First cook Lon my new PBC

[Mr_Plow757]

So my new Pit Barrel Cooker arrived yesterday and I'm doing a test cook on a turkey breast tonight in preparation for two birds tomorrow. I lit it the way the instructions said 40 brickettes and a chimney and put on the coals in the basket. I immediately started the cook the temp has dropped down to 261 and I'm just wondering if there is anything I should do to keep the temperature up in the cooker to cook the turkey?

[Pirate Scott]

I am sure someone who owns one will jump in here soon, but I think first advice will be to crack the lid a bit. Sorry that’s all I can offer.

[HawkerXP]

The PBC likes to run around 270 unless you let it warm up some before putting the meat on. Also for poultry, some of us leave one rebar out and either hook or put the rebar through the hanger. This helps keep temps up as well.

[Steve R.]

Yes, the one rebar out is a great way to let the PBC "breathe." I did a pork loin last weekend as a test run for turkey and that did the trick, along with getting the 40 briquets fully lit before adding to the charcoal basket.

[Mr_Plow757]

Thank you for the input. Actually temp started down for a bit as I assume the input charcoal was lighting. Temp came back up to about 350 and has held temp pretty good. I'm really liking this cooker.

[DWCowles]

Beautiful!

[jecucolo]

350 is good for turkey but it is a little high to be just running with the lid closed and booth bars in. Make sure you tamp the lid down to get rid of air leaks when you cook something other than poultry. Also another way to adjust temp is to put a small twig under on side of the lid. You don't need much. This way when you temp starts to get too high you just remove the twig and reset the lid. Congratulations on the PBS!