Pit Barrel Cooker (PBC) Appreciation Thread

TexArlina BBQ said:

Came out of the pit looking nice!

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Sliced and plated

First PBC Brisket Cook

Love the PBC thread. I get inspiration (and hunger) from all your hard work.

I smoked my first brisket on the PBC yesterday and had some questions for the group. (previous cooks: Baby backs, chicken and twin pork butts.)

It seems that the temp in my PBC will drop off dramatically within the 1st 2 hours. The charts on previous cooks were very similar to this.

I don't know what to attribute this to but so far the cooks have all come out very well despite this "problem".

I actually spoke with Noah (PBC owner and a nice guy to talk to) prior to yesterday about this and he suggested that the Kingsford Charcoal may have been a bit moist.
He also suggested that I open the "gate" more than factory recommended although I don't think this matters much except for those at higher elevations. (I'm at 76')

As this has happened before, at the low temp point I added a bit more coal (unlit) and I prop the lid open by hanging a #12 copper wire over the edge. This usually gets the temperature firing back up and I was running high 300's for the last 4 hours of the cook.

Brisket summary:
4.5 hours hanging to 160
wrapped
1.5 hours to 200
Held for 1+ hour in cooler
Delicious

Looking forward to my next cook. Will have to try a new supplier for the Kingsford to see if that make a difference.

Anybody experience the temp drop?
How long have your typical brisket cooks taken?

Cheers!
Andy

Thingfish said:

You must get the coal bed lit correctly. It sounds like you are on the right track there. Some like to make a "hole" in the center of the charcoal basket and dump the 35-40 lit coals in there. I prefer to spread the coals more or less evenly. The rebar then must be in and the lid on and you can begin cooking immediately.

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I think this is what I'm going to try on next cook, the vent halfway open. I have the mini Weber chimney starter but I always get atleast 35 coals in there. Im going to do a two step approach, let the coals heat up for 20-25 mins as opposed to the guided 15mins, that along with the vent halfway will hopefully help.

AClarke44 said:

You are having a fairly common problem those at sea level and high humidity areas have sometimes. Short answer is yes open your vent cap to 1/2 open. But click on this link for a full description. I spoke to Noah over the phone about this back in July.
http://www.bbq-brethren.com/forum/showpost.php?p=3303263&postcount=801

Let us know if it helps! :thumb:

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Thanks, checked the link. I've used about 3 different 20LB bags of Kingsford but the result always seems to be the same.

Will keep you guys posted.

ATM it sounds like it's starving for air. I would try to open the inlet a bit more to promote a better burn. Humidity etc. can have as big or bigger affect than elevation. Also, make sure you don't have any leftover ash from the previous cook that would negatively impact air flow.

Edit: Don't mind me, it looks like the other fellers already answered with valuable info similar to this.

Has anyone ever made any videos about this PBC thing? It looks like nothing Korean a glorified drum cooker. Ur never catch me near something so candy assed looking.

Has anyone ever made a video in which they seem somewhat possessed by e power of the PBC... then walked around all bummed like... Looking at their other rusting smokers..... Only to release 3000 gallons of water across a lawn which caused the PBC TO FLOAT as they ran to try and beat it off camera? I would like to see someone make a film like that... But who has e time?

You might try to make one T.lol

jjjonz said:

You might try to make one T.lol

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U challenging me mutha farker? Huh?

Pitmaster T said:

Has anyone ever made any videos about this PBC thing? It looks like nothing Korean a glorified drum cooker. Ur never catch me near something so candy assed looking.

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I know some farker "Popdaddy's BBQ" IIRC did :becky:

i cant make any more videos with it though. I have an HD camera now.... my P BC is rusted all to hell but cooks great. I would hate to make somebody not want a PBC because it looked all crappy...but the inside is nice and greasy. mmmm

I really like Gyros and after seeing this:

http://www.patiodaddiobbq.com/2010/09/gyros-on-grill.html

I decided to give it a try on the PBC. I mostly stuck to that recipe but went a little heavier on the spices and also put the meat/spice mixture in the food processor before cooking to get a more uniform texture. It came out really well, had them for dinner last night and again for lunch just now. I think it's even better the next day.

sliced up last night


lunch today with some roasted potatoes

On Saturday I had a brisket tutorial cook for some of my friends that have picked up a PBC. We planned on a get together at one of my friends' ranch property to cover the brisket from A-Z. They all agreed that the info I gave them goes from one ear and out of the other so a "hands on" cook and a visual would be much better. Was a really fun time.

PBC doing its thing while we enjoy a few cold ones and shoot sh*t





Done



Plated



Some burnt ends (not a great pic)

That's the Way!!!

Looks like that PBC will cook with the best of them. Wow that's a fine looking brisket.

AClarke44 said:

Sako taken'm to school! Lol. Very nice! :thumb:

I had to put my brisket in the freezer to cook another day. Things didn't work out as planned this weekend. But don't worry I'll cook it up soon. I didn't go to Sako's school but I can still make a pretty good PBC brisket! Lol :becky:

dfinn, nice gyros bro! :thumb:

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:bow:

Thanks Andrew!! I know sometimes things don't go as planned. Neighbors were supposed to come over last night when I got a call from a friends mom with terrible news of his death. Naturally, I canceled everything and headed out. Only 35 years old. RIP So long as it's nothing like that. Makes you pause, appreciate and give thanks the man upstairs for everything you've got.


On to happier things and the brisket tutorial. Like I've said I have a quite a few friends and some of their friends having a ton of questions on brisket. It started with me explaining the procedure of the brisket and when they heard words like packer, flat, point, butcher paper vs foil, IT.... each of them stared at me and said "What the fark are you talking about?" Clearly I knew that we had to plan a day of schooling so we did. Lots of fun. :doh: After it was said and done they all said it helped them out a whole lot and they now can give it a shot themselves and at least had an idea what to do. I covered the brisket grades, where to buy it from, packer vs flat, the trim, seasoning, temps and control blah blah blah.....


Good times!