Competing with PBC

[mtford72]

Yep. Beef back ribs. All the meat was kosher, so the beef salty and the birds still partially feathered!

[W.A.]

Were the ribs beef since it was Kosher? Interesting

[Jerod Broussard]

That is a good idea. I have always considered laying some thick expanded metal not far above the charcoal basket, just so I can hang my butts the WHOLE time. Just in case one falls. I had one at 199 when I took them off the hooks. If I can tie them tight with at least one string, they will ride.

And these are small 5 pounders.

[Ernest]

Congratulations Matt!!!

[mtford72]

Clarification appreciated! I had four whole packers (>10lb trimmed) and could definitely hang another. It's the finishing part that presents the problem. Still, 4 at a go tops many smokers out there. I considered hanging another grate off the bottom of the cooking grate (using 4 hooks), then putting the smokenator hover grill on top of that. It would probably hold 6 briskets (2 per level), and allow airflow. It just wasn't necessary for me this time.

[smarkley]

Awesome... thanks for the detail!

[Jerod Broussard]

Neat. You can fit 5, and I am certain I can fit 6, one day. Just 4 is the max to finish on grates in the Pit.

[mtford72]

Hi - you asked about the PBC performance 'under pressure' The short answer is there really wasn't any. I wasn't sure how fast 4 briskets (the upper limit according to Jerod) would cook, as it was they were done to median 198 or so in 5 hours. So I'd put them on way to early. They sat in a cooler for the next 10 hours. (I wrapped tight, used a small cooler and they were still hot).

For the brisket, I watched the PBC until they reached 165 (3hrs?). Wrapped and put them on the grill rack and on the smokenator hover grill to keep some separation for airflow. All four fitted. I slept until the temp alarm went off. Got up, put them in the cooler. Went to back to sleep for a few hours. Got up, reloaded and relit for the ribs. Went back to sleep for a couple of hours.

I suspect that at this point, the other teams were having sleep envy!

Wrapped the ribs and put in cooler. Twiddled thumbs. Put beans on. Went back to twiddling.

Reloaded and relit, put chicken on. Wrapped in paper to preserve the skin, put in another cooler. Reloaded with another round of chickens. Waited for submission times.

The judged entry in chicken I did on the weber. It had to be a whole chicken, and so the hook marks would have looked rough. Plus, the weber still knocks out a better bird I think. (That's a turkey in my profile pic).

There was no pressure. Everything was done. The only item was that the time in the cooler took the edge off the bark. I simply fixed that with high temp (350*?) indirect heat in the weber. My only annoyance was that I didn't pay enough attention to the turn in rules and times. I really think the brisket had a shot.

Cheers!
*All the grills had to be kashered prior to the comp, as it was kosher. This involves blasting with a pear burner until the metal glows. I didn't want to do that to my nice performer, so I 'rescued' a heavily ignored / left in the elements weber silver from ebay a couple of days prior. It didn't come with a thermometer, and I'd used all my digital ones up, so I was approximating. I've found that the smokenator with water gives a good smoking range, the smokenator without a water pan gives a good poultry range. It did so with this one too, as I periodically checked with a thermopen through the vent. I can assure you that a $30 rusty weber kettle does not illicit any grill envy at an event but it worked like a champ, and the enamel cleaned to a high shine. Just great products.

[mtford72]

Smarkley - we all have grill envy! I was behind and between big trailer rigs, so all those guys could look down on me. I started in awe of their rigs. By the end, that had changed to "boy, that looks like hard work!"

However, when they did lean around to look down on me (I was a one man team for a lot of it) - mostly they saw me sleeping! One of the teams, from a local restaurant, won the beans. The other two didn't place. It strikes me that the PBC is doing it right. It cooked the same amount as the big guys, with probably more consistency. There were some really inconsistent offerings out there - even from the winners.

[mtford72]

Thanks Clark! The consistency that the PBC produced was really impressive. Plus, it was easy and fast.

[smarkley]

Yes... that is VERY cool! -- so I guess the only reason to get a Big Ass Smoker is to do catering LOL (who am I trying to kid?)

[Clarkgriswald]

That is pretty impressive to take 3rd for your first time. I would be very happy. I think its really cool that for under $300 dollars you can get completion grade BBQ. Congrats.

[mtford72]

Just completed my first BBQ cook off, armed with PBC and 22.5 Weber Kettle. I cooked the same volume of meat (6 briskets, 10 racks of beef ribs, 10 chickens) and got more sleep than anyone in the other 25 teams! The PBC just rocked.
I did all of the cooking in the PBC, then used the weber to boost the bark at turn in / before serving to the public. I only have cooked 3 briskets prior to this, so I worked out the combination on the fly. Consequently I turned in our 3rd best brisket, (and kicked myself for the rest of the afternoon). The ribs were pretty much straight PBC. They got 3rd. Pleased that I gave it a go, very pleased with the equipment.
The big rig owners scoffed a bit, but plenty of them went home empty handed.