Pit Barrel Cooker (PBC) Appreciation Thread

[AClarke44]

Hey Fellows! My 1st post here. Got my PBC the week before Christmas, and have used it 4 times. Unfortunately, I haven't hit anything out of the park yet. In fact, I think my 1st cook was the best. I look forward to sharing stories with you.

Welcome Lloyd!

Is there anything we can help with to get your cooks where you are wanting them?

 

[LloydQ]

I think I need to put my ego aside and follow directions! And start earlier, too, because most of my cooks are taking longer than anticipated.

 

[AClarke44]

I think I need to put my ego aside and follow directions! And start earlier, too, because most of my cooks are taking longer than anticipated.

Yeah following the directions will definitely help get you going. You can tweak a few things here and there once you get the basic stuff down.
As far as timing goes, it really depends on what temperature you are cooking at. If you don't monitor your cooker temps in the PBC you'll modt likely be cooking anywhere from about 260-340°. That would give you much different ranges as far as how long things take to cook. Again though it'll just take a few cooks to get to know how long things take...

 

[LloydQ]

It is definitely a different animal than my WSM! The flavor is different, more roasted than smoked.

 

[Bigbears BBQ]

Congrats on the PBC and don't forget to post some pics

 

[TealStBBQKing]

I think I need to put my ego aside and follow directions! And start earlier, too, because most of my cooks are taking longer than anticipated.

I've found if I'm cooking for my family everything goes as planned time wise. If I'm cooking for friends and have already set a dinner time somehow my PBC knows and slows everything down. :mrgreen:

 

[jemez]

I got my PBC this week, graduating from an electric smoker. I did some chickens for the first cook, following Noah's recipe pretty closely & used his rub with a bit of olive oil. I used a chimney starter, put the chicken in about 5 min after dumping the chimney, and tossed a few chunks of hickory wood on the charcoal. I did leave the cover cracked about 1/2 inch since it was cold out (Noah's recommendation). The chickens were on the small side, about 3.5 pounds, and were done in about an hour 45 min. The chickens came out pretty good, but actually too smokey - thankfully I made some bbq sauce, which helps cover the flavor. I guess I could skip the hickory next time, but I'm not sure why else this might have happened.

 

[AClarke44]

I got my PBC this week, graduating from an electric smoker. I did some chickens for the first cook, following Noah's recipe pretty closely & used his rub with a bit of olive oil. I used a chimney starter, put the chicken in about 5 min after dumping the chimney, and tossed a few chunks of hickory wood on the charcoal. I did leave the cover cracked about 1/2 inch since it was cold out (Noah's recommendation). The chickens were on the small side, about 3.5 pounds, and were done in about an hour 45 min. The chickens came out pretty good, but actually too smokey - thankfully I made some bbq sauce, which helps cover the flavor. I guess I could skip the hickory next time, but I'm not sure why else this might have happened.

I'm thinking you didn't have a good fire going in the beginning which caused you to get a "bad smoke" flavor. Here's a few tips:
Make sure when you use the chimney method that all the coals are good and lit before dumping in the PBC.
Put any wood you plan to use the the coal basket BEFORE dumping the lit coals in.
When you dump the lit coals put the lid on the PBC and wait a minimum of 15 minutes....20 would be better, before putting your meat in.

You don't have to crack the lid unless your temps are not staying stable at a high enough temp. I'm not saying you shouldn't do it and in your case it probably helped get your fire going good which minimized that bad smoke you probably got. Just keep an eye on this as once you get your fire lit properly you may not need to crack the lid....

 

[jemez]

I'm thinking you didn't have a good fire going in the beginning which caused you to get a "bad smoke" flavor. Here's a few tips:
Make sure when you use the chimney method that all the coals are good and lit before dumping in the PBC.
Put any wood you plan to use the the coal basket BEFORE dumping the lit coals in.
When you dump the lit coals put the lid on the PBC and wait a minimum of 15 minutes....20 would be better, before putting your meat in.

You don't have to crack the lid unless your temps are not staying stable at a high enough temp. I'm not saying you shouldn't do it and in your case it probably helped get your fire going good which minimized that bad smoke you probably got. Just keep an eye on this as once you get your fire lit properly you may not need to crack the lid....

I think the biggie was probably not waiting after dumping the chimney, plus tossing in the wood at the same time as the meat. The chimney was definitely all lit nicely, but I didn't wait much after dumping it. Next time I'll try waiting & probably skip the hickory too.

Noah recommended cracking the lid for about a half hour during the cook to use the PBC when it was cold out, but it was only a couple degrees under freezing when I did it so this was probably not needed. We were discussing what to do when it was more like under 0F.

 

[AClarke44]

Yeah I wasn't sure how hot your lit coals were before you dumped them so I just threw that in.
As far as cracking the lid, yeah that's always a judgement call. We all have to do it from time to time...

 

[Bob C Cue]

yeah i wasn't sure how hot your lit coals were before you dumped them so i just threw that in.
As far as cracking heads, yeah that's always a judgement call. We all have to do it from time to time...

fify!

 

[SMOKEGOD]

The pic isn't a great one but let's see you do it better.

Its ok to call a spade a spade. We are grownups. @luberconn knows he messed this one up. @hedge nailed it. The only way to make that piece of meat red in any light setting would be for the Queen of Hearts to paint it.

 

[AClarke44]

Its ok to call a spade a spade. We are grownups. @luberconn knows he messed this one up. @hedge nailed it. The only way to make that piece of meat red in any light setting would be for the Queen of Hearts to paint it.

Whats all this have to do with the Pit Barrel Cooker?

 

[SMOKEGOD]

Whats all this have to do with the Pit Barrel Cooker?

About the same as saying to someone "lets see you do better". Dont be a hero.

 

[AClarke44]

About the same as saying to someone "lets see you do better". Dont be a hero.

Sako has contributed numerous posts giving advice, helping others figure out issues, and providing pictures of amazing cooks he's done. So I think I'll give him a pass for the one post where it appears he was annoyed because someone posted a negative comment towards someone else....

You've posted 5 total posts, 3 of which were basically negative. Provide something useful please or post somewhere else......

 

[Bob C Cue]

I'm confused. Anyone else?

 

[Thingfish]

Let's all settle back in to cooking great stuff on the PBC. Remember that reading text and attributing tone and attitude to the words is a very inexact science. I like to err on the side of civility unless someone insists!

 

[wormy]

Takes all types to make the world go round. Whos cooking what on the PBC this weekend?

 

[ssv3]

Must've hurt someone's feelings. :becky:

 

[SDAR]

I was going to smoke the pork tenderloin for my green Chili Stew, but it snowed about 4-5 inches and my ass told me to stay inside. :biggrin1: