Pit Barrel Cooker (PBC) Appreciation Thread

[jsmorrow2s]

that looks awesome andrew!

[jsmorrow2s]

a quick question for all of you pbc owners out there. i received my pbc on tuesday of last week, and had my first cook on thursday. ended up doing a whole chicken cut into halves, and i also hung a pound of hickory smoked bacon from the local butcher to "season" the inside. the chicken was extremely juicy and the flavoring was good, then i halved 4 homegrown green peppers and stuffed it was sausage and used the grill grate to cook those... and then there was this weird aftertaste. like it was nauseating and even after brushing my teeth, it wouldnt go away. my fiance said it kind of reminded her of a metallic/paintlike taste.

i was just wondering if that was a one time/first time use thing and now that it has been cooked on and "seasoned" it shouldnt happen anymore or do you think it will continue to happen??? i used kbb and did everything the manual said to do using the chimney method (fill basket up level, remove 40 briguettes, light wait 13-15 minutes and pour coals in and begin cook immediately)

[snapper-G]

I never experienced anything like you describe from my PBC. I would think the variables were the peppers and sausage.

[AClarke44]

Thanks jjonz

Thanks jsmorrow

Thanks Sako! I'm just trying to get to your level of cookin!

[jsmorrow2s]

the peppers with sausage were put on after the chicken and bacon were pulled.

[Fwismoker]

Originally Posted by jsmorrow2s

a quick question for all of you pbc owners out there. i received my pbc on tuesday of last week, and had my first cook on thursday. ended up doing a whole chicken cut into halves, and i also hung a pound of hickory smoked bacon from the local butcher to "season" the inside. the chicken was extremely juicy and the flavoring was good, then i halved 4 homegrown green peppers and stuffed it was sausage and used the grill grate to cook those... and then there was this weird aftertaste. like it was nauseating and even after brushing my teeth, it wouldnt go away. my fiance said it kind of reminded her of a metallic/paintlike taste.

i was just wondering if that was a one time/first time use thing and now that it has been cooked on and "seasoned" it shouldnt happen anymore or do you think it will continue to happen??? i used kbb and did everything the manual said to do using the chimney method (fill basket up level, remove 40 briguettes, light wait 13-15 minutes and pour coals in and begin cook immediately)

This isn't a PBC thing it's a bad fire set up thing. Ron is the only person that does the best fire setup in a pbc.

What i call "mish mash" minion is what gave you the problem. You want a small hot fire....NOT an all over smoldering fire. Some that do the mish mash won't have as much problem if they wait a while before putting on meat.

Do what Ron does and...fill up your basket, remove a hole in the middle and use that in your chimney. Put grayed coals back in that middle spot. Small hot fire is a complete combustion in that spot, the outlying coals will get a chance to heat up and combust more easily as it burns.

[AClarke44]

Originally Posted by jsmorrow2s

a quick question for all of you pbc owners out there. i received my pbc on tuesday of last week, and had my first cook on thursday. ended up doing a whole chicken cut into halves, and i also hung a pound of hickory smoked bacon from the local butcher to "season" the inside. the chicken was extremely juicy and the flavoring was good, then i halved 4 homegrown green peppers and stuffed it was sausage and used the grill grate to cook those... and then there was this weird aftertaste. like it was nauseating and even after brushing my teeth, it wouldnt go away. my fiance said it kind of reminded her of a metallic/paintlike taste.

i was just wondering if that was a one time/first time use thing and now that it has been cooked on and "seasoned" it shouldnt happen anymore or do you think it will continue to happen??? i used kbb and did everything the manual said to do using the chimney method (fill basket up level, remove 40 briguettes, light wait 13-15 minutes and pour coals in and begin cook immediately)

Did you put the stuffed peppers on the same fire after the chicken and bacon or was that a different cook?

[AClarke44]

Originally Posted by Fwismoker

This isn't a PBC thing it's a bad fire set up thing. Ron is the only person that does the best fire setup in a pbc.

What i call "mish mash" minion is what gave you the problem. You want a small hot fire....NOT an all over smoldering fire. Some that do the mish mash won't have as much problem if they wait a while before putting on meat.

Do what Ron does and...fill up your basket, remove a hole in the middle and use that in your chimney. Put grayed coals back in that middle spot. Small hot fire is a complete combustion in that spot, the outlying coals will get a chance to heat up and combust more easily as it burns.

Sorry Keith but I've setup the coals BOTH ways (the way Ron describes and what you are calling mish mash) and there's no difference in the how the coals end up burning or the flavor you get on the food.
I will agree that if the stuffed peppers were a completely new cook he needed to wait 15-20 minutes after dumping in hot coals for the PBC to settle in to its cook temperature before putting food on. But that's any cooker....

[Fwismoker]

Originally Posted by AClarke44

Sorry Keith but I've setup the coals BOTH ways (the way Ron describes and what you are calling mish mash) and there's no difference in the how the coals end up burning or the flavor you get on the food.
I will agree that if the stuffed peppers were a completely new cook he needed to wait 15-20 minutes after dumping in hot coals for the PBC to settle in to its cook temperature before putting food on. But that's any cooker....

Andrew....mish mash is BAD ......BUT how long someone waits before cooking depends on if it's noticeable.

Small hot fire method is what you want for the best taste and it's not even debatable. The science of burning coals doesn't change in a PBC, the better the fire the better the taste.

He was getting what sounds like the typical bad charcoal creosote taste. (if the peppers were on later then it's something else)

I know the PBC crew thinks Noah is all knowing but his directions for spreading the coals around is not good advice. It might work if people wait for the fire to establish some but you most definitely can improve flavor doing it different.

If the peppers were put in after the fire was established then it was something else but i still stand by starting the cooker better. He could have had some bad peppers.

[jsmorrow2s]

here is what i did, i pulled the chicken, ate dinner, decided that since its still hot and both the peppers and sausage were just sitting there, i could throw something quick together and eat it for lunch the next day or something. so in essence, it was the same fire different cook. smoke was just pouring out during the entire time the coals were lit.

im going to try cooking chicken again tonight using the "ron" method. dont get me wrong, i loved he way the meat turned out, i just dont want to spend money on more expensive meat until i figure this problem out (whole fryer chicken is $6 for 5 lb, whereas 2 racks of spares is ~$35) and im willing to give this thing a fair shake down before i give in.

[jsmorrow2s]

thank you Fwismoker, i will definately try this tonight!

[Fwismoker]

Originally Posted by jsmorrow2s

thank you Fwismoker, i will definately try this tonight!

You can bury some small apple chunks or other fruit wood around the perimeter too...it'll slowly catch on.

As soon as you see the thin thin blue smoke put the meat on and personally i'd keep the bars out and lid cracked until the fire gets hot.

[AClarke44]

Originally Posted by Fwismoker

Andrew....mish mash is BAD ......BUT how long someone waits before cooking depends on if it's noticeable.

Small hot fire method is what you want for the best taste and it's not even debatable. The science of burning coals doesn't change in a PBC, the better the fire the better the taste.

He was getting what sounds like the typical bad charcoal creosote taste. (if the peppers were on later then it's something else)

I know the PBC crew thinks Noah is all knowing but his directions for spreading the coals around is not good advice. It might work if people wait for the fire to establish some but you most definitely can improve flavor doing it different.

If the peppers were put in after the fire was established then it was something else but i still stand by starting the cooker better. He could have had some bad peppers.

OK I stand corrected. I'll inform my taste buds and the PBC that what I've been doing isn't the most correct way. Funny though that I didn't notice any difference in the way the PBC cooked or the way the food tasted when cooking with either method.

By the way, no one here says Noah is all knowing, but he did test cooking on the PBC extensively before bringing it to market. I tend to want to use the methods he tested. There have also been many professional reviews who've written reviews on the PBC including from Meathead over at amazingribs.com which I know you respect his opinions because you reference him a lot. They have ALL, including Meathead, given the PBC the highest marks on how well it cooks and they ALL use the methods Noah recommends to light and cook on the PBC. It sucks they didn't give you a call before they screwed up those reviews though....darn.

Having said all that, I have no problem with people experimenting. I just admitted I've done it. I just found I like the way Noah says to pour in the hot coals better.

My advice to jsmorrow, experiment and do what you like the best.

[Fwismoker]

Andrew don't take it personally. Not saying anything about the cooker or the concept. It's a 30 gallon that hangs meat so he could have tested a thousand years....A small hot "clean" fire
will ALWAYS give better taste. It's been that way since the caveman days and it aint gonna change with horseshoes.

The WSM gets rave reviews but there are still people that get bad or not near as good of taste as they can. It isn't any different on a UDS or my jimmy.

Just because something gets good reviews doesn't mean it can't get much better. Noah created a paint by numbers concept so he could market to the newbies. You can do better and better in what you "think" can't improve because it's so good already.

[AClarke44]

Not taking it personally. But you don't own a PBC and I just think its poor form to come into an Appreciation Thread for a product and explain everything that you think is wrong with it when you've never cooked on it. But I've come to realize poor form or not it isn't gonna stop you.
I've said it before I don't know the science behind it but I do understand the hot fire concept. I'm just saying I cook on the PBC quite a bit and have always had great results. I also get just as hot of a fire by pouring the coals in the way it's recommended from the manufacturer. ......