Half load of charcoal enough to cook a chicken in the PBC?

[Finster]

I've never done a chicken on the PBC.

I'm planning to cook a whole chicken (along with some fresh Andouille) which will be cut up to make Gumbo.
I'm thinking an hour or so should be long enough to get some smoke on the bird, and have it done enough, since it will cook further in the gumbo pot.
Do I need to load a full basket of charcoal for such a short cook?
Im thinking (hoping) a half load of Kingsford Pro should get me where I need to go.

Appreciate input from those with some chicken cooks under their belt...

[Panhead John]

Not having a PBC, I’d still go with more than half a basket. Better to have a little too much leftover than not enough during your cook. I’d also plan on cooking the bird till almost entirely done…..if you’re going to debone it first before adding it to the pot. Otherwise it’ll be a PIA to pull the meat from the bones on a partially cooked chicken, been there done that. Having made many pots of chicken and sausage gumbo in my life, one more tip. I’ve found that adding my deboned chicken to the pot about 30-45 minutes before it’s done, works best. If the chicken is added at the beginning of the cook, it becomes stringy and breaks into much smaller pieces than what I want. I usually cook my gumbo for 2-3 hours total, which IMO is too much time for the chicken to simmer. Just a thought.

[Finster]

Thanks John. Good info.
It's been awhile since I've made gumbo, and always starting with uncooked chicken pieces. This is just an experiment I thought I'd try to see if smoking the meats first makes a difference.
Will take the bird to full temp before removing from the barrel 👍

[jpsep]

I've done a ton of poultry. Here's what I've learned: You can cook chicken in about an hour at a high temp. I fill the basket, then suffocate the fire when I'm done and save the charcoal for the next one.

I watch Mad Scientist BBQ on Youtube and one tip that has gone over very well for my family as been start chicken out like you would any other cook: low and slow. Get more smoke flavor into the meat. Then turn up the temp and crisp it up.

[shify]

I always start with half a chimney of light charcoal in my PBC. If I'm doing a short cook, say around 60-90 minutes, I put another 20 or so briquettes in the basket, maybe a little more if I'm going to keep the temps higher for chicken. In fact, I only use a full basket if I'm doing a 5+ hour cook. So no, you don't need a full basket.

[Finster]

Thanks shify..
I'm thinking if I keep temps around 325° or so, 60 -90 minutes should be enough to get it done

[jpsep]

Adding charcoal to the pit barrel mid-cook is a massive pain. I did it once and never again. Would be different if I had a WSM for example. Plus if you follow PBC’s lighting instructions (and in general here on AmazingRibs) you want to burn off any acrid smoke from the additives in the charcoal. If you add charcoal during the cook you’re reintroducing the chance of that happening. You could light another chimney…but again, why bother? I top off the basket every cook and when I’m done I put the basket in a sealed metal bucket. Lack of oxygen puts the fire out and makes quick work of the ash cleanup. Save the rest for next time. Rinse and repeat.

[Michael_in_TX]

I think you will be fine. Here is what I do for short cooks: Instead of filling the basket all the way, I will fill it with just 40 coals (essentially half a standard chimney) and add any wood as well. I will also fill the PBC chimney with 40 coals.

I light the PBC chimney and let it go for 12 minutes (standard PBC lighting procedure) and then pour that over the unlit 40 coals & wood and then start the cook.

For me, this is a good compromise between not wasting charcoal but also ensuring that the PBC gets up to a good temp.

[Finster]

Thanks for the detailed explanation.
Exactly what I was looking for.

Based on some other posts I read, I'm planning to leave one of the rebars out to help keep temps up...

[FireMan]

I’m with PJ & jp. Full basket, get the job done & snuff it out. Even if ya don’t what are ya out 20-25 briquettes. Plus yer doin more than one chicken.

[DennyWoo]

I did 3 racks of baby backs last weekend on a half basket of Kingsford Professional in my PBC. It was a cold and windy day, but it got the job done. I would think a shorter cook like chicken would work too. FWIW, I tried to keep all the coals on one side of the basket for that cook.

[MarkN]

First I would recommend checking out the Sticky Notes in this Pit Barrel Cooker area.

In there someplace I copied the information below and saved it (since once again I can't seem to find exactly where it was):

PBC Charcoal Amounts

More than 6 hours--120 in basket, 40 in chimney
Between 4 & 6--80 in basket, 40 in chimney
Between 1 & 4--40 in basket , 40 in chimney
Less than 1 hour--10 in basket, 40 in chimney
OR:
A half basket, with a half full lit chimney (Weber small) will get you to about 4+hrs of cooktime and keeps temps around 275-290.
A half basket, with a full lit chimney usually runs hot for about 3+hrs.

I have found it best to err on the low side (for example, if it says "Between 4 & 6--80 in basket, 40 in chimney", figure it will last 4 hours.

[Finster]

Thanks. I've seen this. And forgotten about it. I think I actually even have it written down somewhere, and still forgot about it..
Having CRS sucks...

[fracmeister]

I don't have a PBC but I do have one of these guys below. I routinely smoke two chickens and use a full load of charcoal on top of a couple pieces of wood and a couple pieces on top of the lit half). I smoke at 350-375 and it takes 1hr 45 mins to 2 hours depending on the birds and they are definitely cooling off some after that.... so I will occasionally lay some bacon out to smoke after that and it barely has the oomph to finish the thick slices on that load. A half load probably wouldn't do the birds for me.

https://www.oklahomajoes.com/bronco-drum-smoker