter AClarke44
- Start date
Just watch it so it doesn't fall. Even if you don't wrap you may have to finish on the grate.
Mike Twangzer
is One Chatty Farker
Just an fyi ... If it gets too close to probe tender ... it's gonna go caveman. Might suggest using plenty of twine and make sure the hook under the twine. Someone needs to make a safety net to place each butt in to hang. ...
Fwismoker
somebody shut me the fark up.
No worries....Did you see what mine is falling on? I have a grate it'll land on if it did fall.
Mike Twangzer
is One Chatty Farker
FWISMOKER, please elaborate on your diffuser plate... how made ... use ... notice any difference ... purpose thx
Fwismoker
somebody shut me the fark up.
When I made the cooker the bottom piece I cut out of the stainless steel pot i used as a diffuser...just drilled holes in it. I like it because it evens out heat especially when i minion burn, catches some excess grease and prevents the meats from ever getting scorched when grate cooking. The meats still get plenty of direct heat using a holy diffuser.
If i'm hanging I wouldn't normally use it but it's sure gonna be nice in this application hanging multiple butts and will be my de facto safety net! Well I guess I don't need it because the grate would catch anything but i want it to catch a little grease.
It'll be interesting if I can prevent them from falling though, I'll post pics on how i hook them.... I figure hooking 3-4 places just might do it. I never foil butts so it'll be real nice if I can hang the whole time.
lonestar8302
Found some matches.
Hello Everyone! Just discovered these forums and have been doing a lot of reading around here lately.
My PBC arrived in the mail today, pretty excited about getting to use it. Of course, it's going to have to wait a few days for these typhoons to pass, but oh well. Been smoking for the past 3 years or so on my 22in Weber Kettle with Smokenator accessory, and have managed to do a pretty darn good job with ribs, pulled pork, homemade bacon and brisket. Little nervous about the PBC in that there really is no grill temp monitoring. I can keep my weber between 225-250, adding 5-8 briquets every 40 minutes or so and that has always yielded excellent 'que. The one bad brisket was where the temp climbed to 350 for about 30 or 40 minutes. My briskets usually take 10-12 hours in the weber (~6.5 pound flat) so I'm curious to see how they do in the PBC.
Edit: I live in an extremely humid environment. Any tips for maintaining my cooker?
My PBC arrived in the mail today, pretty excited about getting to use it. Of course, it's going to have to wait a few days for these typhoons to pass, but oh well. Been smoking for the past 3 years or so on my 22in Weber Kettle with Smokenator accessory, and have managed to do a pretty darn good job with ribs, pulled pork, homemade bacon and brisket. Little nervous about the PBC in that there really is no grill temp monitoring. I can keep my weber between 225-250, adding 5-8 briquets every 40 minutes or so and that has always yielded excellent 'que. The one bad brisket was where the temp climbed to 350 for about 30 or 40 minutes. My briskets usually take 10-12 hours in the weber (~6.5 pound flat) so I'm curious to see how they do in the PBC.
Edit: I live in an extremely humid environment. Any tips for maintaining my cooker?
Last edited:
Thingfish
is Blowin Smoke!
Congrats on the PBC and stay safe with the typhoons!
The PBC cooks at around 275 degrees by design. Occasionally weather can impact that (wind mostly) but not by much. The cooker should be allowed to work at whatever temp it ends up running at, IMO. I would advise against attempting to micro-manage this. Let the cooker show you what it can do before you try to experiment. Food cooks a bit faster than what you're used to (watch the videos).
I live in Florida, where it is also humid. So long as the cooker is stored covered and is not in a salt-air environment, you should be fine. Enjoy!
The PBC cooks at around 275 degrees by design. Occasionally weather can impact that (wind mostly) but not by much. The cooker should be allowed to work at whatever temp it ends up running at, IMO. I would advise against attempting to micro-manage this. Let the cooker show you what it can do before you try to experiment. Food cooks a bit faster than what you're used to (watch the videos).
I live in Florida, where it is also humid. So long as the cooker is stored covered and is not in a salt-air environment, you should be fine. Enjoy!
jjjonz
Take a breath!
First welcome to the forum and watch those typhoons. Make sure you watch the videos on the PBC site and do EXACTLY what Noah says, you can experiment later. I would start out with chicken halves or quarters. Forget about how you cooked on the Webers, this is a new bird. Isn't that PBC a beauty ? You are going to love the way it cooks and the food from it. If we can help just holler.
Fwismoker
somebody shut me the fark up.
Ok so i did a test butt start to finish hanging and it worked great so I suppose the 4 butts are a go in a few weeks.
I was thinking of doing the butts and then loading it up with 5 chickens halved.
So my question is who here has hung 5 chickens? It seems like a bunch of grease for a small cooker. I could haul my UDS down the block but there's no reason if I can make this work.
Initially i was thinking no problem but someone got me second guessing that decision. I could put a pan in to catch part of it though.
I was thinking of doing the butts and then loading it up with 5 chickens halved.
So my question is who here has hung 5 chickens? It seems like a bunch of grease for a small cooker. I could haul my UDS down the block but there's no reason if I can make this work.
Initially i was thinking no problem but someone got me second guessing that decision. I could put a pan in to catch part of it though.
Devil_Inside
Well-known member
I must be doing something wrong because I cannot seem to get consistent results using my PBC :shocked: This thing is so simple and yet somehow it doesn't quite run "as advertised" for me... I've noticed that the cook times are significantly greater than what most are reporting no matter what I cook - chicken, pork, etc.
This weekend I decided to smoke a 9lbs Boston Butt. I followed the instructions to the "t" and it came out absolutely perfect, but it took 6.5 hours - 4.5 hours to reach 160* and another 2.5 hours to reach 200* (wrapped in foil). No biggie, it was well worth the wait :hungry:
I then decided to smoke 4 racks of SLC ribs. I decided to cut the racks in half because they were on the long side, and last time I did babybacks the end ribs (close to the charcoal basket) were a bit on the dry side. They were supposed to take about 3.5 hours (cook 3 hours, sauce and cook another 30 minutes) but in reality after 4.5 hours they still weren't as tender as they should have. I should have left them on there for another 30 minutes, but it was getting late and everybody was starving.
While I was smoking the ribs I noticed that the charcoal closer the vent was glowing pretty good, while the stuff on the back was barely going. As a result the ribs closer to the front were pulling away from the bone a lot more and were a lot more tender than the ones in the rear.
I haven't done chicken in a while, but I did a bunch of times in the past and I could never get close to the 2 hour mark, which according to Noah "works like clockwork". It usually 3, sometimes 4 hours for me.
I should mention that I am at 220ft elevation and I have my vent open 1/4 to 1/3 way and that I have been using exclusively Kingsford blue charcoal. I light the smoker per the instructions - fill the basket to the top (level), remove about 30 briquettes, light them in a chimney, wait 10-15 minutes, dump them in the basket and start hanging the meat.
I leave the lid closed until the meat is supposed to be close to done and I use a high quality digital thermometer so that I can monitor the temperature of the meat throughout the cook.
I am trying to figure out if I am doing something wrong, or all of this is considered normal. I am not bashing the PBC - I love the thing and I just want to learn how to get the most of it and perhaps get some a little bit more consisting results. As it stands today it is very hard to plan when to start smoking X if we want to have dinner at Y. I remember the first time I decided to do chicken we started a bit late and we figured it would be ready by 10pm the latest, but ended up eating at Midnight instead. Chicken was very tasty though :biggrin1:
This weekend I decided to smoke a 9lbs Boston Butt. I followed the instructions to the "t" and it came out absolutely perfect, but it took 6.5 hours - 4.5 hours to reach 160* and another 2.5 hours to reach 200* (wrapped in foil). No biggie, it was well worth the wait :hungry:
I then decided to smoke 4 racks of SLC ribs. I decided to cut the racks in half because they were on the long side, and last time I did babybacks the end ribs (close to the charcoal basket) were a bit on the dry side. They were supposed to take about 3.5 hours (cook 3 hours, sauce and cook another 30 minutes) but in reality after 4.5 hours they still weren't as tender as they should have. I should have left them on there for another 30 minutes, but it was getting late and everybody was starving.
While I was smoking the ribs I noticed that the charcoal closer the vent was glowing pretty good, while the stuff on the back was barely going. As a result the ribs closer to the front were pulling away from the bone a lot more and were a lot more tender than the ones in the rear.
I haven't done chicken in a while, but I did a bunch of times in the past and I could never get close to the 2 hour mark, which according to Noah "works like clockwork". It usually 3, sometimes 4 hours for me.
I should mention that I am at 220ft elevation and I have my vent open 1/4 to 1/3 way and that I have been using exclusively Kingsford blue charcoal. I light the smoker per the instructions - fill the basket to the top (level), remove about 30 briquettes, light them in a chimney, wait 10-15 minutes, dump them in the basket and start hanging the meat.
I leave the lid closed until the meat is supposed to be close to done and I use a high quality digital thermometer so that I can monitor the temperature of the meat throughout the cook.
I am trying to figure out if I am doing something wrong, or all of this is considered normal. I am not bashing the PBC - I love the thing and I just want to learn how to get the most of it and perhaps get some a little bit more consisting results. As it stands today it is very hard to plan when to start smoking X if we want to have dinner at Y. I remember the first time I decided to do chicken we started a bit late and we figured it would be ready by 10pm the latest, but ended up eating at Midnight instead. Chicken was very tasty though :biggrin1:
northeast bbqer
Full Fledged Farker
I think the videos and instructions are a reference point. In my experience with the PBC, cooking times will vary based on lots of factors. We're geographically close to each other and and I have my vent 1/4 open. As far as set up, I've found that letting my chimney go 20 minutes will get them almost entirely ashed over and the temp is more steady and easier to regulate that way - typically 250-275.
AClarke44
Babbling Farker
You need to light more briquettes at first. 1/4 basket like Noah recommends is 40 briquettes. 10 more may not sound like a lot but trust me it is. Try lighting 40 and see if that helps your Temps and cook times.
Bob C Cue
Quintessential Chatty Farker
And as northeast bbqer said go 20 minutes or so before dumping them in the fire basket.
Thingfish
is Blowin Smoke!
If the cooker isn't working as you expect, I suggest calling the company. They have a rep for being very helpful to customers and they have likely heard every possible difficulty their customers have had. They should be able to steer you in the right direction..
northeast bbqer
Full Fledged Farker
Quick tip if you use a Weber chimney - filling the chimney to where you obscure the upper most vent holes will give you approximately 40 briquettes. That's how I do it. If you use a different brand, it's easy enough to count once and then make your own line/marker as a reference point.
Cibelo
Full Fledged Farker
My experience exactly. I have started leaving the lid off for about 15 minutes before I put the food on. The temp starts out at 330 to 340 but settles down to 275-290 and it will hold there for aa couple of hours before starting to drop. When it gets to around 240 I put a paper clip under the lid or just crack it until the temp comes back up then the cycle starts all over again. I have found that the intake does not do much and I run it antwhere from 1/2 and 1/4 at sea level. All cooks have taken at least an hour longer than video times. The PBC turns out some really good tasting BBQ but it hasn't been set it and forget it for me. I like it though, it's a great cooker.
AClarke44
Babbling Farker
I'm noticing people at sea level (or very close) are the ones having this issue. Saw the same thing in another forum too. I wonder if it has to do with humidity? Hopefully you guys will figure out a workaround. For now I just wonder if you need to open the intake more and/or Crack the lid slightly.
Thingfish
is Blowin Smoke!
I am within 40 feet of sea level in the Orlando area and don't have this issue but I do sympathize with those who do. Myself and others have suggested contacting the company and asking about the issue, but I haven't heard if anyone has made that call or what Noah may have had to say.
