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Public Service Announcement: A PBC is not a kettle.

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    Public Service Announcement: A PBC is not a kettle.

    Not sure if it was a lack of sleep or merely hubris, but I decided to light my fire last night in sort of a fuse instead of spreading the coals around. While the temp spiked it quickly dropped back, I finally got it to settle at a less than optimal 250 around 1AM. Alarm got me up to check at 2AM and the temp was 190, it took 15 minutes to get it back up to 275. 45 minutes later at 3 it was right at 300. I moved the coals around in the basket but was too sleep deprived to do it right, and while I kept the temp up fairly well the temp was only at 150 7 hours in and I had to leave with the food in 3 hours.
    I had planned on not wrapping, but with the window closing I figured I'd better, 40 people 3 hours away were not going to cut me much slack, they would already be eating a late lunch. I stayed awake at that point and finished it up.
    Now I'm exhausted and of course kicking my self for lighting it the wrong way. How could I have known it would be this big of a pain you may ask? Oh yeah, i've done it once before and had the same result. Maybe posting this will help me learn.

    The bonus is that it was in my top 5 butts ever, so that is good. And since I was doing twins you know I had to experiment! I see a lot of the shows wrapping ribs with squeeze butter, so I decided to use it as my binder before the rub to see if it added in an extra layer of flavor. I personally think it brought out some flavors a little differently than the mustard (my previous oil vs mustard test bore this out as well) but the rub and smoke overpowered any difference there may have been.

    Really digging a combo of oak and hickory right now too, haven't used fruit woods since last year I think.

    #2
    _John_, thanks for the PSA--not that I would have tried the fuse method when I'm so happy with my TNT (as in Tried 'n True) fire lighting method, so far. I count on you to try the different fire-lighting methods and report back. So thanks again for that.

    Glad to hear you like hickory and oak combo. I tried it on ribs yesterday and they were off the hook. I used Jack Daniels charred oak barrel stave chunks for the oak portion.

    Congrats on the delicious outcome of that sleepless night. For all the PBs you smoke, to be in the top 5 is saying something.

    Kathryn

    Comment


      #3
      HAHAHA! It sure does look like a kettle.........

      Comment


        #4
        _John_ , a WSM is not a kettle either. I tried a fuse in my WSM. Same result as in your PBC - major temp control issues, butt also a great result!

        A few times I've had trouble keeping my temps up, I've had a better result.

        Sorry you're tired, but congrats on the result!!!

        Comment


        • FLBuckeye
          FLBuckeye commented
          Editing a comment
          I use Soo's donut on my WSM; works great

        • richinlbrg
          richinlbrg commented
          Editing a comment
          I went back to the donut, @flbuckeye.

          One time was enough to teach me.

        #5
        Thanks for the warning, I know not to do that. For a long cook do you think Soo's donut method would work in a PBC like it does in a WSM?

        Comment


          #6
          I always wonder about trying "this" instead of the usual "that" in the never ending quest for the ultimate Q. The old saying is, "Stop wondering, do the experiment or you'll never know". Just don't break the cardinal rule: Never try experimenting on an important cook. (competitions, guests, etc.) Glad your cook ended on a positive note.

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