First and Second PBC Cooks

[crunchysue]

Hi All,

I picked up a PBC, after much research on this site, a few days ago. For my first cook, I made two racks of baby backs. Having never smoked any meat before, I let them go 2.5 hours based on someone else's experience that I had read about. Well, that was way too long, and they were way overcooked. So the next day I cooked one rack for 1.5 hours. This one was almost perfect. It was plenty cooked, but the fat inside wasn't completely rendered. Still, they were delicious. I think maybe I should have let them rest for 15 minutes or so.

The only thing I did differently from everything I've read on here was to use Weber Briquettes instead of KBB, because that's the only brand they had at the store where I bought the PBC.

These are the almost burnt (2.5 hr) ones:


And these are the good (1.5 hr) ones:


I love my PBC so much!

Sue

[doctorak]

Nice cooking! That second batch definitely looks perfectly done, and a great smoke ring. Welcome to the PBC family. You're already learning from experience, so I'm sure you'll fit right in here.

Did you take cooker temps as you cooked or just let it go? Only reason I ask is that 1.5 hours is short, even for baby backs, and you may have been running hot. Many people with brand spanking new PBC's have issues with the lid staying tight, which can lead to air leaking out and thus higher temps. After a few cooks the lid builds up a bit of gunk which keeps a better seal, and cooker temps tend to drop a little bit, so you might expect that cook times go up from 1.5 hours as you use it more often.

[crunchysue]

I've neither unpacked nor learned how to use my fancy new ThermoWorks Smoke thermometer yet.
That's why I started with ribs. I did visually check the lid for smoke leakage, and there was none. Thanks!

[Danjohnston949]

crunchysue, Congratulations on Your 1 & 2 PBC Smokes! All I Can Say is Where in H--L was My Invitation❓ The Baby Back Ribs Looked Great! 🌠 🎇 🎆 🇺🇸 "Happy 4th of July" 🇺🇸 🎆 🎇 🌠 Eat Well and Prosper! From a Backyard Cremator in Fargo ND, Dan

[crunchysue]

Oh you didn't get the invite? Dang pigeons!

[hogdog6]

Great cook happy your loving being part of the cult of PBC owners

[RonB]

Congrats on a successful cook Sue.

[kmhfive]

Beautiful picture.

[Mudkat]

crunchysue Nice looking ribs. No need to fear the ThermoWorks Smoke. Easy peasy right out of the box!

[doctorak]

Yeah, go for that Thermoworks! Once you start using it you'll get a much better feel for how long your cooks will take and how different temps might affect that end result. Most of us here in the Pit are tinkerers and experimenters, so we love having as much data as possible. Obviously others feel differently and just want to "set-it-and-forget-it," and that's totally fine, too. All are welcome.

As for temps with baby backs, others may feel differently but I don't generally put a meat probe in or generally check internal temps since it is tough to get a good reading between the bones, just a cooker probe in the PBC. I'll start checking them for doneness every 30 min after 2 hours (or longer for SLC) or so with a bend test once I start to see a little bone.