"Pulled the Trigger" on a PBC

[Waiting for the Worms]

Welp, we lost another one to the dark side. I hope you're happy. HawkerXP

[Skip]

Congratulations on your New PBC Cooker! Hoping you have lots of fun.

[Catmandu]

You're going to love the PBC. I just cooked my first brisket ever on my PBC yesterday, and it turned out fantastic!

[HawkerXP]

PBC, PBC, PBC!

[Richard Chrz]

Congrats on a new cooker!

[Sam6687]

love my PBC, hardest part of the learning curve for me was just letting it do its thing and don't get too concerned about what temp it is running at just what temp the meat is. coming from other smokers i was worried when i saw the temps above 300, sometimes well above 300. But everything came out tasting great.

[RustyHaines]

Congrats. My advise is to dig out fzxdoc posts on startup instructions/cook times and get some chicken cooking to get that thing gunked up while enjoying some premo yardbird. Then move on to other successes.

[Beefchop]

Congrats, you'll love it. Noah's videos show you how to use your PBC so that you can cook great food with zero to no learning curve. Most people make the mistake of overthinking their PBC. Don't sweat the temp and airflow too much, just run it as instructed and you'll be making great BBQ in no time. The PBC (IMHO) is not the smoker to buy if you like to "fiddle" with your cook. If you want hands on, buy a stick burner.

Enjoy!

[MarkN]

I'm not a fiddler. While the meat is smoking I like to focus on sitting in a lawn chair sipping on "a cold one".

[Rob Johnston]

Congrats on that!

[andy.wpg]

Congratulations!

I’ll just echo what everyone else has said, you won’t regret your purchase. Poultry on the PBC is something special.

[Huskee]

Congrats! Between Noah's vids and as mentioned by RustyHaines be sure to read all of fzxdoc 's sticky posts here in the PBC channel (she helped me learn mine more than PBC's website did) there's so much valuable info there.

[jitsntricks]

Congrats and THANK YOU for your service!

You'll love it. I know I do and I own a PBC, WSM 18, and a UGS that I built from scrap (Although it's not completed and I haven't cooked on it yet). The PBC is a chicken and rib MACHINE. It also does a fantastic job with pork butt, tri tip, and turkey too! It's one of the best purchases I've ever made.

If you haven't done so already, GET THE ASH PAN. It makes clean up so much quicker and easier.

As far as whether the PBC is a smoker or not debate, it really comes down to what you think a smoker is. Does a smoker cook your food? Yes. Does a smoker provide a smoke flavor into your meat? Yes. Just because it cooks hotter doesn't mean it's not a smoker. All a smoker really is is an "oven" that provides smoke to the meat. Some smokers you can get the temperature way down, some not. The PBC is 100% a smoker and cooker at the same time. That's how good it is.

Anyway, good luck on your first cook! It takes a little learning but so do all pits.

[MarkN]

Due in no small part to my research, I went ahead and ordered the Ash Pan AND the Hinged Grate. And since it is always a tight fit on my Weber Kettle, (unless I spatchcock) I got the Turkey Hanger as well (and it looks like I won't be so concerned if there's rain or snow at Thanksgiving with PBC).

[jitsntricks]

Good call! Looks like you're set up and ready to go!
I don't have the hinged grate but I'm sure it'll come in handy!

[Duanessmokedmeats]

If this isn't a smoker due to tempurature, then those guys on youtube with their stick burners are cooking not smoking. I have seen them "smoke" at 250 to 300 degrees.

[RichieB]

Y'all got me thinking. Stimulus checks. I want to do my part to stimulate the economy. The issue is someone I know who will stimulate my @#$. And no room on deck. Would have to reside coming out of the walkout basement. Not a big issue, concrete and more than enough room. I need to hide my wallet right now.

[Michael_in_TX]

Yes, the ash pan is wonderful. I read older posts about the first gen PBC and yall were really having to pick up and dump your PBC's over?

[fzxdoc]

I never did that. I've always put a double layer of heavy duty aluminum foil in the bottom of the barrel before starting the cook. When everything is cool, I knock the last bits of ash out of the basket, remove the basket, enclose every bit of the ash in the foil, and throw the packet in the trash. Three-minute cleanup at its finest.

I bought the ash catcher and stopped using it. The grease from some cooks would leak off the ash catcher to the floor of the barrel. Yucky mess. Back to the foil.

[Dr J]

Congratulations it is fun to cook on and no fuss. Hang ribs as your first cook. It is a rib cooking machine!

[MarkN]

I'm doing chicken with my first try mainly to see what the temperature does. If it runs hot its not that big of a deal (and may even be better). I'll use a probe to help determine when the chicken is done. Based on what I see, I plan to do ribs the following weekend (where I have to depend on "eyeball" more than probe).

[MarkN]

Maiden Voyage: Well, it was not exactly the set it and forget it as advertised. I must have distributed the hot charcoals too much or too little. I was concerned about it running too hot, as everyone warned, and I never came close to getting it above 270 degrees. I used my Maverick Thermometer and recorded the temp every 15 minutes (see below). Took a real effort to get it and keep it hot.

Since it never got really hot, the baked potatoes never baked (I usually do them in the oven at 350 degrees for 75 minutes). I finished them in the toaster oven.

All that being said, the chicken tasted great, was moist and smoky. The skin was rubbery but with the temps, that was no surprise. The beans picked up a lot of the smoky flavor, so that worked too. Looking forward to trying ribs next weekend (so I'm expecting runaway high temperatures with that cook ).