My first 'real' attempt at smoking.

[Ratherder]

My old grill was falling apart, so I was given a PBC for Father's Day, though my GF and I have no kids (We have a dog and a pair of rats.). First couple of things I tried were just grilling chicken breasts: Safe and simple. I then smoked a tri-tip and asparagus, and not only was the tri-tip delicious, it gave us enough meat for three meals. It took a little longer than I had hoped, but I thought I knew what I did wrong with the coals--basically, I rushed everything. For someone who used to make multiple hollandaise sauces weekly you'd think I'd be more patient but not, apparently, where meat is concerned.

Today I moved on to Real Smoking and attempted a pork shoulder for pulled pork--one of my GF's favorites. I knew I wouldn't screw up on the coals this time. I also totally ignored Murphy's law--starting off with I needed a ton of sleep and didn't get my day started until about 2 hours later than I wanted to.

Wegman's gave me a nice-looking 6.5 pound shoulder (it was the smallest one!) and I took it home. I used mayo as a binder and covered it with PBC All-Purpose Rub. Then I started on the coals. Pour them into the basket, then count out 40, which fills the short PBC chimney starter nicely. Piece of newspaper under it, go inside to pet the dog and fifteen minutes later, the coals are ice-cold. Tried it again and they wouldn't light. I moved the coals to my taller Weber and those suckers fired up and were ready in 20 minutes.

Then I tried to dump them using the Weber and they didn't distribute evenly. Sheesh. I *thought* I got them evenly distributed but the temperature, using a Thermapro probe, was all over the place, until it dropped down to, like, 230F. This was after 3 hours and the meat was, if memory serves, at about 120F.

Let me shorten this story: I wanted to get an earlier start because the weather report called for thunderstorms in the afternoon; in fact, I heard thunder several times. Fortunately, what rainfall we got could be measured in raindrops, not inches--just a few fell and that was it. The only thing I could think to do was to add more coals, so I fired up about 20 in the Weber started, then transferred them to the PBC starter to get a nice, even distribution.

The temps went up nicely but were still a little low. By this time the meat was up to the low 150's, I had just gotten a dozen raindrops but the thunder I could hear promised more (it lied), so I decided to wrap it early--I had planned to do so at about 165F.

After wrapping I made dinner--we had planned on simple sandwiches using the last of the tri-tip (the pulled pork is for later in the week), then walked the dog. At this time it was about 7PM and this shoulder had been in the sucker for over 7 hours. The temps were still in the 150's and the meat was in the high 160's.

During the walk I decided I would pull it at 8PM or at 195F, whichever came first. I'd have bet it would have been 8, but after Faith's walk, the coals were up to the low 180s and the meat was at 179F, and I almost fainted.

It reached 195F at ten to 8.

Where did I foul up? Obviously, the coals were the main culprit. First, I've discovered the Wegman's house brand of charcoal sux.

Second, a good distribution of the started coals will probably work wonders. I've got a thought that might help me distribute the coals *outside* of the PBC. I think some elbow room will help me get them layered a little better, then I can try an old-fashioned meathook (rather than a rake) to lower the basket into the smoker. After shredding the pork I went back out to gather & cleanup what needed to be cleaned, and the coals were absolutely beautiful. I feel like I'm wasting a good burn right now.

Third, get out of bed earlier.

If anybody sees anything else I did that was glaringly wrong, I'm happy to hear any & all suggestions.

FINAL GRADE: C. I thought the taste could have been better. GF said, "It tastes like smoke!" The dog couldn't reach a decision, but felt maybe eating a pound or two could help her reach one. The rats like the shoulder bone.

BASIC RECIPE:
Slather mayo all over the shoulder. Cover that with PBC All-Purpose Rub. Apple wood chunks in the coals. Hang from two hooks until internal temp is 165F. Remove to a double-sheet of aluminum foil. Add 6-8 oz of high-fructose corn syrup apple juice into the boat then cover kind of tightly, but kind of not tightly. Put it back in the smoker on a rack to an internal temp of 195F.

[treesmacker]

Great start! There are many PBC pit masters here and I'm sure they'll help you perfect it. Keep on posting! Oh, and please be aware "no pic, it didn't happen!"

[RickyBobby]

Right off the bat, I don’t have a PBC and have never cooked on one. I do have a Bronco though, which is similar. That said, I have read that the PBC has a few particulars related to lighting. In my Bronco, I don’t use a chimney at all. I load the basket, set it in place, and the insert 1 or more tumbleweeds depending on the type of burn I’m looking for. Once they have burned up and the coals are lit, I get the pit to temp and add the meat.
I’ll let an actual PBC expert (which we have several of here in the pit) opine on what they believe your challenges may have been, but I will say that I have noted that fuel quality/type matters!!! I have run nothing less than standard KBB in my Bronco outside of the initial burn in. A lot of a Bronco runners swear by varying brands of lump or briquettes for the best product.
I will also say that Mayo is an interesting choice for a binder. It may work very well, but after joining the Pit, I use just water or nothing. Not bad necessarily, just interesting. I hope that someone smarter than I has a better answer for you soon! Paging fzxdoc and HawkerXP

[mnavarre]

Well, first have a read through this topic, lots of good stuff about lighting and running a PBC. I'd also say pick a charcoal and stick with it until you have a good read on what's going on and how that charcoal works in the PBC. I use Kingsford blue bag, lots of people like B&B. And it is a lot easier to apply the lit coals to the basket outside of the barrel. I use an old fire pit poker to lift the basket into the barrel after adding the lit coals. But mostly, have fun and welcome to The Pit!

[Ratherder]

Oh, I read it. I just forgot (or possibly ignored), like, 95% of it.

I find learning from my mistakes a huuuge help. Fortunately, this mistake is still edible.

[bbq_esq]

What kind of fuel? KBB? I just made killer pulled pork in my PBC this weekend. Cooked overnight for an early afternoon party.

I use chips not chunks, probably two good handfuls (big hands) - how many chunks did you use?

I also love the tumbleweeds for the chimney, always drove me nuts when I used anything else it was cold when I checked on it.

Definitely start early and let the PBC run a bit before you add the meat.

Was the only issue that it tasted "too Smokey"? I just want to be clear, I’m not downplaying that as a complaint. My first 3-4 cooks got that same reaction.

[fzxdoc]

When I started with the PBC, it only took a couple of long cooks to realize that if the initial light of the coals didn't "take" well, I would be chasing temperatures.

So I wrote up a lighting method that works well for my PBC. You can find it on this sticky post: https://pitmaster.amazingribs.com/fo...ures#post12614

You can modify that method easily, Some folks do a 15-10 instead of 15-10-10, for example, depending partially, on altitude or how high a temp they want their PBC to settle into. As with all methods, it will take a few tries to see what works best for you.

I use a short chimney all the time, lighting it with two Weber cubes or other chimney starters set under the chimney. I stopped using newspaper because the ashes blow everywhere making a mess and possibly carrying a enough of a spark to start a little fire elsewhere. YMMV. Once I pour the burning coals, I use a pair of super-long tongs to distribute them the way I like.

So once you get the coals really well lit, the next thing to do is to let them burn a bit. That's the real purpose of the last 10 minutes in the 15-10-10 recommendation. It gives charcoal like KBB time to burn off that oily smell that they start with. If you put the meat in too soon, you run the risk of that bad charcoal flavor depositing on your food. When people say they don't like food cooked with charcoal, that's usually the flavor they're talking about. Once you see some nice smoke coming out of the rebar holes, you know its time to add the meat and you'll get nothing but pure PBC good flavor. The smoke can be white but it will settle down pretty quickly.

About the PBC's ambient temperature: I use 2 ambient probes in every single cook, one on the vent side and one opposite, about an inch away from the barrel walls. Those two probe readouts can routinely differ by as much as 40-60°. They can switch high reading during the cook. By taking the average of those two readings, I learned that I really didn't have to mess with the temperature much during a cook. My point is that a reading from a single spot in the barrel may not be representative of what's going on elsewhere.

About the PBC smokey flavor: if you're more accustomed to smoke flavor from a stickburner or pellet cooker, the PBC food will taste a little more smokey. To me, it's comparable to the smoke flavors I get with my kettle/SnS or kamado modes on the WSCGC. The difference is that the smokey flavor is more forward with the PBC and then fades as you continue to chew the bite. With the kettle or kamado, the smokey flavor is more pronounced toward the end of the bite. At least that's how my taste buds work.

Give another pork butt a try. If the butcher/store doesn't have a small enough one, you can always get a larger one and cut it in half, freezing the other half for a future cook.

Most importantly, enjoy cooking on your PBC!

Kathryn

[Ratherder]

Ma'am, I read your post, several times. I kind of half-forgot bits of it and ended up, as you said, "chasing temperatures."

Fortunately, the mistakes I made this time are still edible and hopefully, I won't make them again. But we'll see

[shify]

The only super important step in the PBC is to make sure the coals are properly and thoroughly lit. The standard PBC instructions to dump the hot coals are start cooking are insufficient if you ask me.

I use a mini chimney as I find they fit right around 40 briquettes when slightly overfilled, so I don't need to count them out, and it is easier to dump into the basket.

Here is my approach (very similar to fzxdoc)

• Fire up chimney - right when the top layer has just a touch of ash on the corners, dump into the basket filled with charcoal (the amount I have unlit depends on the estimated length of cook - short cooks like wings, sausage, meatballs, etc. I use ~10-20 briquettes in the basket, longer cooks like ribs, pork butt, etc have a nearly full basket)
• After I dump in the lit coals, I may use a rebar to move a few around but generally I don't bother.
• Leave the PBC with no cover, no rebar for 10 minutes - should have a lot of coals lit and maybe even some flames going on - this is normal and preferred
• Put in the rebars and the lid and then go finish prepping meat. At this point, the temps should be racing above 300 to nearly 400 but will soon drop.
• Start cooking - some people wait for the temps to come down more but I haven't found that necessary, so I don't wait more than a few minutes, or the length of time to go back inside, get my meat/thermometers, etc.

Once I started doing the above, I got pretty stable results

The only other thing I would note is it took a little time to find the right vent opening for me - I have it slightly more open than recommended for sea level. If it was closed any more I noted the temps just kept dropping. the smallest bit of air in the PBC makes a huge difference

[Polarbear777]

A half size mini chimney is key as you can get it into the barrel and carefully pour the coals where you want them. Suggest you try Katherine’s method above.


also the PBC seems to be most happy running above 250F, so it’s possible that your lower cooking temp created more smoke than usual. (Hotter= cleaner fire= less smoke but sometimes better quality smoke.).

[Dadof3Illinois]

Some sound advice above....the only thing i'll add is that if your temps are really low just crack the lid maybe 1/4" or so...in no time the temp will climb...just be careful because you can overshoot pretty easy.

[HawkerXP]

+1

[HawkerXP]

Take notes on how and what you are doing. Try to fix only one thing at a time. This way you won't repeat the same mistakes and when you hit the perfect, for you, fire starting and cooking you'll know what did it. Stay away from "cheap" charcoal. That said, I always stock up on Kingsford Blue Bag or Pro whenever I see them on sale.

PBC wants to run around 270* once it gets over the startup spike. If it falls below, like 250 or less, crack that lid. I use a stick about the size of a pencil. Keep an eye on it as it will spool up fast. Hang your probe away from the meat. You will enjoy the Black Beauty once you get it down.

PBC, PBC, PBC!

[Ratherder]

Yep. In fact, this post is intended as 'notes' on what I did--or, more precisely, ticklers to help me remember what I did. Thanks much!

[Ratherder]

What kind of fuel? KBB? I just made killer pulled pork in my PBC this weekend. Cooked overnight for an early afternoon party.

I use chips not chunks, probably two good handfuls (big hands) - how many chunks did you use?

I also love the tumbleweeds for the chimney, always drove me nuts when I used anything else it was cold when I checked on it.

Definitely start early and let the PBC run a bit before you add the meat.

Was the only issue that it tasted "too Smokey"? I just want to be clear, I’m not downplaying that as a complaint. My first 3-4 cooks got that same reaction.

I don't know if my gf was making a complaint or an observation. I'll have to double-check with her!