Pit Barrel Cooker (PBC) Appreciation Thread

Not sure if anyone saw my other post but I learned how to bump THIS thread, anywho....

I'm smoking bone in short ribs (cut down english and shorter than full bone not the whole plate) this weekend and I'm planning at about 160° to braise the ribs in a mix of cider and hard cider. My question is roughly how long do you think the ribs will take to get to 200°ish/tender? I've done shorts ribs before and they took 7 hours total in my PBC. Would you think similar time or will braising speed up the cook?
 
Gotta turkey issue

Not sure how I managed to mess this up but I did.:doh:. It was obvious they did not have my order ready when I arrived but I brought home the two much larger than i ordered fresh bone-in turkey breast from Whole Foods (i like to refer to them as Whole Paycheck) But I digress. I had many jobs on my wife's punch list yesterday so I got in a really big hurry and cut out the backbone of the breast. Was really stoked about using my newly purchased turkey hangers but now don't have that opportunity. While I was applying the dry brine I experimented with trussing the bird to the hanger. Not much success. So i have decided my only way forward is probably to spatchcock the breast. Do you more experienced Pit Barrel guys think the hooks will hold only the breasts with out the added support of the wings? This is only the second turkey cook I have ever done. Last time I tried them on the grate and they were smaller. They were touching the lid I think and turned out a bit dry. Good but dry-ish. I need help fellas.
 
I got a 25 pound pork leg I'm doing for Christmas. My problem is that I'm gonna cook it on the grate a it's an overnight cook, I may fall asleep for a bit, and don't want to worry about the hooks not holding. It fits on the grate, but I can't get the rods in. If I plugged up three holes with foil would one hole open be the equivalent to the space left when all four holes are filled with rods, or should I half way fill out the fourth hole?
 
I'm going to prime rib for the first time on the PBC for Christmas. I've watched videos online and it doesn't look like a difficult cook. I'm just wondering if anyone on here has used the PBC for prime rib and how did it turn out? The vids online show what looks to be a good crust so I'm wondering if some sort of sear is necessary or not: I'd prefer to just be able to pull it off, rest and slice.
 
BigKing said:
I'm going to prime rib for the first time on the PBC for Christmas. I've watched videos online and it doesn't look like a difficult cook. I'm just wondering if anyone on here has used the PBC for prime rib and how did it turn out? The vids online show what looks to be a good crust so I'm wondering if some sort of sear is necessary or not: I'd prefer to just be able to pull it off, rest and slice.
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Prime rib is delicious on a PBC! You don’t have to sear it if you don’t want to. I’d bump up the heat a little towards the end to get somewhat of a crust though if you don’t. Just pay attention to the iT so you don’t over cook it! Good luck!
 
BigKing said:
I'm going to prime rib for the first time on the PBC for Christmas. I've watched videos online and it doesn't look like a difficult cook. I'm just wondering if anyone on here has used the PBC for prime rib and how did it turn out? The vids online show what looks to be a good crust so I'm wondering if some sort of sear is necessary or not: I'd prefer to just be able to pull it off, rest and slice.
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I hope there are pictures! I’m sure that the PBC did not disappoint! I’d done several Christmas roasts very successfully.
 
Thingfish said:
I hope there are pictures! I’m sure that the PBC did not disappoint! I’d done several Christmas roasts very successfully.
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Crushed it! I was really worried about butchering it when cutting the bones off and then retying them back on but everything was smooth. Carne Crosta primarily with a little Black Ops. Everyone was very happy with it. Link below is to this month's throwdown with pics.

https://www.bbq-brethren.com/forum/showthread.php?t=287742
 
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Hi everyone. I joined this forum after buying a PBC and reading most of this thread. There is some great info here that I've learned quite a bit from. Thanks to everyone who has shared so far. Here are my cooks to date:

Prior to reading thread:
Whole chicken. Excellent flavor except that it had a bit of a Kingsford lighting taste. I think I put the chicken on too soon and still had quite a bit of the "bad smoke" before the coals were fully lit. I also started the fire in the middle and it burned toward the vent leaving unburnt coals and slightly low temps. Chicken was still good but the skin was a little rubbery.

Pork Butt. Flavor was incredible. I was hungry so I took it off before it was tender and had sliced pork rather than pulled pork. I didn't put the pork on as soon so the bad smoke flavor wasn't there. Still had a little bit of low temps and uneven burn in the coals.

After reading a lot of this thread:
Chicken 1/4's and pork loin. I lit the fire using AClarke44's method (coals from chimney lit more thoroughly than before and spread over the top away from air intake). This time temps were more steady and the coals burned more evenly. I waited about 10 minutes before putting food on so I had none of the bad smoke flavor. The pork loin turned out incredible (best I've ever had) and the chicken was very good. I still have room to improve the skin on the chicken.

I'm looking forward to doing so much more on this cooker. Now that I'm getting the fire lit correctly, I think it's going to be great. I can't wait to do more pork and chicken as well as try turkey, brisket, duck, and various kinds of beef.

My boys say it's the best valentines day present (for me) we've ever had. They LOVED the pork loin.
 
timbo813 said:
Chicken 1/4's and pork loin. I lit the fire using AClarke44's method (coals from chimney lit more thoroughly than before and spread over the top away from air intake). This time temps were more steady and the coals burned more evenly. I waited about 10 minutes before putting food on so I had none of the bad smoke flavor. The pork loin turned out incredible (best I've ever had) and the chicken was very good. I still have room to improve the skin on the chicken.

I'm looking forward to doing so much more on this cooker. Now that I'm getting the fire lit correctly, I think it's going to be great. I can't wait to do more pork and chicken as well as try turkey, brisket, duck, and various kinds of beef.

My boys say it's the best valentines day present (for me) we've ever had. They LOVED the pork loin.
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It’s a proven method brother! Glad you found the advice favorable for you. There are so many great suggestions in this thread it’s amazing. The PBC is easy to learn. Another cook or two and you’ll have it down! As far as chicken goes crack your lid about 20-30 min prior to it being done and get let your temps ramp up a little. If your monitoring the cooker temp shoot for 350-375. That should crisp up the skin a little better for you. Also prior to the cook, let the chicken sit uncovered in your fridge for a couple hours to dry it out a little and release some of the moisture. This helps too!

Welcome, and good luck! :thumb:
 
Welcome Tim! I think this is the longest this thread sat idle before being resurrected. PBC is an awesome machine and glad you're enjoying it.
 
It's not only been far to long since I've logged on here but even since I have cooked. Well that's been an itch that I can no longer keep scratching. Found a decent sale on some kingsford and royal oak lump and its time to let the games begin.

Cooked me up a few racks of baby backs and got a brisket thawing. It's a 12lb'er and measures 18" so I don't quite know if it'll shrink enough to go on the rack of Jr. when I wrap it, we'll see.
Anyhow. Glad to be back with you boys.
 

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The PB's seem to be rib machines, always look and taste great. Didn't know they made a fan adapter for the PB's.
 
rque said:
The PB's seem to be rib machines, always look and taste great. Didn't know they made a fan adapter for the PB's.
Click to expand...

Its a party Q. From what I understand they quit making them for some reason. I know everyone says they never have to worry about temps but I never seemed to be able to get any kind of stability. This thing was rock solid at 275
 
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