Couple questions on lighting the PBC

[jasonwilliams14]

Thought I would bump this because I had a "light bulb" moment last night when cooking some chicken thighs. Along with the light bulb moment, a flurry of questions raced through my brain!

I was doing some chicken thighs on my weber kettle. I did my normal setup, started the chimney, prepped the kettle and I was off. Once the goals were good and hot in the chimney, I dumped them in and let the kettle come up to temp.

When I came back out to clean the greats, I looked at the coals and two things caught my eye:
1. they were ashed over really well
2. no "smoke" was coming out from the internal basket or through the vents.

Queue the light bulb! I also realized I still have much to learn on BBQ'ing, but i am cool with that

The first thought that came through my mind, no smoke from the briquettes. (B&B is what I was using).
My thought and question is, is there no smoke in this setup because all of the briquettes were already ashed over from the chimney and initial burn?
if that is the case, two questions in regards to what happens on long cooks to briquettes that are not lite/burned as part of the initial cook.
If i do say a pork butt on my weber, i set it up with my SnS and start in the corner of the SnS with lite briquettes, and then line up briquettes to 'catch' as the cook progressing.
How does that affect the "smoke" as those briquettes start to burn?
If we take the PBC, you dump the hot coals over the non-lite briquettes and they will eventually lite and burn.

Question: When those briquettes start to burn, is that when they will give off the most 'smoke'?
Is there a difference in how the briquettes burn in a weber kettle vs a PBC due to how the charcoals lite (PBC has all the briquettes in the bottom, coals get dropped on top......Kettle has the briquettes in a "line" if you will).

Definitely was an area I think I overlooked, but for me, understanding this is part of the fun.
TYVM!

[Huskee]

Question: When those briquettes start to burn, is that when they will give off the most 'smoke'?
Is there a difference in how the briquettes burn in a weber kettle vs a PBC due to how the charcoals lite (PBC has all the briquettes in the bottom, coals get dropped on top......Kettle has the briquettes in a "line" if you will).

Definitely was an area I think I overlooked, but for me, understanding this is part of the fun.

Yes. But it's not even-Steven since there are a lot of differences between lighting up a chimney full and coals lighting slowly in a low & slow.

First off in a chimney they're cold, there's unlimited [cold] oxygen around them (well, cold air, the oxygen is only 21%), and a LOT is lighting at once. It's all in high gear. When they're in the confines of the SnS or the charcoal basket of your PBC and lighting slowly through a low & slow cook, they're hot hot hot until they light. And they're lighting from the neighboring coals in a hot and limited oxygen environment, and it's all in low gear. The smoke coming off will be much less in quantity, and more spread out over time, and of a different chemical composition due to the different burn environment from all of these different factors.

Plus as you likely know by now, in a PBC most of the flavor comes from the burning drippings instead of the passive convection of smokey air.

for me, understanding this is part of the fun.

Totally agree!

[jasonwilliams14]

Hey everyone! Huskee fzxdoc ! I thought I would follow up on this thread after my most recent tests and cook on the PBC.
I was determined to figure this out and get it right.
I did a cook this weekend and some experimentation

I bought some baby backs and cooked two on my kettle and one on my PBC. The idea was this would help me understand things and get better at cooking.

I followed the 10-10-10 method that was posted and I had great results!
I noticed a couple of things.

First, ribs turned out great on both cooks (Kettle and PBC). Family gave compliments (hooray!)

I noticed on the PBC after waiting longer, the white smoke was much less at the start and pretty much throughout the entire cook. I also sprinkled the chimney coals on top of the basket, moving some around as compared to before, where I would try and "stack them".
I also just left the PBC alone, and did not mess with it at all. Only thing I did periodically was check on the rack, move it around a little and that was it..This rack cooked fast, almost right on the 4 hour mark.

A taste test,, both were very good, but the PBC seemed different, maybe a little more moisture is what I would say.

This was great. It gave me confidence and knowing what it takes now.
Still learning the PBC, but this was a great step. I am doing some more chicken halves this week and coming up with other great ideas/cooks to try out.

I wanted to report that all and thank you for ALL the help!

Cheers,

Jason

[Ace]

Outstanding... Nice cook. When you, the family and any guests are happy with the results, you have arrived. Stay the course sir. :-)

[fzxdoc]

Thank you for all of the great info, Jason. jasonwilliams14 . Sounds like you had a great cook. A happy family after a delicious meal is all a pitmaster can ask for. Except maybe having someone else do the cleanup. 😉😄

I've done several taste tests between the PBC and my kamado (Weber Summit) and 22"Kettle/SnS combo. What I find with the PBC is that the smoke flavor is more forward in the bite, that is when I first chew a piece of food smoked on the PBC I get a lovely taste of smoke that sort of wraps itself around the flavor of the food for the rest of the bite. For the kamado or kettle, that smoke flavor doesn't come on until closer to the end of chewing the food, it's more subtle at first then builds up with subsequent bites.

My family prefers the smoke-forward flavor of the PBC-cooked foods, especially for more bland foods like pork and chicken. They prefer ribs, pork butts, chicken and turkey etc. smoked on the PBC, hands down.

For briskets, meatloaf, chuck roast, etc. I find less of a difference between the PBC-smoked food and that smoked on the kettle or kamado. I think my briskets are a bit juicier smoked on the PBC, though.

All of this is to say that figuring out which cooker is better for smoking what meat is highly subjective. Just keep working on figuring out what your family likes best and when you nail it, stick with it. 😊

P.S. If you haven't tried it already, try smoking chicken halves (or turkey) along with a hanging rack or two of sausages. The drippings from the sausages add a great flavor to the chicken. I always poke the lowermost sausage in the hanging rack a couple of times, making it the sacrificial sausage, because its fatty drippings make the chicken taste wonderful.

FWIW, I smoke chicken at 350° which takes about an hour to get the breast up to 160°ish. For sausages, I take them up to 180° because I like their snappy skins at that temp. That takes about 40 minutes or so at the 350° PBC temp.

Kathryn

[jasonwilliams14]

Thank you for all of the great info, Jason. jasonwilliams14 . Sounds like you had a great cook. A happy family after a delicious meal is all a pitmaster can ask for. Except maybe having someone else do the cleanup. 😉😄

I've done several taste tests between the PBC and my kamado (Weber Summit) and 22"Kettle/SnS combo. What I find with the PBC is that the smoke flavor is more forward in the bite, that is when I first chew a piece of food smoked on the PBC I get a lovely taste of smoke that sort of wraps itself around the flavor of the food for the rest of the bite. For the kamado or kettle, that smoke flavor doesn't come on until closer to the end of chewing the food, it's more subtle at first then builds up with subsequent bites.

My family prefers the smoke-forward flavor of the PBC-cooked foods, especially for more bland foods like pork and chicken. They prefer ribs, pork butts, chicken and turkey etc. smoked on the PBC, hands down.

For briskets, meatloaf, chuck roast, etc. I find less of a difference between the PBC-smoked food and that smoked on the kettle or kamado. I think my briskets are a bit juicier smoked on the PBC, though.

All of this is to say that figuring out which cooker is better for smoking what meat is highly subjective. Just keep working on figuring out what your family likes best and when you nail it, stick with it. 😊

P.S. If you haven't tried it already, try smoking chicken halves (or turkey) along with a hanging rack or two of sausages. The drippings from the sausages add a great flavor to the chicken. I always poke the lowermost sausage in the hanging rack a couple of times, making it the sacrificial sausage, because its fatty drippings make the chicken taste wonderful.

FWIW, I smoke chicken at 350° which takes about an hour to get the breast up to 160°ish. For sausages, I take them up to 180° because I like their snappy skins at that temp. That takes about 40 minutes or so at the 350° PBC temp.

Kathryn

fzxdoc This is incredibly helpful information. I should create a spreadsheet with this fantastic info. I was curious if you have found a different in cooking at all with hanging or using the grate? I have yet to use the grate but have been thinking about trying it out. I need to get some more thermometers to measure ambient temps, especially as I continue to learn how to "light" the PBC
Very helpful! TY!

[HawkerXP]

The Queen of the PBC!

[fzxdoc]

You're very welcome, Jason. I use the grate for a few cooks-- for meatloaf of course, and for long cooks (chuck roasts, brisket, etc.) when I switch from hanging the meat to wrapping it for the Texas Crutch method. I also hang a pork butt until it reaches 160° when the fat really starts to soften, then I move it to the grate for safety's sake to finish the cook, unwrapped.

I use sausage hangers and the hanging skewers fairly often as well.

Kathryn