PBC Temps Dropping Too Low

[MBMorgan]

How about if you WANT the lower temps? I've got a recipe that calls for a 175 -200 range with a 2 hour cook. Less charcoal? Less air? flow? Just looking for some thoughts on how to best manage.

I've found that I can get a lower initial temperature (approx 225) by lighting only 20 briquettes instead of the recommended 40. I then have to be quick about opening/closing the lid while cooking to prevent the temperature from climbing quickly to the PBC's normal 270-300 deg. range.

[fzxdoc]

What are you cooking at that temp, Jilliam3224 ? I can get my PBC to cook around 200 but I don't enjoy it.

For sure you don't want to cut air flow at the vent and risk starving your fire. At least that's my guess.

If I were attempting this, I would go with fewer coals in the basket (say, 1/2 full) and fewer coals in the chimney (maybe 25 or so), if you use a chimney rather than lighter fluid to start the fire. Plus, immediately after pouring the lit coals, the lid should go on and the rebars in. Then check your pit temp and see if it settles out close to where you want it. If it's too high, foiling some of the rebar holes is a good way to drop the temp 25 degrees or so.

One thing you don't want is a hungry fire, because a hungry fire smolders, and that kicks out some really unpleasant-tasting smoke. So, to my mind, a smaller fire is the way to go.

Just IMO, since I've never tried to run the PBC at 175. Maybe you could give Amber and Noah a call and ask their advice.

Good luck, and let us know how your cook turns out. I'm always eager to learn these on-the-fringe approaches to smoking on the PBC. One day I may need to do it myself.

Kathryn

[MBMorgan]

I agree with Kathryn ... do NOT attempt to use the vent to control temperature in the PBC. Set it for your altitude then leave it alone. You can fiddle with all other variables in an attempt to influence temperature ... but not that one.

[Spinaker]

Sounds like you need stacks!!

[cidbearit]

Looking at brentc's photo of his pre-lit loaded basket in post #5, I was struck by how well organized his briquettes are. Does everybody take the time to do this when filling your basket? I just dump them in, helter-skelter, until the basket is full. Am I doing it wrong?

[MBMorgan]

You're not doing anything wrong. We've got one long time member that uses what he calls the "OCD method" with his briquettes, too. The rest of us, not so much ...

[Spinaker]

cidbearit
​Behold....."The OCD Method" MBMorgan
​

[Spinaker]

Thanks! Oh yes. Normal people do that. I however, am not normal. This is my favorite way to do it. I think it works best. It gives me piece of mind when I cant be at the PBC all the time. fzxdoc

[cidbearit]

That's beautiful, but I can't imagine spending that much time on something I'm going to light on fire....

[Spinaker]

It really doesn't take that long. It just looks that way. Maybe 15 mins. cidbearit

[fzxdoc]

If I did that, I'd be taking a picture of the basket before every single cook. Hmmmm, what would be wrong with that?

I tend to be wrapped pretty tightly as well, Spinaker , but so far it hasn't extended to charcoal briquette orientation. There's hope for me yet, though--I'm going to try your OCD approach on the next cook just for the heckufit.

K.

[Spinaker]

Yeah!! Put some music on, set the basket on an old table, put on some nitrile gloves and get to it . it really doesn't take that long. Even though your doing one row on top of the other.

[fzxdoc]

You're such an enabler, Spinaker .

K.

[BrentC]

I had actually seen the "OCD Method" on here and adopted it a few cooks ago, as the variables I adjusted that cook -- I wanted to make sure I had enough charcoal in the basket and so decided to really pack it in! Spinaker is right that it really only takes a few extra minutes, especially since I was already counting out my 40 briquettes for lighting by hand.

Did not get a cook in this weekend because of commitments away from home, but planning one with a tweak to the bottom vent this weekend.

[ki4dog]

I've been fighting cold temps for a while now. My first two cooks were great. The rest have been much colder. I'm still in the troubleshooting phase, but my two most likely suspects are the charcoal and the Maverick. All of the charcoal used in the cold cooks was bought at the same time when the "home" store had the dirt cheap bundles. On the last cook I stuck in a different temp indicator and got dramatically different readings until near the end of the cycle. My next step is to stick the probe of the Maverick in an oven with a calibrated thermocouple to verify the reading.

[Bob's BBQ]

I have a PBC and a friend of mine bought one on my recommendation. He has always had trouble maintaining temps. We tried everything. He ended up running his damper at 50% open (we're about at sea level), and drilled a 1/2" dia. hole between the holes where the hanging rods mount, opposite the damper. It now chugs right along and runs similar temps and cook time to mine. Weird - could never really identify any differences between the two units.

[fzxdoc]

ki4dog , were your cook times longer for the "cold" cooks? By cold, what was the PBC temperature--how cold, that is?

Depending on where you hang the Maverick smoker probe, the temp can vary by as much as 40 degrees or so depending on where you loop it around the rebar.

I use 2 smoker probes when I smoke on my PBC, and that's how I know. At the start, the temperature is hotter on the side closest to the vent, usually, and then it switches to the other side after a few hours. I always take the average of these two temps, and my PBC most often runs at the sweet spot of 275 during a cook (with no interaction on my part).

I started doing this because I couldn't always hang the smoker probe right in the middle due to the volume and location of meat that I was cooking. The probe always read "cooler" if it was too close to the meat. That's when I went to hanging 2 probes on either side of the barrel a couple of inches in from the side and let the meat have the prime real estate.

And I agree with Bob's BBQ , I had cooks that hovered in the 230-240 range back in the day until I opened my lower vent to almost 3/4. I'm at 3700 feet, and it's recommended to be 1/2 open. I find my PBC runs more stable if I set the vent to just under 3/4 open and leave it alone. I haven't changed that opening position in over 2 years, and my PBC couldn't be happier.

If I want hotter temps (as for chicken), I let the fire get good and hot (around 400 degF smoker temp) before adding the poultry and sometimes run the entire cook with one rebar out, so the smoking temp stays around 350 or so. A 5 lb bird will be done in just over an hour at that temp.

Kathryn

[ki4dog]

Thanks Kathryn. I may very well have been in the cool bubble with so much meat in the cooker. I'll play around with it this weekend to get more data. I should probably install a thermocouple in a fixed position within the cooker. That will eliminate at least one variable. I'm thinking about a foot down from the top and centered between the re-bar. That should clear most meat. My cook time when loaded with 9 full racks of spares was about 5 1/2 hours. The lid was cracked open almost the whole time and I had to add lit charcoal at least once. My temp before cracking the lid was sub 200deg.

[BrentC]

After several weeks of not being able to use my PBC, I was finally able to do another cook, this time opening my lower vent more. I set my lower vent to 1.5" at the widest point (my opening is 3" in diameter), so basically to 1/2. I had been at about 1/3 before, for my elevation of 300 feet.

For July 4, I did a whole pork belly (following Noah's video recipe) -- highly recommended.

I started same as my previous cooks in the thread, though very heavy rain came in right at the time my charcoal was lit so I opted to go longer with lid on/no rebar vs leaving it with the lid off. My barrel temp peaked at 376 initially, a little lower than I might have planned.

An abbreviated cook log:

2:40pm -- meat on
2:50pm -- 327 barrel, 77 meat
3:10pm -- 327 barrel, 117 meat
3:40pm -- 307 barrel, 142 meat
4:10pm -- 297 barrel, 135 meat
4:20pm -- 293 barrel, 153 meat
4:30pm -- 284 barrel, 158 meat
-- removed pork belly, wrapped in pink butcher paper (1hr50min cook time, within the 1.5-2 hr estimate)
4:40pm -- 264 barrel, 158 meat
4:50pm -- 281 barrel, 151 meat
-- temp started dropping, cracked lid, temp shot up to above 500 very fast
5:40pm -- 311 barrel, 187 meat
6:10pm -- 309 barrel, 195 meat
-- removed meat from butcher paper, cracked lid 25% per Noah's instructions
6:30pm -- temp was at "HHH" on the Maverick, pork belly fat had crisped up and actually just started to burn.

I want to test this on a longer cook -- might do a pork butt next weekend if I'm at home. I'm still concerned that the temp seems to drop, vs. just fluctuate. By contrast, I was re-seasoning my WSM at the same time (after burning off some nasty mold), and I was able to maintain 270 without intervention for 5 hours on half a WSM basket of charcoal.

This seems like an improvement overall, however. My temps still dropped more than I would have expected, but my cook times were back within "normal" range so it's less of a problem, and the barrel actually got hot enough (almost too hot) to actually crisp something up, which I had not been able to do before.

Welcome any additional thoughts. And I definitely do recommend the whole pork belly!

[fzxdoc]

That pork belly sounds delicious, BrentC . What did you serve it with?

It sounds as though you're on your way to getting solid PBC temps throughout most of the cook, and it sounds as though opening up that lover vent a little more is part of the solution. Hooray!

My PBC behaves, on long cooks, much like your WSM did on that burnout. It hits its sweet spot temp and hangs there pretty rock solid for 5-6 hours, until I have to open the lid to foil (Texas Crutch). That's one of the many reasons why I don't foil Pork Butts or Ribs. But I do foil Briskets and Pastramis at 180 or so. By that time, the temp is starting to fluctuate anyway.

For my PBC, then, it's lifting the lid that disturbs the consistency in temp. Plus I have such lovely blue smoke for all those hours until I start fiddling with the lid. That's why I like to delay doing it. That's also why I like to goose the temp up later in the cook by pulling a rebar (if available) rather than lift the lid.

I'm guessing that when you get a few more cooks under your belt with the PBC with that wider vent opening, you'll be seeing some consistency in the smoker's temps.

Kathryn