Pit Barrel Cooker (PBC) Appreciation Thread

Can’t believe it’s the first time for brisket this season. But off we go.

stickbit said:

curious how much charcoal to start with...looks like Ry uses about 3/4 full of small weber chimney...but not positive?

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i'm finding i have to use a full load of briquettes in a small weber chimney and then give it 10 minutes with the lid off before i put the meat in otherwise temps are too low. but that was my problem before i tried the coffee can startup so as long as i give it some time i can get consistent fires to cook over.

hooch, that looks like a HUGE brisket! what's the weight on it and how long did you have it in the PBC?

thanks Goose - and that makes perfect sense!

Is there something wrong with the forum? Have not received posts since Aug 16.

I've been doing a bastard keto diet for my wedding in October. Started June 1st and basically cut out all carbs and sugar for about six weeks. Then I cheated once a week for like three weeks and now I'm doing something fun at least once a weekend. Lost 25 pounds and now I'll be 208-210 on Friday and 213-215 come Monday. Rinse and repeat.


Point of the story is that I've been using the PBC every weekend so there is a ton of meat in the fridge all week. Losing 25 pounds on a diet of ribs, tri-tip, naked fatties, thighs and sausage is pretty cool.


One thing I discovered regarding my temps is that it is necessary to clean the pit out. I had never done it before; it appears drippings and whatnot were causing airflow issues at the intake. I took a small shovel and chiseled all the gunk out: been working like it is supposed to--i.e. 4 hour ribs v. 5 1/2-6 hours--ever since. I've also been using two lighter cubes under the chimney with around 38 Weber briquettes and letting it run for 20 minutes or so. These bad boys are pretty ashed over for the most part once I pour them in the basket. I am still doing an all-over pour but I do concentrate more of the dump towards the portion of the basket that is furthest from the intake.


It's been working like a champ. I'll do my lower temp cuts first and then crack the lid a bit for sausages, thighs, fatties etc. Putting out a ton of food each cook but the fire is still strong enough for more cooking if needed. Pretty awesome.

Delicious way to lose weight

BillR said:

Is there something wrong with the forum? Have not received posts since Aug 16.

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there were no posts since 8/16 in the PBC thread til the dieting BK (congrats on the weight loss btw; i am currently in my 4th straight failing month of the beer & ice cream diet) posted yesterday. i haven't added any posts because my PBC cooks have been a lil disappointing lately. i find i'm liking pork & chicken off of it but beef not so much. made some elk jerky the other day and threw it out. checked at 1 hour and not done; overdone at 90 minutes. gonna stick with 6-8 hours in a dehydrator. that said, i'm going to needle & soak some petite sirloins in a teriyaki marinade this morning and hang them this afternoon and then watch some football while strictly adhering to my diet for the rest of the night.

Pork Belly is on the diet this week.

Just finished 3 small boneless chuck roasts to use for some shedded beef and still had enough coals to then smoke six lbs of boneless chicken breasts. I am fairly certain I could still nail some seafood of some kind if I has some here. Temp settled around 280 and rolled smoke. :clap2:

Hope everyone is well.

delete

Bought something called a beef shoulder roast at Smart & Final this weekend. Costco has not had briskets all summer and I wanted pulled beef. Want sure if this bad boy would do the trick or how to cook it so I just went for it and treated it like a brisket.

No fat to trim, really, so the yield is wild. Did 5 hours hanging, two hours in foil and off the smoker at 200IT. I didn't vent it but immediately wrapped it in more foil, a few towels and stuck it in a cooler. Had a thing to go to so I wound up holding it until I got home at 2AM, meaning it was in the cooler for nine hours.

It worked! $35-40 for 13 pounds. PBC crushes everything thrown at it.

That really looks nice and tender! I am going to have to give beef roast a try.

Oh man this is amazing! Suckling pig in the PBC https://youtu.be/Hga_SN1LqSM

PBJ back in stock for those of you who want the smaller one.

70monte said:

PBJ back in stock for those of you who want the smaller one.

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Beat me to it.

Looking back, I realize that I've never used my PBC skewers. This afternoon, I plan to do so. Bought a nice 1.68 lb sirloin and cubed it up. Quartered a couple of small yellow onions and cut up some red, yellow and orange peppers. The meat and veggies are sitting in the fridge in ziplocks, after being tossed in olive oil and Blackstone steakhouse seasoning.


Having never hung skewers in the PBC, I'm pondering over the best way to do so...and am not up to re-reading 650 pages of PBC appreciation. I'm thinking that I wanna go hot n fast, so I am planning to open the intake all the way and using only a Weber full-size chimney of lit coals...no unlit and no wood chunks.
Does this sound about right? TIA

I've used my skewers once when I was making kabobs. Turned out great. I just left the vents alone and cooked them like I cook everything.

70monte said:

I've used my skewers once when I was making kabobs. Turned out great. I just left the vents alone and cooked them like I cook everything.

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Do you remember approximately how long it took? I'll basically be looking for probe tender and the 130-135 IT range. The meat cubes are roughly 1.75" squared. Just trying to time it for halftime of the Panthers/49ers game.