Light my (PBC) fire: tips on lighting and maintaining temperatures

[fzxdoc]

I'm a PBC owner and use Kingsford Blue Bag much of the time except for poultry cooks, where I use Kingsford Professional. I haven't noticed any problem maintaining the temps using KBB within the past year. I use an automatic temperature controller some of the time, but still do "old school" cooks on the PBC without a controller. To my eye, both KBB and Kingsford Pro leave a lot of ash behind.

Are you sure you're getting a good light on the basket? What is your lighting procedure? Have you tried another charcoal like Kingsford Professional or B&B Briquettes?

It's my understanding that the PBX is designed similarly to the PBC only larger. Hopefully some PBX owners will chime in with more helpful tips.

You may want to start a separate topic asking about using KBB in the PBX. That might get even more responses.

Kathryn

[JHB]

I'm using the PBC, not the PBX,(I fat-fingered my earlier post so that it said PBX) and I don't have a controller. I went over my lighting procedure with the person at PBC support and she thought it was OK. I will try a different charcoal next and report back.

[fzxdoc]

When I first had my PBC I used their lighting method and could never get the temperatures to settle. They were always too low. That's when I came up with the procedure described in the original post here. You have to give the fire plenty of time to get good and lit. Then it will rock pretty solid around 275° through most of the cook.

Kathryn

[MsTwiggy]

This exactly happened to me too. I have had much better results and temp control using the 15-10-10 method fzxdoc shared. I do love B&B if I can get it but fond KBB works just fine using the 15-10-10 method

[bbqLuv]

And now I truly understand the popularity of Pellet grills.

[HawkerXP]

[RichieB]

Are you the person who's mantra is PBR PBR PBR? I could be mistaken. It happened in 2004 so I'm due.

[JHB]

OK, that's good advice. I will try that as well.

[fzxdoc]

Maybe try a different lighting method before you go switching charcoal brands. There may be nothing wrong with KBB for your PBC. After all, it's one of the most popular brands used by many PBC users.

Kathryn

[bep35]

I agree with fzxdoc, figure out what is going on before switching charcoal brands. It will help you better understand your PBC. Make one change at a time until you figure it out.

That being said, after having been a KBB user for years (make that decades), just last week I bought a couple bags of B&B from a local hardware store. I got a bag of the Oak Lump Charcoal and a bag of Competition Char-Logs and used them in my Weber Summit Charcoal Grill with SNS. The results were nothing short of amazing! The charcoal lit fast, it burned cleaner (less smoke during lighting than KBB), the temperatures were stable, and I think the food tasted better. I cooked ribeyes and the family thought they were better than usual. I didn't tell them I used a different charcoal. I did a chicken on the WSCG a couple days later and it also had a very nice flavor.

People say lump burns hotter and it may, but I didn't notice a big difference with how I was cooking. With ribeyes I wanted a hot grill so I really didn't check temperature. With the chicken I used a Fireboard and PitViper fan and the temperature stayed spot on at 325. I haven't used the B&B in my PBC yet, but I am looking forward to trying it.

If I had known cooking with lump and char-logs would make such a difference and the results as good as they were, I would have made the switch from KBB years ago.

Good luck and as always, have fun!

[MsTwiggy]

I love B&B, thats what the PBC folks recommended to me when I reached out to them about charcoal and lighting it. Sometimes I can get it at my local Ace. If they don't have it I make a pilgrimage to a hardware store about an hour away and buy 10 bags. It's hard to store more than that.

[HawkerXP]

Keep working on it JHB you'll get it!

PBC, PBC, PBC!

[Finster]

I'm trying out B&B char logs for the first time. Put 7 or 8 in the basket, and loaded the rest of the way with B&B briquwttes.
lit 40 briqs of Kingsford Pro in the chimney and dumped it in. Lid off for 10 minutes. Added wood chunks, then lid on, no rebar for 10. Temp peaked at 480• .
An hour later, I'm still at 315°..
All holes plugged. Still hotter than I'd like.
Only option left is to duct tape tape the intake vent...lol.
maybe I'll use less starter briqs next time 🤷‍♂️

[HawkerXP]

Agree. Or less start time with lid off.
This is how I go, dump in the 40 lit coals, put the basket in barrel, leave lid off. I go inside get the meat, place the hooks. Back outside, put the lid on. When I see the white smoke is gone after dumping in the chimney load, that tells me its ready. Hang the meat and chuck in the wood. I don't time any part of the start. I'll see it go up close to 400 then slowly drop down to the 280 range.

[MsTwiggy]

This would be good for poultry though!! Chicken at these temps would be fantastic.

[RonR]

For my first PBC cook ever I’m using B&B briquettes it seemed to take much longer to get the PBC chimney full of maybe 25-30 briquettes going than reported for the recommended start methods. I ended up using two Kingsford tumbleweeds and dumped after ~20 minutes with the top layer still having no ash on the edges. Had the chimney sitting on the cooking grate inside the PBC. Light breeze but not gusty. Any experience with B&B briquettes in the chimney? (At the 20-minute mark looks like I’ve settled in around 290, so cook seems off to an ok start…)

[Finster]

Yup.
What Jfrosty27 said.
I think because they have less additives/binders than kbb

[hoovarmin]

What's your elevation relative to sea level?

[RonR]

Re: elevation. Sorry, should have mentioned in original post. Low, about 80-ft., Central Florida.

[fzxdoc]

For my first PBC cook ever I’m using B&B briquettes it seemed to take much longer to get the PBC chimney full of maybe 25-30 briquettes going than reported for the recommended start methods. I ended up using two Kingsford tumbleweeds and dumped after ~20 minutes with the top layer still having no ash on the edges. Had the chimney sitting on the cooking grate inside the PBC. Light breeze but not gusty. Any experience with B&B briquettes in the chimney? (At the 20-minute mark looks like I’ve settled in around 290, so cook seems off to an ok start…)

I use B&B briquettes a lot in my PBC for long cooks. They really go the distance. I don't use them for short cooks because they're harder for me to get than KBB, and, for me, KBB is fine for short cooks.

Whenever I use B&B briquettes, I fill the basket 3/4 full with them and use half a chimney of KBB to light them. The KBB lights faster and get the B&B briquettes up to temp much quicker. I do the same for the few bags of Weber briquettes that I'm still hoarding for the same reason. Like B&B, Weber briquettes take much longer to get a good burn going.

FWIW I always use 2 starters under the chimney regardless of what charcoal is inside it. Call me impatient.

Kathryn

[RonR]

Kathryn - when you say "half a chimney" of KBB, are you referring to a standard size (Weber, etc) or the smaller PBC chimney?

[fzxdoc]

RonR , 40 briquettes in whatever size chimney you use. My shorter chimney is wider (Char Broil Half Time Chimney) so it still holds 80 briquettes when full.

Kathryn

[RonR]

Thanks for all the feedback folks - reassured I wasn’t doing something wildly wrong. The cook went fine - stayed around 290 very steadily. I like the idea of using the smaller KBB as starter - easier to distribute evenly on the base of B&B.

[2-7]

Using the B & B briquets (large w/"B") for the first time for baby back ribs.
Should I still take out 40 to light, or 1/4, which by weight comes to about 15?
Thanks in advanced!

[2-7]

I reached out to the PBC help by DM; they replied to stick with lighting "1/4".
I'll probably weigh them out to see what 1/4 is.

[fzxdoc]

I reached out to the PBC help by DM; they replied to stick with lighting "1/4".
I'll probably weigh them out to see what 1/4 is.

2-7

From their website, here is the PBC recommendation on how to light their PBC products:

Lighting Your Pit Barrel^®
Fill your charcoal basket level, remove 1/4 of the briquets (this is approximately 40 coals for the PBC and 20 coals for the PBJ) and place in chimney, light the coals with the lid off and let burn for 12 minutes for elevations between sea level and 2000 ft (All other elevations will let your coals burn for 20 minutes). Dump the lit coals into the charcoal basket and start cooking immediately.

You can see that 1/4 refers to the # of briquettes that you remove from the basket to put in the chimney for lighting.

No need to weigh them. Not an exact science. The key is to get a good light on the coals in the basket before adding the meat.

HTH,
Kathryn

[2-7]

Thanks for the reply.
I had 60 briquets in the basket,1/4 comes to 15. Just seems too few, but 40 was too many, volume-wise.
I know I'm over-thinking this, but we'll see how they (B&B) work out. I'll be sure to post the results.

[fzxdoc]

2-7 , In my experience with B&B briquettes in my PBC, they are slow to light. So be sure they are well-lit in the chimney (white ash shows on the topmost coals) before dumping them on the unlit coals. At my altitude, it takes over half an hour in the chimney (even with using 2 Weber cubes for starters) for B&B coals to be well-lit enough before pouring into the partially-filled basket.

To speed things up, I usually use Kingsford Original (KBB) in the chimney and B&B briquettes in the basket.

HTH,
Kathryn

[RichieB]

+1

[Finster]

+2

[Alan Brice]

+3 after all Kathryn is the PBC Queen!