Interesting results changing charcoal methods on 2nd and 3rd cooks

[dshein01]

Based on feedback from first cook tried a couple different approaches on 2nd and 3rd cook to see if I could better stabilize the barrel in the 270-290 range (using the same 10/10/10 lighting method since I'm at sea-level)

2nd cook went flawlessly (IMO), barrel settled in at 280-290 after spiking at 360, cooked 2 racks of st. louis ribs which passed the bend test (i think) at the ~2 hr 50 minute mark and incredibly delicious (really nice bark to them with a good clean bite), used the circle stacked method to distribute the charcoal with 42 briquettes in the chimney. Was really happy with the temp but one thing I noticed was that the fat was dripping down and hitting some unlit briquettes instead of vaporizing and creating that nice smoke.

For the next cook i went back to trying to fill basket fully and empty charcoal on the top layer evenly in order to ensure that the fat dripping down would immediately vaporize. Instead I ended up with a slightly hotter barrel to start (peaked at 400 instead of 360), but never really dropped below 325. Since I was cooking chicken this wasn't too bad and ended up pulling chicken at ~50 minute mark since the breasts were 160, and thighs were ~175 already (verified with thermapen)

Added pictures below for both cooks if that helps (note: the chicken was definitely delicious, but since I was aiming for 270-290 and had only changed the charcoal basket method it seems odd that the temp. diff was so great unless its explained with smaller thermal mass / slightly higher lid time while cracked)

Primary questions / curious people's hypothesis:

1. How much does having hot charcoal immediately beneath dripping fat matter? (i.e., Using spinaker's method produced a great temp. range but noticed the position of rebar didn't have fat dripping immediately on hot coals for part of the cook)
2. Any thoughts on why the other method spikes temp so much more (it is possible my pit probe was a few inches lower in the barrel, but based on the cook times i've seen other people post ~50 minutes to cook chicken is on the faster side (but similar to cooking a spatchcocked chicken in a hot oven)
3. Anything crazy people see in picture below you want to call out?

Note: The troughs and peaks below were when checking / showing off barrel to friends that were visiting, but nice consistent burn in the 280-290 range (extended spike and cool down when taking ribs out to check done-ness)

Cook #2 - St. Louis Ribs

• 2 racks of St. Louis Ribs (1 is ~4lbs, other is ~3 lbs)
• Dry brined the night before (~18 hours) on both sides, rubbed down with Squeal rub from Joe's KC
• Stacked charcoal in circle 3 layers high and left open in center, 42 charcoal in chimney and poured outside and transferred in
• 10/10/10 lighting method (10 min in chimney, 10 minute rebar out lid open, 10 minute lid on rebar out)
• Spikes and valleys at far right exact times opened lid to check on ribs

Cook #3 - Chicken (halved)

• 1 organic chicken, cut in half, dry brined overnight with sprinkle of baking soda on skin (added fresh pepper before hanging)
• 3 ears of corn (1 wrapped in foil), added when chicken internal temp at 110 (~15 minutes)
• 10/10/10 lighting method
• Full charcoal basket (this time not in O-ring but instead piled high for even charcoal on top), 42 put in chimney

[RobertC]

The pit probe in Cook #2 seems more spiky. Was there a different data smoothing? What are you using for data collection and display?

[dshein01]

Using a Fireboard, both are screenshots from the dash. My hypothesis is that the quick spikes and valleys are:

1. The ribs were fairly long and the meat being closer to the coals had a little bit more rapid fat dripping into coals spiking temp (and then cooling). Can't verify it but that is my hypothesis (and once it settled the spikes and valleys for most of cook were within a 10 degree range)

[dshein01]

2. Slightly longer cook so cook #2 hit a stabilization temp and then jumped up and down while the chicken finished cooking before the barrel could get stabilized

The spikes at the end of cook #2 are me checking on the ribs repeatedly and showing it off for friends

[dshein01]

I should note with fireboard it has about 3-4 readings per minute, so it isn't smoothed at all and showing 2-3 degree differences over time (but I love me some data points ) so it will look a bit spikier overall given more data points along the way (vs. a smoothed curve through 5-10 minute reads)

[Thunder77]

Whooeee! Looks great! Is that a platter of figs? I love figs.

[dshein01]

Haha ya, platter of some mission figs with honey, sea salt, and french feta...can't complain at all

[hoovarmin]

Meee Tooo!

[DWCowles]

Beautiful!

[dshein01]

Upon reading the forum a bit more, It looks like the average cook time most people have on chickens is in the ~1 hour range when cooking in the 325-350 range, but had freaked myself out when seeing the 1.5 - 2 hour cook times in the sticky thread on cook timing (and also realized my chicken was 25-50% smaller than those listed...not sure where those massive chickens came from!)

little lesson, trying to *eyeball* a 3:1 ratio of salt : baking powder is not the right way to do it (better to measure and not end up with crispy but slightly leathery skin)

[fzxdoc]

I don't know about drips vaporizing (or not) on unlit coals with the OCD method. I would think the proof would be in the flavor of the final product.

To get the ave pit temp down in the spread out coals method: Try lighting fewer coals or changing your burn sequence a bit, say 15-10-10 to 15-10-5, one or the other. Don't do both or you won't know which affected what. Just my 2 pennies' worth.

But don't change a thing for that chicken cook. Great heat profile. My chickens cook in 50 to 70 min usually. 70 min for the split 3 to 4 lb chickens. In that list, this 2 hour chickens are either with using Noah's method or barrel temps 250 or lower, as I recall.

Kathryn

[dshein01]

Regardless, the PBC is amazing, not sure how to describe it but cooking chicken over live charcoal (vs. how I used to do it spatchcocked in a hot oven) has a little bit of extra kick that I couldn't put my finger on but was incredible (seasoned just with S & P).

[dshein01]

May have something to do with the fat hitting the hot coals since I didn't add any wood to the cooks yet. Guess the only thing to try next is to copy you and throwing some sausages in their to see how that impacts flavor...for science only of course....

[fzxdoc]

Adding a hanging basket of sausages will be the best science experiment ever!

[RobertC]

Because the bottom vent is set and fixed and the top vents are partially occluded with the rebar, as long as the lid is tight then the only other variable is the lighting procedure. I think I'm evolving a hypothesis that the number and density (distribution) of lit coals mostly determines the equilibrium pit temperature. Over my last few cooks I've been altering the the lighting protocol and that's what I've been seeing.

[dshein01]

That would make sense, was interesting see such dramatically different spikes and stability b/w the different methods (e.g., the circle / OCD method hit the 280-290 range quickly but kept jumping up and down, potentially as more charcoal lit on outside in larger circles) vs. the top-down method that others use had a higher spike but very smooth burn down

[dshein01]

For the chicken cook I should note it was a bit windy / breezy and that could have been stocking the coals a bit based on barrel position directly into the breeze

[RobertC]

Yeah. Basically, I'm leaning toward thinking that this cooker is "easy" if you follow the same protocol each time. It's sort of "set it and forget it" only if you're anal-retentive about the "set it" part. I suspect (hope?) that eventually I will end up with two starting protocols, one for low temp and one for high.

[Butchman]

My PBC times run longer than yours. I am in SW FL sea level and it's much more humid here. How do you have your lower vent set? If you like PBC ribs and chicken wait until you try a whole packer brisket! I think the PBC is the perfect cooker for brisket because it runs hotter near the lid and lower toward the bottom of the barrel.

[dshein01]

Lower vent set at ~1/4 open (based on other posts measured 0.5'' from center to center and tightened screw there), going to try 2-3 more cooks to see how temp holds up as barrel gets seasoned since its running on the relatively hotter side but based on what others have said it should settle another 10-20 degrees once barrel is seasoned

[dshein01]

The time above is only for the actual cook and stopped the timer when (took out rebar and took off lid when cook was done and let it burn typically for another 3-4 hours until coals were cool enough to dump into ash bucket).

For the ribs cook I likely could have gotten another 3-4 hours on that cook at a minimum if I'd kept it closed up