I have been struggling to control the temps on my PBC for a few years. Last year I put a gasket on and assumed it was as good as it was going to get. This past week I realized there was a dent in the side of the lid (I picked it up used). After straightening the lid edge and adding silicon caulking......all I can say is WOW!. I did a brisket point yesterday and the high was 270 after which it settled in to 250'ish. No spikes, no fall offs. Truly set and forget.
It's amazing how just a little something up there will draw in so much air. I installed a vent (VENTA) on my lid for higher temp cooking on my first PBC.
Congrats on a used one, I have the smaller version from someone else.
When I first got my PBC (new), I couldn’t keep it under 400°. Eventually I found out about gaskets and putting a brick on top, but not before I’d wasted $50+ and lots of hours on poor cooks. It works great now, but I’ll never forget the startup problems. I wonder if the person you bought it from went through the same thing…?
I'm calling it used, but it was an open box return, and the only one in the city at the time. The box was badly damaged and taped up. What could go wrong, its just a barrel, I thought. I'm pretty sure I know why he returned it!
My toys:
Weber Summit Charcoal Grilling Center (WSCGC) aka Mr. Fancypants
Pit Barrel Cooker (which rocks), named Pretty Baby
Weber Summit S650 Gas Grill, named Hot 'n Fast (used mostly for searing and griddling)
Weber Kettle Premium 22" named Kettle Kid, eager to horn in with more cooks in the future
Camp Chef Somerset IV 4-burner outdoor gas range named AfterBurner due to its 30kBTU burners
Adrenaline BBQ Company Gear:
SnS Low Profile, DnG, and Large Charcoal Basket, for WSCGC
SnS Deluxe for 22" Kettle
Elevated SS Rack for WSCGC
SS Rack for DnG
Cast Iron Griddle
Grill Grate for SnS
Grill Grates: five 17.375 sections (retired to storage)
Grill Grates: six 19.25 panels for exact fit for Summit S650
gasser
Grill Grates for 22" Kettle
2 Grill Grate Griddles
Steelmade Griddle for Summit gas grill
Fireboard Gear:
Extreme BBQ Thermometer Package
Additional control unit
Additional probes: Competition Probes 1" (3) and 4" (1), 3 additional Ambient Probes. 1 additional Food Probe
2 Driver Cables
Pit Viper Fan (to pair with Fireboard Fan Driver Cable)
Pit Viper Fan new design (to pair with Fireboard Fan Driver Cable)
Thermoworks Gear:
Thermapen MK4 (pink)
Thermapen Classic (pink too)
Thermoworks MK4 orange
Temp Test 2 Smart Thermometer
Extra Big and Loud Timer
Timestick Trio
Maverick ET 73 a little workhorse with limited range
Maverick ET 733
Maverick (Ivation) ET 732
Grill Pinz
Vortex (two of them)
18" drip pan for WSCGC
Ceramic Spacers for WSCGC in Kamado Mode: 2 sets each 1/2", 1", 2". The 2" spacers work best with the 18" drip pan. The 1+1/2 inch spacers work best with the 14 inch cake pan.
Two Joule Sous Vide devices
3 Lipavi Sous Vide Tubs with Lids: 12, 18 and 26 quarts
Avid Armor Ultra Pro V32 Chamber Sealer
Instant Pot 6 Quart Electric Pressure Cooker
Instant Pot 10 Quart Electric Pressure Cooker
Charcoal Companion TurboQue
A-Maze-N tube 12 inch tube smoker accessory for use with pellets
BBQ Dragon and Dragon Chimney
Shun Classic Series:
8" Chef Knife
6" Chef's Knife
Gokujo Boning and Fillet Knife
3 1/2 inch Paring Knife
That brisket looks amazing! Congrats on finally solving the puzzle.
Whenever someone here speaks of high PBC temps, I (and several others) always recommend taking a look at the lid situation. It's pretty amazing what that dent was doing, though.
Did you ever see smoke coming out of that dented lid area during your cooks? I'm curious.
I bought a gasket about a year after my PBC, but I haven't put it on. The lid gunked up enough to keep the temperatures steady, although I still put the bricks on top. If it ain't broke, don't fix it lol.
N227GB My LavaLock sits on my BBQ shelf, still in the packaging. I keep it as I just know one of these days I'm going to over-zealously clean the lid and undo five years of lovely gunk.
I generally use the grate in my PBC when I use it, not the hooks. So for me to regulate temperature, I just put in or remove the rebar. Rebar out, the PBC goes up about 25-30 degrees. Rebar in, drops about 25 degrees.
I use my PBC as the BBQ gods intended...none of this gasket, caulking wizardry
That brisket looks amazing! Congrats on finally solving the puzzle.
Whenever someone here speaks of high PBC temps, I (and several others) always recommend taking a look at the lid situation. It's pretty amazing what that dent was doing, though.
Did you ever see smoke coming out of that dented lid area during your cooks? I'm curious.
Kathryn
I had seen smoke coming out of the lid but I had never noticed the severe dent. I thought I had used up all my options with 3 bricks on the lid and the first gasket.
Curious... if you open the lid to check the meat temp or that kind of thing, when you close it back down, do you get a spike in temperatures on a PBC? Temporarily, I mean? I've heard this is a thing on a lot of drum smokers, they'll shoot up to 350 or something for a few minutes, but my Super 55 has absolutely ZERO temp change from this. I mean if I leave it open for a couple minutes, the temp drops a little from escaping heat, but when I close up, it just climbs back up in a few minutes, never any spikes.
Just curious. Since the PBC seems to be universally loved around here.
I'll say, my Super 55 runs cooking temps of 225-250+ for 17 hours at least on a full charcoal basket, and runs 200+ for around 22 hours, this weekend it was over 24h I think.
Originally posted by DogFaced PonySoldierView Post
Curious... if you open the lid to check the meat temp or that kind of thing, when you close it back down, do you get a spike in temperatures on a PBC? Temporarily, I mean?
You'll get a minor spike, to be sure. As long as you are in and out in a minute or two, it'll settle back down. Sometimes, I'll get a more prolonged spike if a chunk of wood is smoldering and the influx of air causes it to really catch.
And of course, if you leave the lid off for too long.....you're now 50-80 (or more) degrees hotter than you wanted.
For myself, I've learned to be in-and-out very quickly and rarely do I check on the food. (That is why the universe invented Thermoworks lol.)
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