Pit Barrel Cooker (PBC) Appreciation Thread

AClarke44 · Nov 3, 2015

bradymartin said:
if i got a pbc id rather not have to open and use thermapen to check meat. can i insert dot or chef alarm in meat and the wire wont get burned by the heat? the pbc doesnt cook indirect.

I'm not familiar with your thermometers but I use a Maverick et-733 with no issues. I just insert a probe through one of the rebar holes and hang it on the rebar. The picture below is how I use it. If I want to monitor meat temperature I'll do the same thing just insert a probe in the meat. It is direct heat but if you follow the lighting instructions and set the vent cap properly you'll be in the 260-330ish temp range. Plenty safe for a thermometer probe.

ssv3 · Nov 4, 2015

jsmorrow2s said:
also how long are the brisket cooks on the pbc? doing one on saturday and didnt know of approximate length of cook. 2 halved chickens take almost exactly 2 hours. shoulders 6-7 hours before rest period is how hot mine usually runs

bradymartin said:
im still intrigued by this thing.

i recently tried roadside chicken on my lodge hibachi and i liked the flavor. the drippings oil/fat from chicken dripped down to the coals, got vaporized and sort of flavored the chicken. does this cooker do pretty much the same thing?

also, i have a thermapen, a dot and a chef alarm.

if i got a pbc id rather not have to open and use thermapen to check meat. can i insert dot or chef alarm in meat and the wire wont get burned by the heat? the pbc doesnt cook indirect.

I'll second what Andrew said and Bradymartin, yes it "self bastes" the meat just like you described it.

Thingfish · Nov 4, 2015

bradymartin said:
im still intrigued by this thing.

i recently tried roadside chicken on my lodge hibachi and i liked the flavor. the drippings oil/fat from chicken dripped down to the coals, got vaporized and sort of flavored the chicken. does this cooker do pretty much the same thing?

also, i have a thermapen, a dot and a chef alarm.

if i got a pbc id rather not have to open and use thermapen to check meat. can i insert dot or chef alarm in meat and the wire wont get burned by the heat? the pbc doesnt cook indirect.

Yes, either the Dot or the ChefAlarm work fine and the wire doesn't burn (it will get blackened a bit by the smoke). The cable feeds nicely through the rebar holes of the PBC. And the PBC does cook indirect, it just does it in an unconventional way. The entire barrel become a solid column of heat, with no hot spots or cool spots.

Fwismoker · Nov 4, 2015

Hey I'm gotta do a decent sized cook and they want mostly chicken quarters. Most likely I have to cook about 60 quarters but not all at once, it will be done in batches.

My plan is to cook about 20-22 at once very H&F... I wonder if I can fit 20-22 quarters on 3 rods in the UDS? :noidea: It'll be interesting...the cook is Saturday and i'll post pics if anyone is interested in seeing if I can cram that many in there! LOL The plan is to spog rug and then baste them with Carolina sauce to finish.

AClarke44 · Nov 4, 2015

Fwismoker said:
Hey I'm gotta do a decent sized cook and they want mostly chicken quarters. Most likely I have to cook about 60 quarters but not all at once, it will be done in batches.

My plan is to cook about 20-22 at once very H&F... I wonder if I can fit 20-22 quarters on 3 rods in the UDS? :noidea: It'll be interesting...the cook is Saturday and i'll post pics if anyone is interested in seeing if I can cram that many in there! LOL The plan is to spog rug and then baste them with Carolina sauce to finish.

7 quarters per rod? I think you'll have plenty of room. Your UDS is the 55 gal drum, right? Or are you talkin about your "Jimmy"?

lonestar8302 · Nov 6, 2015

Getting ready to do brisket #3 this weekend, and I'm a little worried. #1 was fantastic, melt in your mouth awesomeness, but #2 was dry and a little tough. The only thing that saved it was the pot of homemade beans my wife made (because of all the bean juice). #1 was 6.3 lb flat, 7 hours cook time and I pulled it off at a temp of 215 (never pulled one off that high before). #2 was 7.3lb flat, 5.5 hours cooking pulled with a temp of 207. At first I thought I somehow overcooked #2, but looking back (cook was 10 Oct) it didn't pass the "knife in hot butter" test, so now I'm thinking it just wasn't done and I should've let it go higher like #1. Which seems wierd to me because the dozen brisket flat's I've done on my weber kettle were all falling apart at 205.

Just thinking out loud here. Hope everyone has a good weekend!

Fwismoker · Nov 6, 2015

AClarke44 said:
7 quarters per rod? I think you'll have plenty of room. Your UDS is the 55 gal drum, right? Or are you talkin about your "Jimmy"?

Yea it's gonna be the 55 size....what i was thinking was it should take up about as much size as doing halves so I wasn't sure. Who knows maybe I can fit 24-25 quarters, but just in case I think I'll take the jimmy as a back up.

I gotta do hotdogs too so what i'm planning is cooking them hanging them to basically done and maybe glaze them and sear it on my wood fired grill because i'm dragging that along to cook the hotdogs...but dogs only take 5 minutes or so on there.

Should be a fun cook, I just hope it goes smooth.

jsmorrow2s · Nov 6, 2015

Edit: Nice cooks you posted there. Is the top one a pepper stout beef?[/QUOTE said:
yeah the top one was pepper beef stout and the bottom one was a garlic herb chicken with rosemary and season potatoes

Beach Brian · Nov 6, 2015

Waiting for the turkey attachment and grill grate to come in (hopefully tomorrow). Thought I'd try a turkey this weekend. Any pointers on cooking times with a probe?

Fwismoker · Nov 6, 2015

AClarke44 said:
7 quarters per rod? I think you'll have plenty of room. Your UDS is the 55 gal drum, right? Or are you talkin about your "Jimmy"?

Andrew here's what i got, It's notched so I can just pull out the rods..figured it'd be nice to be able to pull in case of the need to refuel because i'm gonna cook pretty hot. Drilled holes around the perimeter so that should even out the heat.

AClarke44 · Nov 6, 2015

Fwismoker said:
Andrew here's what i got, It's notched so I can just pull out the rods..figured it'd be nice to be able to pull in case of the need to refuel because i'm gonna cook pretty hot. Drilled holes around the perimeter so that should even out the heat.

Did ebijack make that?

AClarke44 · Nov 6, 2015

lonestar8302 said:
Getting ready to do brisket #3 this weekend, and I'm a little worried. #1 was fantastic, melt in your mouth awesomeness, but #2 was dry and a little tough. The only thing that saved it was the pot of homemade beans my wife made (because of all the bean juice). #1 was 6.3 lb flat, 7 hours cook time and I pulled it off at a temp of 215 (never pulled one off that high before). #2 was 7.3lb flat, 5.5 hours cooking pulled with a temp of 207. At first I thought I somehow overcooked #2, but looking back (cook was 10 Oct) it didn't pass the "knife in hot butter" test, so now I'm thinking it just wasn't done and I should've let it go higher like #1. Which seems wierd to me because the dozen brisket flat's I've done on my weber kettle were all falling apart at 205.

Just thinking out loud here. Hope everyone has a good weekend!

If it was dry and crumbling it was over cooked. If it was dry and tough it was under cooked. I don't have a ton of experience with brisket but I've read that 100 times here. Another thing I read a bunch (and do) is only use temperature as a guage to know when to start probing for tenderness but always go by feel and not temperature to tell when the brisket is done.

One last thing. Try cooking a smaller full packer. I do the 11-12 lb ones. They turn out great! A flat will not be as juicy by itself.

Fwismoker · Nov 6, 2015

AClarke44 said:
Did ebijack make that?

No this was me. I stumbled on those these rings one day and just so happened one fit the drum really well so I just notched it out and drilled vent holes....pretty simple.

AClarke44 · Nov 6, 2015

Fwismoker said:
No this was me. I stumbled on those these rings one day and just so happened one fit the drum really well so I just notched it out and drilled vent holes....pretty simple.

Oops! I gave ebijack credit......Well nice work Keith! :thumb:

lonestar8302 · Nov 6, 2015

AClarke44 said:
If it was dry and crumbling it was over cooked. If it was dry and tough it was under cooked. I don't have a ton of experience with brisket but I've read that 100 times here. Another thing I read a bunch (and do) is only use temperature as a guage to know when to start probing for tenderness but always go by feel and not temperature to tell when the brisket is done.

One last thing. Try cooking a smaller full packer. I do the 11-12 lb ones. They turn out great! A flat will not be as juicy by itself.

Thanks! Supposedly one of the other commissaries on island have full packers, but my base only has the flats. Next time I'm down south I'll have to stop and look. Never done a full packer before.

AClarke44 · Nov 6, 2015

lonestar8302 said:
Thanks! Supposedly one of the other commissaries on island have full packers, but my base only has the flats. Next time I'm down south I'll have to stop and look. Never done a full packer before.

Just noticed your in Japan. Kadena? AWACS?

lonestar8302 · Nov 6, 2015

AClarke44 said:
Just noticed your in Japan. Kadena? AWACS?

Yep! Kadena, F-16 crew chief stuck on an F-15 base.

AClarke44 · Nov 6, 2015

lonestar8302 said:
Yep! Kadena, F-16 crew chief stuck on an F-15 base.

Cool! I'm a retired Comm Tech......use to fly on the E-3

lonestar8302 · Nov 7, 2015

#3 turned out very well!

AClarke44 · Nov 7, 2015

lonestar8302 said:
#3 turned out very well!

Yeah that looks great! Nice job! :thumb:

Pit Barrel Cooker (PBC) Appreciation Thread

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