How many pounds of chicken breast in one cook?

[lschweig]

You can always crack the lid as well. I usually start somewhere around 1/4-1/2" and watch the temps. You will also get better results if you allow your PBC to reach a fairly high temp before loading with product.

[Brewmaster]

Here is a solution that a few of us found works well, purchased this from LavaLock BBQ 4 in. damper for under $13.00, I only cut out half and will cut the other half if I need it, so far it hasn't been a problem, just cooked 2 chickens with it 1/2 open at a temp of 320-325

[abandonedbrain]

That vent's pretty neat, but I've found that just sliding the lid off an inch or so to one side will get the heat right up there. My PBC runs historically cool (though recent testing with the vent open further has it now running 260F+), so when I do chicken (I often do three whole at a time and shred-and-seal them for freezing) I cook them at normal for most of the session. I wait until they're about 20 minutes from hitting final temp, and then slide the lid off to one side about an inch. That usually adds a good 40-50F to the cooker temp, and that's how I finish. Crisps the skin right up, without overcooking the meat.

And I have a feeling your temps were fairly low because you had that PBC so full! Air flow has to be allowed around the inner perimeter of the barrel, as the heat runs around in a vortex convection pattern. The PBC Company has a graphic of it on their site... https://www.pitbarrelcooker.com/homepage/the-science/

I would suggest a buffer zone around the edge of about 1" as an absolute minimum. Food cooks more evenly if air can evenly travel around it, as well, but it doesn't sound like you had too much of an issue with that. Another thing which may have thrown temps off is that, with all that chicken coming out of a wet brine, there's a TON of humidity in the cooker, which I know affects my charcoal burns negatively. Humidity (and also more drippings onto the hot coals) could have "dampened" the heat production.

All in all, though, looks like you were successful, and that's the most important thing!

[fzxdoc]

Ash catcher. I made a foil catcher with heavy duty foil and it looked like it was really going to do the trick until I went to lift it out and the bottom of the damned thing disintegrated on me and the ashed dumped out into the PBC. Im definitely going to be making a more permanent solution or buying the official PBC version.

FWIW, Nixican I always use a doubled piece of heavy duty aluminum foil for the ash catcher. Never had a problem with it over scores and scores of cooks. I pull out a very large piece of the foil, double it, press the lid onto it so a mark is made of the lid's inner rim, fold the corners and edges under using that mark as a template, drop it into the PBC and press it down flat so there is plenty of air flow under the basket.

For such a big cook as you did, with very drippy chickens, perhaps two liners of this sort should be used, but I've never had to resort to that. Yet. Usually the fullest barrel I cook is 3 chickens with 3 sausage hangers (18 sausages). That type of cook drips a lot of fat and moisture.

I bought PBC's ash catcher but didn't like it because the fat ran off it and collected underneath, between the ash catcher and the bottom of the barrel, so I was always cleaning up the grease after the cook.

Kathryn

[Nixican]

DOUBLED foil! Dangit, thats what I did wrong. I will do that next time for sure.

[rototiller78]

I use a 16" stainless steel pizza pan that I got at Wolly World for circa $6.00 for an ash catcher and it works great.