AClarke44
Babbling Farker
I haven't seen or heard of anyone here doing it. Have you seen this?
http://pitbarrelcooker.com/videos/lobster-tails
Pit Barrel Cooker (PBC) Appreciation Thread
- Thread starter AClarke44
- Start date
I haven't seen or heard of anyone here doing it. Have you seen this?
http://pitbarrelcooker.com/videos/lobster-tails
jjjonz
Take a breath!
Cibelo , thanks for posting your time and temps. I think you got it started nice and hot like your should and temps run like they should. I think some people start and the coals aren't hot enough. Those ribs look fine...keep up the good work.
Deebo
Full Fledged Farker
Sweet!! I'll have to head over to a Bass Pro and pick some up!
Deebo
Full Fledged Farker
I'm about to fire up the PBC for a chicken cook. I'm only doing one bird split into two halves. Do I really need to fill the coal basket all the way up just for that? I'd like to not waste the coals.
AClarke44
Babbling Farker
No, you can bank them on one side. Just make sure you light about the same amount of coal you normally would to start. I use fire brick to bank the coals......Here's what I do for short cooks.
Attachments
Deebo
Full Fledged Farker
Ill have to see what I have laying around that I can use to bank the coal to the side like that.
AClarke44
Babbling Farker
I don't think it's absolutely necessary to use bricks, just makes it easier. I'd just pour what you can to one side then pull out 34-40 briqs from the basket light them up and pour back over the stuff left .
Also, I've never had issues with temp drops, but if you bank your coals and notice temperature drops, crack your lid just a tad. Other than banking your coaks, start up everything else as you normally would.
Deebo
Full Fledged Farker
Would keeping the lid off for the startup help get temps high and keep em up there since the coals would be good and going when I put the chicken in?
AClarke44
Babbling Farker
That's not how I usually do it but I don't have the dropping temp problem some people in humid areas and close to sea level have. If you have those issues then yeah I'd keep the lid off for about 15 min after putting your lit coals in.
Here's my lighting process:
Fill basket full of coals (half full banked to one side for short cooks)
Take out 36 and put in a weber mini chimney (36 helps me maintain 275°ish)
Bury 2-3 wood chunks in the unlit coals and leave one extra wood chunk on top of unlit.
Put coal basket with unlit coals into PBC.
Light the 36 coals in chimney until 90% are glowing red and ashed over
Pour hot coals over the unlit and wood chunk
Wait about 10-30 sec for smoke to get going good and put lid on PBC.
Go prepare food
After food is prepared and assuming it's been a minimum of 15 minutes since placing lid on PBC I hang my meat.
Usually the temperature is anywhere between 270-305° when I hang the meat. Within about 15-20 min I'm settled in at somewhere between 265-285.
Edit: understand I monitor temps in my PBC with a probe thermometer. But I've done the process enough I probably wouldn't have to anymore. My OCD won't let me take the probe out though....lol
Deebo
Full Fledged Farker
Thanks for the advice. I only have one probe and I usually use that for ITs but I'm gonna get the Maverick 733 next week so I'll monitor grill temps then. I'm gonna follow your startup procedure and let ya know how it works out for me.
SimcoBBQ
Full Fledged Farker
In honor of this PBC thread hitting 100 pages I ordered a new Porcelain coated PBC to replace my old one! Well I actually wanted the new ash pan but saw where they had a drum and lid only to replace the old one.
jefferson10940
Knows what a fatty is.
I had to pick up the ash attachment, got delivered yesterday. I will give it a go this weekend and let you know what i think. I have been just dumping out the ashes once they were cool, but this seems easier if it works. I have no reason to believe that it would not work as I have been impressed with all of Noah's products so far!
Deebo
Full Fledged Farker
Does the ash can now come with new PBC orders?
Cibelo
Full Fledged Farker
Thanks. I read that Noah preferred lighter fluid and I figured that most of the coals would start that way. That's why I wait for everything to get started good, When I didn't wait I had falling temps, below 245 in an hour to hour and a half. I'm going to try less than 40 coals to see what that does.
AClarke44
Babbling Farker
That's awesome Simco! I think you'll like your new porcelain coated one a little better. It just seems to be a tad more stable with temps..... I didn't realize we hit 100 pages until your post! :thumb:....TThis is a quickly growing thread for sure! We need more people to vote on the rating of this thread up in the top right corner where it shows the gold stars!
AClarke44
Babbling Farker
Cibelo, I'm not sure lighting less than 40 will help you but I guess it's worth a try. I'm sure you've seen this post but just in case check this out:
http://www.bbq-brethren.com/forum/showpost.php?p=3303263&postcount=801
Only other thing that may help is using a paper clip opened up and placed on top of the barrel so when you put the lid on it leaves a slight gap. I'm wondering if the humidity in areas like yours requires the PBC to need more exhaust. The paperclip would give it just a bit more but not so much to cause the temp to spike.....at least in theory it sounds like it could work. :becky:
Thingfish
is Blowin Smoke!
I ordered my ash catcher, received it and used it last night for a chicken/ribs cook. It is easy to use and to remove and clean. If a body was handy with a few tools one could be made fairly easily. I will try to post a photo and some measurements for those interested.
AClarke44
Babbling Farker
I only do that on short cooks say 3 hrs or less. Usually chicken, tri-tip, ect. I just do it to save on coal. I usually place the coals closest to the vent cap.
One other thing it does is allows you to keep drippings off the coals or minimize it if you want.
Deebo
Full Fledged Farker
How do beef ribs turn out on the PBC? The gf has requested that I do some soon.
