I've used both Fogo and Jealous Devil on cooks in the PBC and a PK-360. There was no junk in either of the bags. They are both quality lump charcoal. Both burn hotter than KBB of course and I think the Fogo burns a little longer than JD, but don't have any data to back that up. I'm curious as to if anybody else here has experience with either of those brands and what your impressions are.
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Wow! I haven't cooked on a Weber kettle for almost 40 years, but 15 hours without having to add charcoal may be some kind of record. When I watch YouTubers cooking on a WSM or a kettle with S&S, it seems they're always having to add briquettes after 4 hours or so. How about it Weber cooks, what's a typical time when you have to supplement the coal supply?Comment
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I have a cajun bandit smoke stacker on my Weber kettle. I separated the charcoal sizes into 3 sizes, small medium and large. I used all the large and added some medium to fill in. Used binder clips around lid and bottom to help seal.
Yep if you get a good sealed up Weber, Fogo will burn long and slow.
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I am a little unsettled by the topic and also by a couple of the posts. I am thinking about buying a PBC. Where i live, i don‘t have access to KO. Simply not. I am getting the impression KO is the way to go, except sone few exceptions. So i should be very wary buying a PBC? On the other hand reading in the product description and also in the FAQ’s on the PBC Website, i don‘t see any mention that the use of the cooker is restricted or even only recommended to be used with KOs. Also in the amazingribs review by Max, no such mention, Only the need for high quality briquets. I get that, now which briquets are higher quality or better with which cooker etc , that is a whole different discussion. But also from sone reviews from other websites, i get the impression that PBC goes with KO. What is the background of this topic? Is there any official reference information?Last edited by chenrici; November 6, 2019, 05:00 PM.Comment
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I just got a answer from PBC themselfs „ As far as charcoal goes, any charcoal you want to use should be fine. The cook time and temperatures are based on standard burn rate charcoal briquettes. Lump charcoal is fine but will result in higher temperatures and quicker cook times.“ I am relieved 😅 so yes business as usual ss with any charcoal based cooker, at least in terms of fuel...😅Last edited by chenrici; November 6, 2019, 05:10 PM.
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Saw this at the Kroger today - B&B briquettes with mesquite.
Might pick a bag up when this KBB runs out. Not sure about mesquite on pork ribs...... Might just have to find new beef things to smoke.
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Just a FYI to those that weren't on this month's video chat about barrel cookers. Noah said that he only uses lump charcoal in his PBCs now. If you are concerned about the temp being higher, you can slightly adjust the bottom vent more closed to compensate. Personally, I haven't tried lump yet, but I'm planning on switching once I've run through my current supply of KO. I also have a ceramic cooker so I've always got lump charcoal around anyway. I'll do a test burn with the lump and adjust the vent down so it cooks the same.Comment
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Does lump really burn hotter? I was under the impression that wasn't the case.
Ive only used lump a time or two, and not in my own smoker, so I don't really have a good comparison.
I picked up a bag of B&B briquettes. Those definitely ran longer than KBB, and was my highets temp cook. But also the first time I really sat back and let the PBC do its thingLast edited by BFlynn; June 15, 2020, 08:29 PM.
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It's all about air flow. I have no trouble maintaining a low and slow temp in my Weber kettle.Comment
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fzxdoc That $40 kettle, then led to how many add ons and mods? ;-) -
Me neither I smoke as low as 180 for bacon(don't tell me it's dangerous, your grand paps did to) Tell Meathead that I said 200. For most other smoking the range has gone from 225 to 275 for low and slow. I have gone to the high end of the range and do most of my smoking at 275 I set my DigiQ at 265 so if there is any overrun it doesn't go to high.
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Still very much worth it and still cheaper than a good smokerComment
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As far as I'm concerned throw your PBC in the trash I did.Comment
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Well I've decided to resurface after a bit of down time. I have used over the last two years or so, a supply of Humphrey's natural briquettes (https://humphreycharcoal.com/dir/index.php? The standard hardwood briqs in fact.) I got a supply from my cousin's husband who happens to farm tobacco in Connecticut, and uses it in his drying sheds where they can't truck in propane due to poor access.
This charcoal is *so dang clean* you can really taste the diff... not to mention it'll burn 11 hours or more in a PBC. Big dense briquettes that are not too hard to light... My last cook last week used up my supply although cousin-in-law Karl says he has some more waitin' for me. I have also used Royal Oak to good account BUT the 42 briqs I lit last week took 15 minutes in the chimney to ash over... surprise surprise. And as I've often experienced.... the high initial temp of 300+ never happened (yet again) although it settled right into the 165 +/- 10 range. Lowest it got was 149 in fact.
But I love the Humphrey's... and I have to get more. They also have an all natural briquette which costs a bit more per pound. The website has the standard briquettes in a 40 lb bag while the all natural are in an 18 lb bag. The only down side I can see is I can't figure out how much they would charge to ship. Their old website had more info available (you could order by the pallette!) now not so much. But this is good stuff.
I'll have to try lump some time...Comment
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JPP were your comments above indicating you did not see the initial 300* spike but that it settled right into the 165*+/-10* range regarding the Humhrey's charcoal or regarding the Royal Oak? Also, can I assume you meant to indicate the 265*+/-10 degree range? I am looking for something that will settle in somewhere close to 265* as opposed to 290*-310* range. Thank you.Originally posted by JPP View Post
EDITED TO ADD: You indicated you had 42 brigette's in the chimney, approximately how many unlit coals did you have in the basket? Thanks!
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I always liked the fact that JPP uses 42 coals in his chimney, a nod to the famous Douglas Adams. I do the same thing. 42 coals in the chimney every time.
After all, according to Adams, 42 is the answer to the Ultimate Question of Life, the Universe, and Everything, , calculated by an enormous supercomputer named Deep Thought over a period of 7.5 million years.
Thanks again, JPP, for the reminder that someone else out there does the same thing.
Also, I'm going to see if Humphrey's is available locally.
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P.S. , JPP I went to the Humphrey's website and got all the way through checkout and there appears to be no shipping fee. How can that be?
I didn't complete the order.
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After talking with Noah about using lump, I am going to give that a try soon. I still have bags and bags of Kingsford to burn through.Comment
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Yeah I noticed the same thing later on. I would *expect* that the shipping charges should show up after all the payment info goes in but before you hit the complete. That said, you can't count on the internet to be nice to you! If cousin Karl cant come thru for me this year, I'll probably give humphreys a call and ask what's up with shipping. Normal price for the bag is $55. I would hope that might cover the shipping... perhaps at the current sale they're running well, who knows?Originally posted by fzxdoc View Post
JPP
EDIT: PS. I just sent them an e-mail inquiring about the shipping charges for 1, 4 or 8 bags of the stuff... we'll see if they get back to me! If they do, you'll see it here!
Last edited by JPP; June 29, 2020, 09:57 AM.Comment
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Originally posted by Alabama Smoke View Post
Well that is an interesting phenomenon I've seen in my PBC. I basically follow Kathryn's method as close to the letter as I can... for some reason, my PBC has had that high temp spike, but rarely... and that happened to be with KBB. Not to mention that when my pbc has gone over 300, the times it's gone above 320 I can count on one hand.
I have a very hard time keeping the temperature consistent using KBB although it has happened on occasion :-) I dont know how many were in the basket since I used up the last of my Humphreys (basket was probably around 3/4ths full) and topped it off with the royal oak. By the time I took 42 royal oak briqs off for the chimney, there were probably about a ten of the R.O. briqs left scattered about... It was a fairly humid day so I'm wondering if that's why it took so long for the briqs in the chimney to ash over (15 minutes at 90 feet above sea level)... or R.O. is simply harder to light.
Alot of my "troubles" (the food has never been a problem once done!) is likely due to an ingrained lack of patience on the part of the operator.
I expect that many may find humphreys harder to light, but what I do is to use a 5 oz. tuna can with about an ounce or so of 90% isopropyl alcohol to light it up... that does the trick for me. But I'm saving the alcohol for these, ahem, troubled times... so I went back to using newspaper or brown paper shopping bags (which are superior to newspaper IMHO).
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