PBC first cook

[ghipes]

Got my PBC last week and fired it up this yesterday for the first time. Set the air intake to 1/4 open, I'm at 216ft, filled the basket full, took 40 bricks out to light in the chimney. I let the coals burn for 15 minutes then dumped them into the basket and spread them out, placed into the PBC, put the rods in and put the top on for 10 minutes. I'm checking temps with my Digiq2. After 10 minutes the temp was settled at 276....couldn't be happier. I put two chickens and rack of ribs on and put the lid back on. The temp dropped to around 210 and never came back up. The only way to get the temp up was to crack the lid, quickly rising to >300, secure the lid and temps drop right back down. Opened the intake all the way and could only slow the drop down but not sustain a temp. Smoke was also coming out the air intake. Got the cook done and the everything was fine, but expected the temp to stay around 270. So what did I do wrong? Thanks so much.

[atlpbc]

The one thing I would suggest is to hang/place your meat after the 15 minute burn in on the charcoal. You indicated you placed the lid on for an additional 10 minutes after the initial light.

[BruceB]

This seems to be most confusing and inconsistent "feature" of the PBC. I've cooked on my new one for 4 weekends now, and it seems half the time I get in the same situation as ghipes.

Yesterday was no exception, got the coals going good in the chimney, dumped them into the basket and ran for 15 minutes with the lid on. Then hung 3 racks of ribs, and the temp stabilized at about 245, it never went over about 260. I have never seem the initial spike to 300+ that many users talk about. A couple of hours in, I added 4 chicken halves, and after that it ran at 215 to 220. I'm near sea level, so the vent is about 1/4 open.

For the PBC experts out there -

Does the 15 minute lighting time include the time lighting the coals in the chimney, or an additional 15 minutes after dumping them into the basket and running with the lid on ?

[Ernest]

I do not follow the recommended times for lighting charcoal.
I use the weber compact chimney.
If I'm cooking birds, I let the coals in the chimney get red hot, dump them in the basket, leave lid off. Get my birds hooked while the PBC gets nice and hot.
I have found that doing it this way, the PBC starts off close to 450 degrees then settles at about 325 when the birds are hanging. I do not cook chickens for 2 hours as suggested by PBC folks. Mine are done at high temp, 325, for about 1 hour 15 at the most, depending on size.

For longer cooks, I do still get the chimney coals red hot but I reduce the time that the lid is left off the PBC after dumping the chimney coals into the basket.

And the more food you put in the PBC the more drippings you'll have so make sure the coals are well lit before hanging the food.

[Ernest]

Do not place the lid on after you dump the lit coals into the PBC.

[ghipes]

Thanks everyone for the replies. Going to do some PB on the PBC this weekend and just wanted to get it right.

[_John_]

Same thing happened to me, enough coals aren't getting lit. I leave the lid off for about 15 minutes then put it on to get a temp reading, and i'll crack the lid as needed to get to about 320 and then put the food/lid on. If it gets to about 320 it will hang around 290 a while and then rest right at about 275, if it doesn't then it immediately drops to 240 and stays. The weird thing was that if I didn't get the good light initially, cracking the lid and letting it rise to 300 still wouldn't work.
Also, what I thought was 1/4 open apparently wasn't, opening it a little more really helped. I would try opening it more and if it settles above where you want, just close it a little.

[SurfsUp]

I use the lighter fluid method as it has proven fairly consistent and I have never noticed any wierd taste. I am at sea level so 1/4 open and I put plenty of fluid on a full basket, I do not skimp on fluid Set the basket in the PBC, light it and wait 15 minutes. The fluid all burns off and that initial smoke dissipates before loading the meat. I have had the PBC burn too hot before and I noticed a slight bit of smoke coming from under the lid where the barrel seam is. It mixed with the smoke coming through the re-bar holes so it was not obvious. I pay close attention to this and make sure I get a good seal on the lid.

[BruceB]

Thanks everyone for the replies. Going to do some PB on the PBC this weekend and just wanted to get it right.

I'm with you. Pork butt this weekend. I'll make sure to get the coals going good in the chimney, then 15 minutes with the cover OFF.

[ghipes]

My second cook when much better. I did everything the same except I got my initial temps up to 350-350 and then put the lid on tight. It held ~300 for 3.5 hours, that's when the PB hit the stall and the PBC temps dropped to 240. Crutched the PB, got the temp back up and off it went until done. 10lb PB cooked to 205 in 7 hours. Best PB I've ever eaten. Thanks so much for this site and all of you.

[_John_]

Glad to hear you got it working, took me longer than 1 cook but like you ended up with the best i've had. You should be able to count on that for your timing as well, all of my butts seem to finish right around 6-7 hours regardless of size.

And no pics?

[ghipes]

[ATTACH=CONFIG]n14937[/ATTACH] Here is a pic after it was pulled. The sauces are the SC mustard (love it!!) and an apple/jalapeno bbq sauce. Add some fried okra and boy what a meal.