First Round on New PBC

[Matt L]

Just got myself a PBC to run my bbq catering service this upcoming bbq season. I am so stoked that I decided to do a trinity for the test run of beef chuck roast, spare ribs, and a chicken to check out how each meat comes off this bad boy. And it literally came through fedex this morning.

Went to a local butcher shop and snagged the ribs and beef last night, dry brined over night. For funsies, I injected a little stock into the beef but not too much because I want to keep the first cook simple.

I followed fzxdoc's lighting instructions, and i've got the beef on there now. Decided I was excited enough to post about it. I'll post food pics as they are ready.

Put the beef on about 25 minutes ago, sitting at 316 in the PBC but I think its still settling down. How long does it usually take to settle in to its running temp before you need to think about foiling the rebar holes?

[Voodoo]

I say leave it alone. I too watch temps, but at the end of the day, it just does what it does and it comes out great. Start messing around too much mid-cook, and frustration will rise and the results just aren't great. Walk away for an hour, then come back and check the temps, they should be fine. Either way, let it cook.
Other PBC owners may say different, but there's a reason the PBC comes without a thermometer.
Good luck.

[Matt L]

It seemed to have settled in at 306 so I covered one rebar hole with foil and we'll see what happens. I agree that I don't want to mess with it too much, so I figure thats a good enough compromise to be able to test out what happens without doing too much.

Finding it hard to resist the urge to open the lid. Must. Resist.

[rototiller78]

Noah states that you can open the lid to the PBC whenever you want. That's part of the fun of bbqing and the PBC can handle it.

[MBMorgan]

The PBC can take a couple of hours to settle down to its "cruising" temp. I worked myself into a frenzy during my first cook in an attempt to control temps ... and on the second (and subsequent) cooks, just let it do its thing for at least 3 hours before peeking. Every cook came out perfect ... but the first was a LOT more work than others. About the only fiddling I do now is for poultry in order to get the cooking temp up into the 330 - 350 degree range.

[Jerod Broussard]

I would make sure and keep track of the weather (temp, humidity, day cook in direct sunlight, night cook), how you lit it (number of coals, time it was preheated), and how much meat you hung in that dude, etc...

That will help give you approximate cooking times and how to just about duplicate certain cooking temps.

Definitely set alarms for overnight cooks on big chunks of meat. The stall and the humidity will kill that dude something fierce.

[Matt L]

Thanks for the tips! I'm using the time/temp guide on the forum for now, I'll definitely keep track. It settled down to 265 so I took the foil off for the rest of the cook because I'm more curious to see what it does on its own (and thats now two folks mentioning fiddling).

Just put in the ribs, my little chuck roast is looking nice (about 157 internal).

[Matt L]

And I just noticed the briquette outside the basket. Oh well, I'll get it when its time to open the lid again.

[fzxdoc]

That happens to me sometimes, Matt L . Usually I get the burning briquette with a long pair of tongs, but once I didn't notice the rogue briquette and it was outside of the basket for the whole cook. No damage was done to the PBC.

Kathryn

[fzxdoc]

Usually when the PBC runs hotter than 300 or so for non-poultry cooks, I check to make sure the lid is on really tight. Nine times out of 10, the lid is not firmly in place.

Kathryn

[Matt L]

I saw your comments in a running too hot thread and pressed down on the lid a bit. I'm going to play with it, and see if there's a certain position that gets it more secure than others.

[Matt L]

Just finished dinner, it wasn't half bad. The smoke flavor was wayyy stronger than I thought it would be. I used two good sized hunks of apple wood. I think I want to try sans wood chunks next time to see what the basic flavor would be.

Had a great time testing it out and I believe I won't have any trouble developing a good feel for this thing. Thanks so much for the helpful info along the way.

[Jerod Broussard]

Nice pile of meat there.

[jecucolo]

I'm learning that how you start the PBC makes a huge difference in temps. I use lighter fluid to light my coals.
(Gasp!) Last night I cooked some chicken breast. I filled basket and measured out 8 ounces of fluid. I also am experimenting with wood. Learning how to get this blue smoke. Anyway the PBC hit 400 and stayed there. I put the bars in. I mean it went to 425! My chicken was done in 45 minutes. Juicy meat. My wife said best she has eaten. Again!
I got a lot of white smoke so I'm still working on that.
I have found that 4 ounces of fluid does not get you the big spikes.

[Jerod Broussard]

White smoke ain't nothin' but visible blue smoke in another spectrum. hahaha

Chicken loves high temps....that is why they grow them so fast, so they can be cooked fast.

[_John_]

Looks pretty good! Since it was new and shiny your temps were probably a bit higher than they will be when seasoned so I wouldn't worry much, the problems are when you float down to 230 and can't get em up.

[Matt L]

I honestly feel like I had too much wood in there. I had 2 huge hunks and it was a bit over smoked for my tastes. I knew it only needed a little wood but dang, 2 hunks was too much. It wasn't creosote soaked bitter, it just kind of tasted like meat from the Lost smoke monster instead of pork/beef. Chicken was about right but it wasn't on as long.

Let me know if you figure out blue smoke. I want to get a few more cooks mastered with briquettes then I want to try experimenting with charcoal types to see if flavor changes at all (knowing full well that it will change heat dynamics).

Either way, I wasn't expecting to have a lot of success on my first cook with such a different system than I've used in the past so it did exceed my expectations. Now to begin the long work of fine tuning this bad boy.

[jecucolo]

I love the pbc. I spend weekends cooking on it. My wife and I have nicknamed it "my girlfriend"!
It's hell getting old.