Pit Barrel Cooker (PBC) Appreciation Thread

[Fwismoker]

Originally Posted by AClarke44

Trying a new thing with coals. Oh and I couldn't help myself today. Bought a twin KBB, a Kingsford Hickory, and a Kingsford Apple. I'll get more Stubbs later but Walmart was out when I went. I'll use the KBB for burgers and hotdogs.
Anyway my experiment was blocking half of the coal basket with firebrick and filling only half of it for a short cook.....I'm doing chicken. You can see in the pics below how I did it. I used Kingsford Hickory with a chunk of apple wood. Also put a few pieces of small lump in the coals. I lit 34 coals and dumped them over the top. Also below you can see a method of cracking the lid to get a hotter temp I've used. Although i had to remove the rod and let the lid close with the rod out because it hit 340 with my current intake setting. I like 300-325 when doing chicken and i didnt want mess with the intake. It's coming back down now and is at 324. We'll see where it settles. About 10-15 min before it's done I will place the rod and lid like pictured again to ramp up the temp so I can get crispy skin.

Edit: I forgot to mention I'm using the PBC all purpose rub. I usually use plow boys yard bird but I wanted to try the all purpose

What's with veering from the pbc guideline gospel? I thought the beauty of it is that it doesn't need maverick wires and all those other manipulations....now I'm really confused.

[sam3]

Originally Posted by AClarke44

Trying a new thing with coals. Oh and I couldn't help myself today. Bought a twin KBB, a Kingsford Hickory, and a Kingsford Apple. I'll get more Stubbs later but Walmart was out when I went. I'll use the KBB for burgers and hotdogs.
Anyway my experiment was blocking half of the coal basket with firebrick and filling only half of it for a short cook.....I'm doing chicken. You can see in the pics below how I did it. I used Kingsford Hickory with a chunk of apple wood. Also put a few pieces of small lump in the coals. I lit 34 coals and dumped them over the top. Also below you can see a method of cracking the lid to get a hotter temp I've used. Although i had to remove the rod and let the lid close with the rod out because it hit 340 with my current intake setting. I like 300-325 when doing chicken and i didnt want mess with the intake. It's coming back down now and is at 324. We'll see where it settles. About 10-15 min before it's done I will place the rod and lid like pictured again to ramp up the temp so I can get crispy skin.

Edit: I forgot to mention I'm using the PBC all purpose rub. I usually use plow boys yard bird but I wanted to try the all purpose

Great post and tutorial Andrew. There is a lot of useful info in this thread, keep up the good work.

[AClarke44]

Thanks sam3. I was hoping this thread would provide just that, lots of tips, tricks, and useful information for PBC owners to learn about.

So my chicken turned out pretty good. I have to admit though it wasn't my best. Unfortunately I don't know what the total reason was because I did just about everything different. Now I see why Aaron Franklin says only change one thing in a cook to determine if you like something better or not....lol. I used different coal, different rub, and it was my first chicken in the PBC. Before I bought the PBC I cooked chickens on my kettle using Stubbs and apple wood. I rubbed them with yard bird. Those always turn out great. Since I've pretty much been able to duplicate other cooks in the PBC with at least equal flavor I'm going to say it was either the coal I used (Kingsford hickory) or just that I like the yard bird rub better.

Now having said all that let me say that the chicken did taste very good and was very very juicy, probably the juiciest I've made! The PBC settled in at about 310-315 with one rod pulled out. The last 15 minutes I put the rod under the lid to create more exhaust (as pictured a few posts earlier). This brought the temp to 350 which did a good job giving me crispy skin. Here's how it turned out.

[bodog]

Originally Posted by Fwismoker

What's with veering from the pbc guideline gospel? I thought the beauty of it is that it doesn't need maverick wires and all those other manipulations....now I'm really confused.

Obviously he's trying to perfect perfection. I look at him as the Albert Einstein of the PBC

Or should that be the Andrew Einstein of the PBC?

[Bob C Cue]

Looks good Andrew. PBC makes the best and juciest chicken on earth.

[Fwismoker]

Originally Posted by Bob C Cue

Looks good Andrew. PBC makes the best and juciest chicken on earth.

You're right Bob....hanging in the pbc is way.better than hanging in anything else, and way way better than rotisserie. I gotta say it's the best galaxy!

[AClarke44]

Originally Posted by bodog

Obviously he's trying to perfect perfection. I look at him as the Albert Einstein of the PBC

Or should that be the Andrew Einstein of the PBC?

Who me!? lol. I appreciate the compliment but I'm just learning like everyone else....But it's fun to experiment too!

[jjjonz]

Originally Posted by AClarke44

Trying a new thing with coals. Oh and I couldn't help myself today. Bought a twin KBB, a Kingsford Hickory, and a Kingsford Apple. I'll get more Stubbs later but Walmart was out when I went. I'll use the KBB for burgers and hotdogs.
Anyway my experiment was blocking half of the coal basket with firebrick and filling only half of it for a short cook.....I'm doing chicken. You can see in the pics below how I did it. I used Kingsford Hickory with a chunk of apple wood. Also put a few pieces of small lump in the coals. I lit 34 coals and dumped them over the top. Also below you can see a method of cracking the lid to get a hotter temp I've used. Although i had to remove the rod and let the lid close with the rod out because it hit 340 with my current intake setting. I like 300-325 when doing chicken and i didnt want mess with the intake. It's coming back down now and is at 324. We'll see where it settles. About 10-15 min before it's done I will place the rod and lid like pictured again to ramp up the temp so I can get crispy skin.

Edit: I forgot to mention I'm using the PBC all purpose rub. I usually use plow boys yard bird but I wanted to try the all purpose

Andrew I like the brick idea....now I can put my charcoal basket back in my mini.

[AClarke44]

Originally Posted by jjjonz

Andrew I like the brick idea....now I can put my charcoal basket back in my mini.

That's funny....I liked your smaller basket idea but I didn't have any expanded metal. Just had fire bricks so I did it that way. One thing I did notice using that method is if you wanted to adjust the meat to not drip on the coals you could. Just another possibility.

[Bob C Cue]

Thought I would share this recent review from Amazon on the benefits of the PBC:


Best I have ever owned!

Having been a professional chef and BBQ enthusiast most of my life, I have owned and done it all when it comes to BBQ. Kettle grills, gas grills, eggs, you name it, at one point in time I have owned it. Prior to receiving this item as a gift from a friend, I owned a BGE, and while I liked it, I spent too much time constantly tinkering with it to get the airflow just right, and that got old. It got so old that the BGE just sat there without being used. Then I got the PBC, and I am now using it at least twice a week, and year around. I have cooked ribs, brisket, pork butts, pork loins, chicken, burgers, brauts, hot links, steaks of all kinds (NY, Ribeye, Skirt, Flank, Tri-Tip, Hanger, etc), turkey, duck, venison, bison, pizza, and I have even made flat breads and pita's on it. Oh, and you don't have to mess with it. Load the briquettes, light it, load it, and leave it. How can you go wrong? You get the picture by now, I LOVE THIS THING

[highergr0und]

Maybe I should try it for stuff that's not hung..... Contemplating trying wings on it this week

[Bob C Cue]

I just finished watching the first episode of Steven Raichlen's new show called "Project Smoke" on PBS. He cooked chicken halves on the the PBC and got a nice mahogany color and super crisp skin by basting the birds twice with butter during the cook. I will have to give that a try. We all know already how flavorful and juicy PBC chicken is, and with this method it might turn out even better if possible! Happy Fourth everyone!

[Fwismoker]

Originally Posted by Bob C Cue

I just finished watching the first episode of Steven Raichlen's new show called "Project Smoke" on PBS. He cooked chicken halves on the the PBC and got a nice mahogany color and super crisp skin by basting the birds twice with butter during the cook. I will have to give that a try. We all know already how flavorful and juicy PBC chicken is, and with this method it might turn out even better if possible! Happy Fourth everyone!

That sounds wonderful Bob....you think i could do close to as good in my jimmy? No way the rotisserie could do that I'm sure.

[Thingfish]

Originally Posted by Fwismoker

You're right Bob....hanging in the pbc is way.better than hanging in anything else, and way way better than rotisserie. I gotta say it's the best galaxy!

It sure would be nice if people who don't appreciate the Pit Barrel Cooker would refrain from posting in the Pit Barrel Cooker Appreciation thread. All the subtle put-downs aren't cute. They aren't relevant and they detract from the thread. Why would someone want to crap on an appreciation thread?

[Fwismoker]

Originally Posted by Thingfish

It sure would be nice if people who don't appreciate the Pit Barrel Cooker would refrain from posting in the Pit Barrel Cooker Appreciation thread. All the subtle put-downs aren't cute. They aren't relevant and they detract from the thread. Why would someone want to crap on an appreciation thread?

No Bob is convincing me, he's popping in a bunch of threads convincing me.