First cook on PBC - temp. stabilization harder than expected (but delicious chicken)

[dshein01]

Hey everybody, was stalking the forums for a while after reading Meathead's book but ended up pulling the plug and getting a PBC to get started with smoking (fell in love with BBQ when I lived in Kansas City for a couple years) and have loved reading all the details on PBC lighting temps and tips on cooking chicken.

Had some questions though (haven't spent much time cooking with charcoal in the past but couldn't find any answers in forums, feel free to redirect me to a link if its already been answered!)

Followed lighting instructions to the nail in the pinned post, i.e.:

- 10 (chimney) / 10 (fully open with rebar out) / 10 (lid-on, re-bar out) procedure (I'm in San Francisco so essentially at sea level)
- Had damper at 1/4 open
- Using Kingsford original charcoal with 40 briquettes pulled
- Both rebars in (hung 2 half-chickens per rebar and another hook w/ pit probe wrapped around it)

I was cooking 2 chickens (halved, rubbed with 3:1 ratio of bbq rub : baking soda left uncovered in fridge for 4.5 hours) and aiming for 325-350 based on guidance (figured I could crack the lid a few times if needed to spike it with assumption it would settle in at 270-290.

Curious though any people thoughts on following:

1. When setting up the pit probe it seemed to steady at 325 for first 5-10 minutes (didn't see any spike to 360-400 as people said I should have) - this is with chickens on as well
2. Took lid off completely to spike temp up to 360-400 (should I have just cracked lid) and overshot temp to ~450
3. Put on lid and temp started to decline slowly, appearing to asymptote around 300 degrees
4. Since I was only cooking chickens and given high earlier temp they ended up finishing (160-170 in the breast meat at 45 minutes in)

Some questions:

1. Any ideas on why early spike in temp didn't happen?
2. Is the large drop in temperature normal when cracking lid (i.e., just rush of cool air hitting the pit probe?)
3. Any tips on setting up the charcoal basket more easily? Using a webber chimney to get started but found it difficult to effectively put charcoal in the center (or really have any guidance whatsoever beyond getting it in the basket overall)
4. Chicken came out incredibly juicy (chicken breast wasn't sous vide level juicy but had a great smokey flavor), but skin was fairly flacid, any general guidance / tips (taken a look at some of the recent posts but think I may have just over-rested while it was stacked and steamed skin a bit)

Thinking of trying some st. louis cut ribs next weekend to see how temp stabilizes on a longer cook to give it more time to settle out but worried about any early spikes charring some lower hanging ribs

Thanks in advance!

[Spinaker]

I try to keep my PBC under 325 F, when smoking. I like to light just a portion of coals in the very middle of the basket. Fill your basket with unlit charcoal. Then hollow out the center and put those in your chimney. I get those coals roaring hot, shake the ash from them and put them back in the middle, then lower the basket into the PBC.
If I am doing chicken, I do the same thing, only I open the stacks on my PBC, or I crack the lid. I don't need to adjust the bottom, at all. This gives me about 425 F.
The sudden drop in temp is more than likely cold air rushing in, it will spike right back up as the fire finds itself again. This rush of air also kicks the fire up, which you can see in your graph.
Below is what my basket looks like when cooking. This is how I set it up. This is a bit OCD, but it works great. You don't have to stack all the briquettes like this, just fill the basket, and hollow out the center. (About 4 large handfuls)
​​​

Don't worry about spikes, just make sure the lid is secure, and it will level out. And don't light to many coals to begin with.

This is how I do it. Many do it differently.

[Spinaker]

I use fire gloves. I used to use a long metal hook. However, with gloves on, if you move quick they work fine. Just get the glove off after you place the basket. dshein01

[Nate]

Nice Pics Spin

[Spinaker]

Thanks Nate! Nate

[RobertC]

Were the briquettes new, and what was the humidity like? I'm in Berkeley, and I've noticed that if the charcoal is old or if it's quite humid I don't see as much of a temperature spike.

Are you using a Fireboard for your log?

[dshein01]

New briquettes from Target this past weekend (was fairly hot day but didn't seem overly humid from normal temp)

[RobertC]

In your photo at the top of the page it appears your charcoal basket may not have been centered -- was that an illusion of the camera angle? If so, could you have occluded the intake vent either with the basket or with the aluminium foil?

[dshein01]

nope, during picture it wasn't but i moved it after taking pic . I also noticed early on that some foil I had put at bottom to catch ash was slightly blocking intake and flattened it / pushed out of way with screwdriver (but think it could have had an impact early in cook...and did little to make cleanup easier)

[Nate]

Welcome from Indiana

[Obi-Dan]

It took a few cooks for my PBC to settle in temp wise. I terms of charcoal. I place my basket in the barrel before dumping in the lit charcoal and use the small chimney from Weber. l then just move any coals around if I need to. Its been working fine for me.

[HawkerXP]

I use the rake method to insert my basket once the lit coals are in. Also where your probe is positioned in the barrel will affect your temp readings. Try to keep it away from the cold meat.

[fzxdoc]

As you noted, dshein01 , making sure the aluminum foil in bottom of barrel is as flat as possible before adding the basket is an essential step. I use Weber's coal hoe for that because my arms are too short to reach the barrel bottom very well.

Also, the spike in temp occurs in the last 10 min of the lighting procedure for me. There is no spike after adding the chicken unless I crack the lid. I think your temp readout looks good. For some chicken cooks I keep the lid cracked slightly for most of the cook.

Do another chicken cook and see if it turns out the same. Don't change too many parameters at one time as you dial in the method that works best for you. I fed my neighbors a lot of chicken before I got things just as I like them with good, reproducible results. The neighbors love it when I'm in experimentation mode.

And I like these gloves waaaay better than welders' gloves:

https://pitmaster.amazingribs.com/forum/grills-and-smokers/charcoal/pit-barrel-cooker/12614-light-my-pbc-fire-tips-on-lighting-and-maintaining-temperatures?p=189841#post189841

Northern Safety also sells a knit Kevlar sleeve that protects my bare arm nicely especially when trying to get the burned-on gunk off a grill grate.

Kathryn

[dshein01]

Thanks! thats good to know on temp spike (i.e., its possible that the temp spike had happened and it was just cool air hitting the probe and me being generally impatient and spiking temp too much in first cook)

[Bob's BBQ]

I've had my PBC for a few years now and still use the lighter fluid method from the PBC website. Fill the basket, douse with lighter fluid (I use a lot), place the basket in the barrel and light. In 12 minutes I'm ready to cook. Never had any issues this way and don't have to handle a hot charcoal basket.