I know, I know, but I clearly was bored and had way to much time on my hands. I've been told this leads to trouble (blah). I wanted to try to do a reverse sear 100% on the PBC. I've tried raising the charcoal basket with bricks but don't like how that effects the slow part of the cook. I got a piece of steel and bent the top around the basket handle. This divides the basket in half so I'm not waisting coals. I've used this setup for chicken cooks and love it. I then combined this with my drop down grate I used for collecting turkey dripping in my Thanksgiving day cook. This puts the meat about 3 inches from the coals. I cooked the slow part at 225 on the upper grate then took the grate and lid off, put in the drop down grate and let it come up to temp. All worked well and I could definitely make a few changes to bring the temps up even higher. BTW, I'm cooking hanger steak, or hanging tenders. Only one place in my area carries them. They are one of my new favs and cheaper than flank steak.
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Neato. I'm doing something different with mine too. I have two grates, foil on the bottom one with an air opening in one "corner." Two hunks of pork shoulder on the top grate above the foil. And a divided basket running minion method with B& B briquettes, and wood chunks/chips.
I'm under the weather so I wanted the temp to not be as affected by the dripping meat (especially at the stall). Plus the other shoulder is going indirect in the kettle. That way all meat will have a consistent flavor profile. -
Wow, dpsphotos , that's a pretty impressive mod. I really like the idea of the hanging grate, especially to catch drippings.
I reverse sear on my PBC by setting the basket on two pieces of steel pipe sections used for indoor stoves. That also brings the basket close to the grate. Like you, though, it works OK but honestly, it's still the access to the PBC grate in its normal position that is tricky for me. It's hard to get a spatula in to flip burgers or tongs for meat.
Can you tell I'm trying to talk myself into a kettle?
I'm curious about the metal baffle. I can certainly see its use for an indirect setup. But I'm wondering why you use it for chickens, unless you mean chicken pieces via indirect setup, and even then they do so nicely in the regular PBC setup.
If it's to conserve charcoal, do you find that the temperature is still "consistent" throughout the chamber during the cook? I ask that because I always use two pit probes for each cook, one on the vent side and one on the opposite side. They can vary in temp by 40-60 degrees sometimes, and that's with the coals evenly distributed in the basket. I wonder what the temps would be with the coals pushed to one side. Obviously, I'm eager to learn the ins and outs of this new-to-me method!
One final question: how do you orient the basket with the half-full-with-baffle setup with respect to the vent?
Thanks in advance for enlightening me more!
Kathryn
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My first love is the PBC ⊙ï¹Â⊙but I am happy I spent the money for the SnS and 22.5" kettle.I cooked a flank steak on the SnS and once again hero status was attained. Nothing makes chicken and ribs like the PBC but love the SnS! -
I haven't gotten to use my kettle and SnS yet, but I am glad I got it to use as a grill and when I don't want to use so much charcoal. PBC will still be my go-to, but I now have more flexibility. Check out Craigslist, if you are patient you can pick up a kettle for $20-30
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fzxdoc Don't try too hard talking yourself into that kettle or you might just talk me into one also. I love my PBC but that kettle and SNS combo has been screaming at me for a while now.
To be honest I only use the hanging grate idea for catching drippings or searing. I don't use it for indirect, because the normal PBC setup is so good. When I did this cook, I used the normal upper grate during the slow part, and then the hanging grate for the sear. The hanging grate is awesome for drippings but it puts you half in the pit in order to flip things if you are using it for searing (not always fun). I am with you, in that even the normal grate can be hard for flipping burgers. It has gotten me the best sear so far but I doubt I will use it for that very often, just because of how much work it is.
For my halved chickens, here is my setup. I orient the coal basket 90 degrees opposite of our normal setup. So the coals are closest to the intake and the handle on the coal basket is running opposite the rebars. I then place two chicken halves on each rebar with them hanging close to the side where the intake is. This puts both chickens above the coals. Now, I have not tried this setup with more than two chickens (4 halves). So far the pit temp has been consistent but I'm not as diligent as you are at running multiple probes. Also, this is why I do not hang chickens beyond the baffle, where there are no coals in the basket. I would assume, if you hung more than two chickens, those on the far side of the pit would not see the same temps.
Let me know if this makes sense. Next time I try the setup I will put a second probe in the pit.
Cheers,
DanielComment
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Thanks for the additional information about using the half basket with the baffle for chicken cooks. It's clear to me now. Sounds like it works really well for you, having the fire directly under the chickens, doing no more than 2 chickens (4 halves) at a time. I agree, you don't really need to know the temp on the far side of the barrel if there is no meat hanging there.
I really enjoyed reading how you've made these couple of mods that seem to do the trick. Thanks for the post and for the photos. It's always fun to see the PBC's versatility enhanced.
KathrynComment
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