I bought a Pit Barrel Cooker in November as a 50th B-day present to myself lol, and have smoked brisket,ribs,pork shoulder,and chicken with good results EXCEPT for the chicken. Actually, the chicken turns out fine, it's just that it takes 3-4 hours. I've cooked them whole on the hangers and I've halved them. Doesn't seem to make a difference. Everything else takes about the expected time. Any tips? Also I joined the Pir Master Club today-hope to enjoy the discussion and learn some things
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Welcome to The Pit. I don't have a PBC, so I can't help, but someone will be along shortly who can. -
Welcome from upstate New York. I did a chicken today, on the PBC. I like to have crispy skin, so I left one of the rebars out and let it get up to 325-350. It was cold here, in upstate NY so I had to also crack the lid for about 10 min's to get it climbing. After about 10 min's I closed the lid and it settled in around 330-335. It took about 1 1/2 hours and chicken was up to temp. I used the regular Kingsford and started about 25 briquettes in a starter. Let it get going for 15 min's and dumped on an almost full basket.
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I just took 2 chickens off after 3-1/2 hrs. I cracked the lid for the last hour. Trying to upload photo but not having luck with phone. Turns out good just takes a long timeComment
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Welcome from Indiana?
What temp are you running at? I suspect if you are taking that long then you are trying to control the PBC to maintain a lower temp.Comment
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A hearty welcome from Illinois.
Chicken on the PBC thoughts;
Dry brine at least 24 hours in advance. I tend to rub them at the same time and then place the chicken elevated on a rack of some sort in the fridge for 24-48 hours uncovered to dry the skin. Some of us add baking powder to help with the drying of the skin.
Other than those basics it sounds as you are cooking at too low a temp.
To develop a crispy skin and etc you need to have barrel temps of 325-350. You can achieve this with the PBC by removing one rebar and/or cracking the lid.
This will shorten your cook time and produce a superior product.
Hopefully, you have digital thermometers to monitor your camber temp and IT temp as you go along.
Best of luck.
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You definitely need to get the temp up as mentioned above by cracking a lid, removing rebar, and run that sucker at least 325-400 degrees for poultry.Comment
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Welcome to the Pit from NW Arkansas
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Welcome to the Pit! Happy to have you.
Like others have said, cook between 325 F - 400 F. I put some butter under the skin before placing it on the PBC. This bastes the meat under the skin. It mostly runs out, and drips onto the fire for some bonus flavor on that crispy skin!
Also, make sure to give Meathead's Simon and Garfunkel Rub a go. It is amazing stuff.
http://amazingribs.com/recipes/rubs_...unkel_rub.htmlComment
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Welcome aboard JYpit! For uploading photo tips check out this article and if you're getting an error message let us know the specific message you're getting.
We'd love to get an intro from you over in the Introduce Yourself channel when you get a minute.Comment
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JYpit Welcome to the club! As a recent recipient of a PBC, I've had a chance to cook a few things more than once, so I'm slowly getting a feel for how my cooker likes to run. Mine tends to lean toward the cooler side, so I find for almost everything I have to crack the lid or run with one rebar out. Last weekend I pulled of a feat: three chickens (split in half, about 5 lbs each), then used the remaining coals to grill up four 1.75" ribeyes... BARELY had enough heat left to do those slabs!
The chix were dry-brined for about 3 hours, then half were rubbed with Meathead's Simon & Garfunkel recipe, the other half were rubbed with the PBC All-Purpose Rub included with the PBC. Personally, I preferred the S&G, but I do like that bit of spicy hit the All-Purpose has, so I might try to tweak the S&G for my tastes.
The ribeyes were simply hit with Dalmation rub about 30 minutes prior to hitting the grate (and set on counter at room temp), no dry-brine on those.
The chicken took about 3:10 with the lid cracked, which put the cooker temp at about 300. As I said, mine likes to run cool, and has been settling in at about 240F.
Once I took those off I left the lid off to stoke up the coals, and threw the ribeyes on. It took, I kid not, 42 minutes to get them to 130F internal. I have some mods I want to make to get that grate down lower over the coals come springtime...
I'm finding that, no matter how I light my coals, or how many, my PBC just likes to run cool, and I even opened the bottom vent a tiny bit to help increase the temps with more airflow. Out of the box, it was set to 1/4 open, which is right for my altitude in MI.
So yeah, it's tough to gauge your cooking time at first, which makes dinner a bit stressful. Stick with it, though. Each grill or cooker I've owned has presented its own personality; you can either enjoy it and work with it, or pound it into submission and hope it behaves consistently.
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Thanks for the tips everybody. I think I'll invest in an electronic remote thermometer to gauge the temp inside the barrel. I've always used the old school meat thermometer and when the bird's up to 165-70 and the juices run clear, you're all good. Funny that the other meats don't take longer than normal. Thanks for the warm welcome everyone!Comment
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Ignore the 'juices run clear' part, that's a busted myth. But 165 in the breast is good! Even 160. Juicy town!Originally posted by JYpit View Post
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