Pit Barrel Cooker (PBC) Appreciation Thread

[MC Shirt 99]

Brisket Emergency!

Good morning everyone! I put a 9lb brisket flat on at 7:00am Eastern for a dinner at 6pm tonight. I was planning on wrapping at 160 and pulling at 200-205. However, my barrel ran hot (around 300) and the brisket got to 160 by 9:00am (only 2 hours!!). I shut the intake a bit and have gotten the temp of the PBC down to around 250.

It's now 10:00 am and I'm panicking a bit. I haven't wrapped since I figure at this point I have time to cook through the stall.

Is this thing going to be shoe leather?

Any thoughts or advice?

Thanks

(BTW, I freakin' love this forum!)

 

[Westx]

Start checking for tenderness at about 11 and check every 15 to 30 minutes after until it is done.

 

[MC Shirt 99]

Thanks Westx. I'll keep an eye on it. It's 11:40 now and it's still stalled at 163.

 

[electron_si]

If it gets done early just wrap in towels and put in a cooler. It will keep for at least 4 hours that way, I’ve gone up to 6

 

[MC Shirt 99]

It's been a mess of a day. I put in unlit briquettes and the temp dropped like a rock to 215. It's now 3:45pm and the PBC is back up to 225-250, and the meat is at 183. It'll hopefully get to temp by 5 or so. I hope it's edible

 

[dadsr4]

It's been a mess of a day. I put in unlit briquettes and the temp dropped like a rock to 215. It's now 3:45pm and the PBC is back up to 225-250, and the meat is at 183. It'll hopefully get to temp by 5 or so. I hope it's edible

I just saw this. Set the lid askew so that more air gets in to raise the temperature, to finish quicker.

 

[Q Haven CT]

I did my first cook on my new full size PBC this Sunday. Up here in the northeast we had 30-40 mph swirling winds, not ideal for the first cook on a new pit. I decided to do loin back ribs and chicken wings for this cook. The ribs were rubbed with mustard and Killer Hogs BBQ rub and hung for 2 hours with a couple chunks of cherry and a sliver of hickory. I wrapped with apple juice, brown sugar, and honey and let go for another hour. I set the sauce for 10 mins and then we cut them up. They came out really well and I was happy with the new PBC.
The wings were dusted with the PBC beef and game rub and they went on when I wrapped the ribs. Once I removed the ribs I cracked the lid to raise the temp and crisped up the skin real nice. The wings were also really good, way better chicken skin on the PBC compared to the water smoker.
I did have to reposition the coals midway through the cook as one side of the basket was all used up and the other was unburned, probably due to the extreme wind conditions.
Best, Pete

 

[Tannhauser42]

Did my test turkey in the PBC yesterday. I used the PBC all purpose rub, which came out a bit on the peppery side for our tastes. Otherwise, it came out very well. Now I'm much more confident about doing the Thanksgiving turkey in the PBC.

 

[Pedro7]

Super windy here in NJ yesterday, so had to get creative with my cooler collection Smoked some beef ribs with mesquite and rubbed with Meat Church Holy Cow and some extra SPOG. Hanging these things can get dicey since they fall apart so much, so I racked them this time and got similar results. Just wish I had my butcher paper to wrap them, but came out amazing. Wrapped when they stalled out around 174 and rode them up to 208.

 

[LloydQ]

Damn, Pedro!

 

[Bob C Cue]

Super windy here in NJ yesterday, so had to get creative with my cooler collection Smoked some beef ribs with mesquite and rubbed with Meat Church Holy Cow and some extra SPOG. Hanging these things can get dicey since they fall apart so much, so I racked them this time and got similar results. Just wish I had my butcher paper to wrap them, but came out amazing. Wrapped when they stalled out around 174 and rode them up to 208.

Looks fantastic!

 

[Bob C Cue]

I did my first cook on my new full size PBC this Sunday. Up here in the northeast we had 30-40 mph swirling winds, not ideal for the first cook on a new pit. I decided to do loin back ribs and chicken wings for this cook. The ribs were rubbed with mustard and Killer Hogs BBQ rub and hung for 2 hours with a couple chunks of cherry and a sliver of hickory. I wrapped with apple juice, brown sugar, and honey and let go for another hour. I set the sauce for 10 mins and then we cut them up. They came out really well and I was happy with the new PBC.
The wings were dusted with the PBC beef and game rub and they went on when I wrapped the ribs. Once I removed the ribs I cracked the lid to raise the temp and crisped up the skin real nice. The wings were also really good, way better chicken skin on the PBC compared to the water smoker.
I did have to reposition the coals midway through the cook as one side of the basket was all used up and the other was unburned, probably due to the extreme wind conditions.
Best, Pete

Glad everything turned out well. Welcome to Club PBC!

 

[Bob C Cue]

Did my test turkey in the PBC yesterday. I used the PBC all purpose rub, which came out a bit on the peppery side for our tastes. Otherwise, it came out very well. Now I'm much more confident about doing the Thanksgiving turkey in the PBC.

Happy the bird turned out well. Love PBC turkey!

 

[Kanco Connection]

Man, good stuff goin on here! Solid work with the PBC.

 

[Tannhauser42]

Today, we had a hot dog lunch at work to help raise money for breast cancer research. I decided to one-up the gas-grilled dogs and offered to bring in my PBC and do some ribs. This was my fourth time doing ribs in the PBC, and this was my best batch yet. I did four slabs of St. Louis spareribs, and everybody liked them. While I had no problems accepting the "set it and forget it" style of cooking using the PBC, I'm still having a hard time accepting the "it's done when it's done" style of cooking inherent to BBQ. If, for example, I read a recipe that says it takes four hours to cook spare ribs in the PBC, I expect it to be four hours, that's just how I'm wired. They were ready at four hours this time, even though I had put them on 4.5 hours ahead of the scheduled lunch time.

Anyway, turned out great. Used the Killer Hogs rub, sauced them with Stubb's Sticky Sweet. Got a lot of compliments, and at least two people at work are considering purchasing a PBC.

 

[vw1914]

My pit barrel cooker is my favorite....easy to look like a superstar with this little cooker....

 

[Saint]

Good God Almighty, 570 pages read, numerous notes taken, one PBC Army purchased and 3 chickens halved and chugging along at 250 degrees after one hour. I believe I have my masters and when finished reading all this, should be qualified for a PBC PhD! Thanks for all the time everyone has taken to ensure success with the PCB cooks!

 

[Saint]

Well hell! You’ve done it now! I’m going to need a second job to keep up with the chicken demands!
Awesome chicken. Need to work on the crispness of be chicken skin, but that’ll come with a little time.
Thank you AClarke44 for starting this thread and all who are making this a success!

 

[Kanco Connection]

Glad you’ve joined us, Saint. Looks like you’ve got it dialed in already!

 

[AClarke44]

Well hell! You’ve done it now! I’m going to need a second job to keep up with the chicken demands!
Awesome chicken. Need to work on the crispness of be chicken skin, but that’ll come with a little time.
Thank you AClarke44 for starting this thread and all who are making this a success!

Good to have you Saint! Glad you are enjoying the thread and even more so glad you are enjoying that PBC. Looking forward to seeing more of your cooks. That chicken looks great! :thumb::thumb::thumb: