PBC to capacity?

[Thomassen]

I'd be interested in hearing if anyone has smoked 8 racks of ribs in their PBC. What kind of ribs and how log did they take? Thanks, in advance.

[Spinaker]

It won't matter how many you add. The PBC will roll the same fully loaded or not. You might, might need, to open the damper a bit to get more air flow, but I doubt it. I'd say 4 hrs for St. Louis cuts and 3 for babies. Things cook faster in the PBC. Thomassen

[freddh]

I draw your attention to today's post @John Tanner regarding your question. It's located under "Overwhelming Charcoal Flavor" tag.Hope this helps.

[JPP]

Spinaker speaks truth... while the most I've cooked is six racks, it's pretty clear to me that more pounds of cold meat put more humidity in the barrel. Adding a chicken will add a disproportionate amount of moisture though. Doing a single 8 lb butt with a split chicken gave the barrel temp wild swings until I took out the chicken. The SLC ribs I get from bj's run about 3-3.5 lbs each. I got the best ribs from a six rack cook or a four rack cook plus something else. Big, cold chunks like butts or packers can handle the stand-alone treatment. I recently did a 13. Lb packer (trimmed down to 9.75 lbs) which turned out very nicely... there were four trails oozing down the sides of the barrel from the rebar holes... 8-10 lbs seems to be where you go from really good results to even better....
Regarding time, for SLC ribs, (have not done b.b. ribs yet) two racks can be done at 3-3.5 hours. 6 definitely was 4-4.5 hours depending on thickness...

[Fine Swine]

I have done 8 on the PBC. But 4 racks of each of baby backs and St. Louis. Baby backs were put on an hour later.

[JDenver]

I've not filled my PBC with 8 racks of ribs, but I've gone with 3 chickens split and 2 racks of ribs - so using all 8 hooks with varying meats (pulling the chickens sooner than the ribs) - and everything turned out delicious.

[JPP]

And don't forget, Jerod Broussard (aka "The Baron of Brisket).has done FIVE packers in his... although it *is* modified...

[Jerod Broussard]

And don't forget, Guest (aka "The Baron of Brisket).has done FIVE packers in his... although it *is* modified...

I actually did that pre-modification but have since found out four is really the most you want in there, and the modifications really do help so you don't have to manipulate the lid as much.

I didn't have enough rebar to hang these four butts the way I want to so I had to go this route for now.

[JPP]

Good thing you had a shoe-horn! :-)

[ki4dog]

I've done 10 racks of untrimmed spares. It ran cold, but I may have a charcoal problem. I had to crack the lid open to get good temps. Still came out great though.