PBC Cook Times: Including PBC temps and Meat/Veggie Weights (if possible)

[stickbit]

fzxdoc HUGE HUGE thanks to you and everyone that suggested buying a gasket to help seal the lid. DONE and DONE! I cooked chicken and ribs last night and the only smoke coming out on top was thru the rebar holes. Definitely my most enjoyable cook so far. I HIGHLY recommend to everyone, especially newer owners, to really look at the lid and see if there's any leakage. As far as the temps go - I loaded up the pbc with Stubb's charcoal and used doc's starting method...and had the opposite affect (probably due to the charcoal) i didn't get a 350-400 degree spike....it ran around 290-275 and dropped... I cracked the lid and for the most part the PBC ran in the 275-325 zone. Now that I have the lid issue fixed I want to figure out how to consistently cook with charcoal other than Kingsford...if possible. I think I need to get a hotter fire going next time. Stubb's seems to take longer to get going.

[fzxdoc]

I'm so happy that gasket fix worked out for you, stickbit . PBCs definitely run more predictably when there are no leaks around the lid.

This may not help since you're trying to get away from Kingsford, but Kingsford Competition runs nice and hot.

Let us know what you finally decide works best for you.

Best wishes,
Kathryn

[FireMan]

Kathryn, your tables not only work for PBC, but I just used it as a guide for a tri tip on my Weber w/SnS. Holds pretty true. I’m not a computer graph guy, although have a Smoke & Chef’s Alarm. Your charts are extremely helpful.

[fzxdoc]

That's good to know, FireMan , that the list can serve as a rough guide to non-PBC cooks as well. Makes sense, since every cook mostly comes down to time and temp. Thanks for the input.

K.

[Dizzydog]

Hello again. Adding this to the list. Whole chicken 4.7Lb stuffed with herbs and garlic, tied and hung in PBC. Temp steady at 330 to 350. Removed at just over 2 Hrs internal temp 165 in breast. This was over lump hardwood mostly red oak. Perfect and also great as leftover in a ramen next day.

IMG_2681.jpg

[fzxdoc]

Wow that's a pretty bird, Dizzydog . Thanks for the data. I added the details of your cook to the first post in this topic. People are going to want to make that chicken for sure.

Kathryn

[Dizzydog]

HI Katheryn, I tried this chicken as a mini test for doing a large Turkey at Thanksgiving. I see in the lead post that at 20 lbs you have times from 2hrs + up to over 6 hrs. Hard to imagine timing dinner...Any consistent time idea for 300 plus temps near sea level?

[Attjack]

I keep track of all my cooks in Google Keep. Very handy

[au4stree]

Another vote for Google Keep. One feature I like to use is the collaboration with other users. That way when I forget my phone and want to look up on my wife's phone, there it is. Or any other user.

[Attjack]

Yeah, you can share the shopping list too. So someone can add a couple items and it shows up for whoever's doing the shopping.

[hoovarmin]

That's wild - I've never even heard of Google Keep and I use their GSuite every day.

[fzxdoc]

HI Katheryn, I tried this chicken as a mini test for doing a large Turkey at Thanksgiving. I see in the lead post that at 20 lbs you have times from 2hrs + up to over 6 hrs. Hard to imagine timing dinner...Any consistent time idea for 300 plus temps near sea level?

Dizzydog, to summarize that whole (not spatchcocked) turkey data from the first post,

12-14 lbs on turkey hanger at 325° or so took 2 to 2.5 hours.

15-20 lbs on turkey hanger at 325° or so took 3 to 4 hours

The 5.5 to 6 hour cooks from a pitmasters who either did not record his/her PBC temps or who smoked the turkey at lower (270°F) temps.

So if I was planning a 20 lb turkey smoked at 325 or more, I'd shoot for around 3.5 hours to smoke it.

FWIW, for my first PBC turkey several years back I did a test run in October just to see how my PBC would handle it. Since our daily meals are usually just for my husband and myself, we froze a lot of that Test Turkey meat, thawing and eating on it over the next few months.

The test run gave me a good idea about injecting butter into the breast and other prep methods, how my fire handled a big drippy bird, etc. Plus it was fun, as PBC cooks always are. It gave me more confidence when Thanksgiving time rolled around and I had a houseful of guests to cook a similar sized turkey for.

Kathryn

[Dizzydog]

Kathryn Thank you for this very helpful summary. I was also thinking of a test so may just do that. Is there a post about your injecting and other tips? Here in New England this is not the normal way of doing the Turkey for Thanksgiving so I hope to do right or else I'm the goat!

[fzxdoc]

Dizzydog , read Meathead's instructions on smoking a turkey over on the main site. He recommends injecting a butter/broth solution, as I recall, to make the turkey more like a Butterball. I just use slightly melted butter--warm enough to inject without solidifying in the syringe from the cold turkey breast. I do it for insurance.

K.

[jecucolo]

12 # Prime Brisket Trimed
Dry Brine for 4 days
BBBR applied the night before
1:30am Wake up put brisket in freezer
Start PBC using 10-10-10 method
PBC Rocked at 275* start to finish
2:10 hang brisket
5:00 stall begins at 150*point/155 flat
8:30 stall ends 167*point/175* flat
9:15 crutch 170*point/185*flat
10:00 cambro 195 both
1:30 pm serve meal
2:00 answer how to cook brisket
9:00 receive text on epic brisket from guest
10:00 go to sleep knowing I brought a little joy into the world

[fzxdoc]

Great cooking log, jecucolo . Thanks!

Sounds like the perfect brisket cook. Congratulations.

May I use your data to add to the first post in this topic?

Kathryn

[smn1285]

Why did you put the brisket in the freezer? I’m not sure I remember reading about this before?

[jecucolo]

Absolutely, that’s why I posted here. I often see post from a new que’r who doesn’t know what to expect from the the stall and thought this would help. It can be nerve racking when you first see you brisket at 140* in the first 2 hours!
Joe

[jecucolo]

6 chicken halves about 2.5 pounds each
Dry brined 3 days. The first day I wrapped each half in plastic wrap then I took wrap off and let skin dry out. My dry brine was 1 tablespoon baking powder 3 tablespoons kosher salt. I rubbed with my AP Sans Salt rub around 10:00 am. I hung chicken at 10:30 am. I had to keep the lid cracked the whole time. The temperature ranged 275 to 286*. I couldn’t get it to 300*. It took about 2 hours to get the breast to 175*. I over cooked a little because I had guest I just didn’t want to see anything red. Next time I’m going to apply the AP Sans Salt rub when I unwrap the plastic wrap. The skin became so dry I had to spritz it with water to apply rub which sort of defeated the drying process but my cousin said she had never had chicken breast so moist!

[fzxdoc]

I have that happen all the time when I load my PBC up with 6 chicken halves and sausages in 2 sausage basket hangers, jecucolo . Even if I use Kingsford Professional, I can't get the Pit Barrel temp to break and stay over 300°F even with the lid cracked the whole time. I usually smoke chickens whose halves are 2 to 2.5 pounds each with the backbone cut off before splitting.

So I just plan for a 250-275° cook which usually takes around 2 hours or maybe a little more depending on how large the yardbirds are. Double the time compared to smoking one or even two chickens at 350° or so.

I've often smoked the breast to 175° in parts, and it still comes out juicy in the PBC.

Three days is a long time to dry brine a chicken, but sounds like yours turned out fine. For me, leaving the chicken, (skin rubbed with AP+Baking Powder mixture and the muscle rubbed with PBC's AP ) uncovered in the fridge for 24 hours is enough to dry the skin out. It's good to know, though, that the chicken's texture doesn't suffer from a 3 day dry brine. Your guest's rave reviews are proof of that!

Kathryn

[jecucolo]

Yeah I got the plastic wrap idea from a pit member. I could probably reduce the dry out stage by a day. This was my first large scale AP Sans Salt rub cook so I was a little unsure of the process. Thanks for the comment on tempatures. I will definitely do the wrap again.

[webwolff]

Which end of baby backs do you place the hooks?

[MBMorgan]

Which end of baby backs do you place the hooks?

The fatter end.

[webwolff]

Thanks!

[mountainsmoker]

I applaud all that you have done. I have also kept a diary that dates back now 40 years, the biggest thing I can recommend a new smoker do. I had a strange wind, temp and rain pattern a few weeks back that I found in the first 10 years of my smoking it saved a brisket.

Keep up the good work and thanks for being here for us.

[fzxdoc]

Thank you, mountainsmoker , for the kind words.

Kathryn

[AZ Fogey]

fzxdoc You are unbelievable. Your capacity and talent for collating information, formatting it beautifully in Word or on this website is just unsurpassed. And not only that, you obviously love to BBQ. Thank you for sharing it all.

[fzxdoc]

Thank you so much, AZ Fogey . I'm happy to help. So many folks on this site have helped me along the way, and continue to do so. It's a great place to be a part of.

Kathryn

[crpeck]

This is awesome! How can I find the Word doc?