• working on DNS.. links may break temporarily.

Pit Barrel Cooker (PBC) Appreciation Thread

I am looking forward to seeing everyone's Thanksgiving pictures and stories. We are going to relatives where my brother-in-law will be putting a 15lb packer on his Smokey Mountain. He does great bbq so I am not worried.

I have a turkey breast that has been brining/curing in my fridge for 4 days which will be smoked on my PBC tomorrow for turkey pastrami. This has been something I have been wanting to do for a while now.

I will post pictures when it happens.

Basic process:
Brine/Cure - water, salt, brown sugar, garlic powder, pickling spice and Prague powder

Rub: homemade, but loosely based on ones I found by searching the web, with some ingredients reduces or omitted based on taste preference.
 
Sounds like you have a pastrami plan, SS13 ... be sure to let us know how it turns out (and pics, pics, pics)!
 
Has anyone had their lid not seem to seal properly out of the blue? I haven't dropped the lid or banged the barrel around. I use it regularly and keep it covered.

I've been getting real uneven burns the last two times out where the half of the basket closest to the intake pretty much burns out while the back half isn't really lit. Had to stick my hand in there and rotate the basket around on Saturday or it seemed like the fire would have died. Haven't adjusted the intake in over a year and I'm lighting it the same way as I always have.

I'm now noticing smoke coming out of the lid. If I move the lid more to one side, the smoke will stop coming out where it was but instead leak out somewhere else. Don't think this is what is causing the bad burn pattern, but it's just started up at the same time. Last few cooks have had people remark that it doesn't taste as smoky...maybe just a coincidence as well but she ain't just chugging along easy like she used to.

Six racks of ribs were on for seven (!) hours on Saturday. I wound up taking the rebar out with three racks hanging on each and flipping them so the rack in the back could get some more of the heat closer to the intake. Regardless, I'm usually a five hour rib guy since I think I run my barrel a little lower temp wise but this is taking it too far. Two of the racks even needed more time in the smoker but I had to pull them since it was time to leave the house for the night.
 
BK,

The dynamics change when the PBC is loaded. Dare I say that's the only drawback of the PBC? 2-3 slabs or 2 halved chickens for example and she chugs along just fine. Now, when I loaded it to 3/4 full or full capacity, that's where I experienced the exact symptoms you described. Most people don't load up the PBC with multiple cuts of meat or 8 ribs so it works just fine. IMO, a lot more meat to cook and finish times were extended significantly when loaded. Also, with a packed barrel there are a lot more drippings which in my experience extinguished the fire so I had to rotate the basket halfway through and at times pull off the rebars. A lot more mass so it needs a lot more energy to pull off the cook is how I look at it. It still does the job but takes longer and there is more involvement.
 
ssv3 said:
BK,

The dynamics change when the PBC is loaded. Dare I say that's the only drawback of the PBC? 2-3 slabs or 2 halved chickens for example and she chugs along just fine. Now, when I loaded it to 3/4 full or full capacity, that's where I experienced the exact symptoms you described. Most people don't load up the PBC with multiple cuts of meat or 8 ribs so it works just fine. IMO, a lot more meat to cook and finish times were extended significantly when loaded. Also, with a packed barrel there are a lot more drippings which in my experience extinguished the fire so I had to rotate the basket halfway through and at times pull off the rebars. A lot more mass so it needs a lot more energy to pull off the cook is how I look at it. It still does the job but takes longer and there is more involvement.
Click to expand...

Thanks! I feel like I always load it up pretty significantly, however. Pork butt on one side, three racks hanging on the open grate side. I haven't done a cook without a grate inside in ages though...maybe the rib drippings worked to put the fire out a bit on the backside. It wasn't very breezy and I rotated the intake a little bit out of direct wind since my cook the week before saw the wind pick up while I was out on a run and really ramp up the temp.

I moved to a new place here in Long Beach. Same area but just different dynamics in regards to the wind and how it hits the barrel. I'll have to keep a better eye on it but I am concerned about smoke leaking out of the lid as I never had this issue in the past.
 
TealStBBQKing said:
I'm a bad PBC owner. Went to use my barrel today for the first time in weeks if not months and it was full of mold. In a panic I texted Noah and he called me back in two minutes. First thing he said was I was guilty of not using my PBC enough; I got a good chuckle out of that. He walked me through how to burn off the mold and so hopefully that work in time for tonight's cook. An amazing quality product with next to non customer service you can't beat the Pit Barrel
Click to expand...

Not that I have that problem (yet) but could you post Noah's instructions? Sometimes its easier to do a search than to pick up a phone
 
BigKing said:
Has anyone had their lid not seem to seal properly out of the blue? I haven't dropped the lid or banged the barrel around. I use it regularly and keep it covered.

I've been getting real uneven burns the last two times out where the half of the basket closest to the intake pretty much burns out while the back half isn't really lit. Had to stick my hand in there and rotate the basket around on Saturday or it seemed like the fire would have died. Haven't adjusted the intake in over a year and I'm lighting it the same way as I always have.

I'm now noticing smoke coming out of the lid. If I move the lid more to one side, the smoke will stop coming out where it was but instead leak out somewhere else. Don't think this is what is causing the bad burn pattern, but it's just started up at the same time. Last few cooks have had people remark that it doesn't taste as smoky...maybe just a coincidence as well but she ain't just chugging along easy like she used to.

Six racks of ribs were on for seven (!) hours on Saturday. I wound up taking the rebar out with three racks hanging on each and flipping them so the rack in the back could get some more of the heat closer to the intake. Regardless, I'm usually a five hour rib guy since I think I run my barrel a little lower temp wise but this is taking it too far. Two of the racks even needed more time in the smoker but I had to pull them since it was time to leave the house for the night.
Click to expand...

I too have been getting an uneven burn in my PBC. Like you, the side closest to the intake burns fully. I go out the next morning and the other side still has plenty of burned coal. Very odd as nothing has changed in regard to the barrel.
 
Stlsportster said:
By the way...just a point of order...



Welocme to page 500 of the PBC thread!



:clap2:
Click to expand...

And you still haven't overtaken the 4th place thread post spot! :tsk:

Just kiddin.....I appreciate all the help you've provided while I've been "away". I don't see an end in my situation any time soon so keep taking care of these folks brother! :thumb:
Again I appreciate you being a big part of keeping this thread active!
 
By the way.... I was thinking. When I joined this thread and got my PBC it was about a year and a half ago and the thread was only ~250 pages or so. I read ALL of them when I was thinking of buying and right after I ordered...

It would be really hard for someone to get through all 500 pages now. Andrew, Sako, Bob, Thingfish and I should put together a single document...like the Bandera 101. Most common issues, mods, fixes, how to half basket cook, raise the charcoal basket, lump vs kbb vs RO. You get the idea. Everyone could contribute.

Then someone doesn't have to read all 500 pages. We could just post the info somewhere.

Thoughts?
 
Stlsportster said:
By the way.... I was thinking. When I joined this thread and got my PBC it was about a year and a half ago and the thread was only ~250 pages or so. I read ALL of them when I was thinking of buying and right after I ordered...

It would be really hard for someone to get through all 500 pages now. Andrew, Sako, Bob, Thingfish and I should put together a single document...like the Bandera 101. Most common issues, mods, fixes, how to half basket cook, raise the charcoal basket, lump vs kbb vs RO. You get the idea. Everyone could contribute.

Then someone doesn't have to read all 500 pages. We could just post the info somewhere.

Thoughts?
Click to expand...

Not a bad idea. I know a lot of stuff gets repeated here. If a document were made I wonder if it could be attached to our signature? If so a few of us could attach it to our sig and refer people to download and read it from there.
I don't think creating another thread for the document would be a good idea because I think it'll cause newer people to post in that thread instead of here and essentially it could create 2 PBC threads...
 
Another option would be create a document with the common topics and questions. Post it here and create a link to the post in our signature. That would work I think....
 
Turkey Pastrami

Thingfish said:
Sounds like you have a pastrami plan, SS13 ... be sure to let us know how it turns out (and pics, pics, pics)!
Click to expand...

Well it cooked beautifully although in the beginning 1/2 my basket of coals seemed to kind of go out so I added a 1/4 chimney of hot coals in and then temps were better.

I have not tasted it just yet other than a small flap of meat that I hung and the of the hook. It was really good. I'll share cut pics a little later.
 

Attachments

  • IMG_20171120_210648.jpg
    IMG_20171120_210648.jpg
    81 KB · Views: 211
SS13 said:
Well it cooked beautifully although in the beginning 1/2 my basket of coals seemed to kind of go out so I added a 1/4 chimney of hot coals in and then temps were better.

I have not tasted it just yet other than a small flap of meat that I hung and the of the hook. It was really good. I'll share cut pics a little later.
Click to expand...

more pics

tastes delicious. super tender, great flavor. I can taste the sweetness of brown sugar, which balances nicely the bite of pepper and coriander.
 

Attachments

  • VID_20171116_124845.00_11_33_00.Still003.jpg
    VID_20171116_124845.00_11_33_00.Still003.jpg
    56.8 KB · Views: 208
  • VID_20171116_124845.00_11_49_09.Still002.jpg
    VID_20171116_124845.00_11_49_09.Still002.jpg
    54.8 KB · Views: 208
  • VID_20171116_124845.00_12_10_28.Still001.jpg
    VID_20171116_124845.00_12_10_28.Still001.jpg
    50.8 KB · Views: 210
Last edited:
I need PBC expert help from you guys please -

Doing a 14lb turkey and a 6lb costco half ham in the PBC, and I need to figure out the timing so I can get both done about the same time. I thought I'd start the turkey for an hour first (figure about 3 hours total for it), and then start the little boneless ham (about 2 hours I'm guessing for this). What do you suggest?
 
BecknCO said:
I need PBC expert help from you guys please -

Doing a 14lb turkey and a 6lb costco half ham in the PBC, and I need to figure out the timing so I can get both done about the same time. I thought I'd start the turkey for an hour first (figure about 3 hours total for it), and then start the little boneless ham (about 2 hours I'm guessing for this). What do you suggest?
Click to expand...


I think your timing sounds about right. The ham would stay hot for a long time wrapped in towel/cooler so if you got it done early that wouldn't be too big of a deal.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

T
Pit Boss Champion Barrel Smoker
Replies
3
Views
1K
Big Andy
B
motoeric
Pit Barrel WSM Hanging System
Replies
5
Views
929
SMOKE FREAK
SMOKE FREAK
motoeric
Pit Barrel Cooker PBX
Replies
1
Views
434
Bob C Cue
Bob C Cue
motoeric
EndGrain Cutting Board: REVIEW
Replies
5
Views
2K
Chett. L
Chett. L
sandro
Default A tiny pork coppa for pulled pork. Hill Country style on the Pit Barrel Cooker!
Replies
5
Views
313
Titch
Titch
Back
Top