My Newly Modded PBC

[Atakawow]

New guy here. I recently acquired a 22.5" - Did a first rib cook in the stock configuration and the experience was a blast - The food was great to boot.

After the first cook, I knew mods were needed. Taking cues from my other cookers and YouTube, I did the following mods:

- Thermometer gauge on the top lid
- Thermometer gauge in the mid barrel
- *Damper in the top lid (this may not be needed but since my rolling stand obstructs about 1/5 of the vent, I figured this would be a safety measure to compensate if more airflow is needed)
- Rolling stand (this is a must-Have IMO)
- Carabiner clips on the side handle for hanging tools
- Rubber end-caps for the hanging bars (the bar edges are kinda sharp and can potentially damage the cooker cover)
- 24" kettle cover from Walmart (perfect fit and a fraction of the cost compared to the PBC one)

Haven't done another cook yet with the mods but I'm pretty confident the experience will be a whole lot better.

[Michael_in_TX]

That looks absolutely professional!

The rubber end caps are a snazzy idea.

[Clawbear57]

Show pics. Of next cook.

[N227GB]

Nice workmanship! I'd suggest replacing the bimetal thermometers with with the probes from something like a Thermoworks Smoke. They could be held in place with a small piece of silicone material. The accuracy is much better with digital and it's nice to have a remote display. Other models have a Bluetooth smartphone app you can monitor from anywhere.

https://www.thermoworks.com/smoke/

[fzxdoc]

Welcome to The Pit! You're going to like it here.

A couple of thoughts on your PBX:

If you hang 2 ambient (remote) probes in the barrel, opposite each other, and take the average of the readouts at any point in time, you'll likely find that you won't have to mess with the temperature much at all.

I've done this on my PBC (18") for every single cook for over 10 years now. Works great.

Also, you might want to think about adding an automatic temp control, down the road, like a Fireboard temp controller with a Pit Viper fan, perhaps. Holds the PBC temp solid for hours and hours.

That sure is a nice looking setup you have there. I'm with you on the rolling stand. So convenient.

Kathryn

[tenphases]

fzxdoc Which adapter do you use to connect?

[fzxdoc]

tenphases , I use BBQ Guru's XL Dome Adapter in my PBC, along with the Fireboard Drive and the Pit Viper fan. Not sure if they still sell those adapters, though.

Kathryn

[Atakawow]

Thanks for the input, everyone.

In the middle of a cook right now with the new mods - What I'm learning so far:

- With my thermo placement, the top gauge consistently reads +30 degrees hotter than the mid gauge.

- Current weather temperature is about 31 F (Pacific Northwest) and I have 3 whole birds in the pit. With the bottom vent wide open and the damper wide open (I have 5x 3/8" holes for the damper), the internal temp stalled at 260 ish for a good half hour. I cracked the lit and got the temp to hit 280.

- Once the temp reached 280-ish, I was able to stabilize it at 285-ish with the damper wide open and bottom vent open with about an inch edge-to-edge.

Still a bit to go and will update with the final results.

[fzxdoc]

Many people choose to smoke poultry at 350° to aim for some crispy skin and of course the juicy result that Pit Barrels are famous for.

Like you, I smoked my first chicken on my PBC at 250-265ish. It took a couple of hours to get to 160° (carryover to 165°) in the breast and simultaneously 185ish in the thigh/leg at that temp. When I smoke chickens at 350°, they're done and perfect in about an hour. I've smoked them at 350° from my second chicken cook going forward.

Usually on a Pit Barrel Cooker, the lower vent is not adjusted once its opening is set as recommended for your altitude. I've never found that adjusting it during a cook makes a whole lot of difference, but YMMV.

Because the juices drip directly on the fire, adding to the flavor of the meat, whenever I smoke poultry I add a hanging rack (or two) with a half a dozen fresh sausages per rack. I poke the lowest sausage a time or two so the fat will drip into the fire and help flavor the chicken even more. The sausages are done in about 45 minutes (for a PBC temp of 350°) and are delicious, served alongside the chicken. That might be a fun thing for you to try next time.

And FWIW, I'd be temped to run one of those rebars on the diagonal (removing the 3rd rebar completely) for more room to position each chicken over the basket where I like it. That would leave 2 rebar holes open which will help keep the barrel's temp up closer to 350ish should you ever want to try smoking a bird at higher temps..

Enjoy your cook!

Kathryn

[Alan Brice]

TH Queen!

[Atakawow]

Ok, post-cook update:

- I don't like poultry but the the birds turned out pretty damn tasty. Smoky and juicy.

- Thermo gauge and rolling stand are MUST-HAVES. The stand is self-explanatory. Given how much I had to toy around to find the sweet temp spot, the thermo gauge was an absolute must-Have

- Damper is used to stabilize temp and does not contribute much for raising the temp. I found the fastest way to raise the temp is to just crack the lid. Once reach desired temp, use damper and vent to control and stabilize temp.

- The 3-rebar configuration is very annoying. The space between the bars is not enough to pull food through. I ended up lifting the hook, lowering it toward the direction of the charcoal, then loop it through the larger opening section in the pit in order to remove the food. This is dangerous.

Final thoughts: I am really digging this style of cooking and can see how it can implement my other cookers.
Having said that, I have to disagree with commentrs who say this is a beginner cooker. Maintaining the temp is not an easy task, especially in the PBC stock configuration (without temp gauge).

Thank you all for following this thread and providing input.

[N227GB]

Looks great!

[fzxdoc]

Wow, your chickens look great. The Pit Barrel products turn out amazing poultry. The unique flavor, the juicy meat even in the breast portions, the spot-on dark meat and sometimes crispy skin (depending on cook temp) all make it a family fave at our house.

I don't have a PBX, but I've used a PBC pretty routinely for nearly 10 years. I've found that when it comes to having a pretty solid temperature throughout a cook, getting a good light on the fire in the first place is the most important thing. That's why I let the fire burn at least 10 minutes before adding the meat. Many meats, especially chicken, dump a lot of moisture into a barrel's fire so you've got to have a good one going in the first place so it can handle all that liquid and turn it into smoky flavor. In general, my PBC settles in at around 275° in about 10-20 minutes after pouring the lit coals onto the unlit ones in the basket.

A few additional points you might want to consider:

Since I use two ambient probes inside the PBC, one on the vent side, about an inch away from the wall, and the other on the side opposite, I find that the two probe readings can differ from each other by as much as 40-60° throughout a cook, sometimes switching the hotter side during a long cook. That's why I use 2 probes and take the average as my "true" PBC temperature at any point in time. Accordingly, a single thermometer's reading close to the side of the barrel can be misleading when determining the barrel temp.

As you found, the best way to increase the PBC temp is by cracking the lid. Sometimes it only takes a minute or two, and if you crack it too long, the fire can run hot pretty quickly and take a bit to settle back down. Since my PBC does not have an upper vent, I cannot address its effect.

You may find that splitting the chicken in half, up the backbone and down the breastbone, makes it easier to handle a bird in the barrel. Split chickens cook in about the same amount of time as a whole chicken, FWIW.

Since you only used 2 rebars to hang your birds, you could have taken the center one out. You can plug the open rebar holes with strong magnets or a cork. That will give you more room to maneuver the meat inside the barrel.

I also like positioning a rebar on the diagonal for a poultry cook so the bird hangs more in the center of the barrel during the cook. Since you have a centered rebar with a PBX, you can do that for at least some of the birds. I would have been tempted to run the rebar across the barrel from one outermost opening to the other, removing 2 rebars, and hang all three chickens on one rebar. Don't know if that would work, but it would have been fun to give the idea a try. Can you tell I'm cooking vicariously through your chicken cook? Just bear with me.

I hope some of these observations give you something to think about as you work your way to getting the PBX to perform the way you want it to.

FWIW, there are a couple of sticky topics in the PBC channel that you might want to take a look at. One is on lighting techniques for the PBC and the other is on cooking times and temps for many meats and other foods on the PBC. You may have to modify some suggestions for a PBX, though.

Kathryn

[fzxdoc]

Duanessmokedmeats , Thanks for sharing your PBX turkey experience. I remember when I smoked my first spatchcocked turkey in the PBC. Like you I was amazed at how fast it cooked. I was also amazed that the skin was crispy and bite-through, not rubbery at all.

It's good to know that leaving some rebar holes open in the PBX keeps the temps up hot enough for roasting/smoking poultry, just like in the PBC.

Did you leave 4 holes or 2 holes open, then?

Kathryn

[Duanessmokedmeats]

I left 4 holes open. I crossed diagonally from left to right hole

[fzxdoc]

Excellent idea, Duane Duanessmokedmeats . That's exactly what I would have tried had I owned a PBX. It's good to know that it worked well for you.

K.

[Catmandu]

I like the mods you made, but one small comment regarding the rubber end caps for the bars. When not in use I store the bars inside the barrel so no chance of coming in contact with the cover.

[fzxdoc]

I store the rebars inside the barrel as well. I want the barrel to breathe between cooks to discourage mold, which I've never had in the PBC. I use it too often to give mold a chance, besides the fact that we live in a low-humidity climate, summer and winter. But even so, I make sure that all of my cookers are stored clean with the vents wide open.

Kathryn

[Smoker_Boy]

snip... Many meats, especially chicken, dump a lot of moisture into a barrel's fire so you've got to have a good one going in the first place so it can handle all that liquid and turn it into smoky flavor. In general, my PBC settles in at around 275° in about 10-20 minutes after pouring the lit coals onto the unlit ones in the basket.

... snip

Kathryn

Great points about the moisture. I never even thought about that before.