PBC cooking times

[jfmorris]

Reposting this to the right sub forum...

I'm still "window shopping" for a way to fulfill my MCS in 2018, probably towards summer and increased entertaining opportunities with lots of people over. I've been looking at pellet smokers, and the PBC. After reading a few stories about people getting their new PBC or PBJ for Christmas, I was reviewing the recipe videos for the PBC. It sure looks like you can cook just about anything on a single load of charcoal, as it appears to cook even things like a 16 pound brisket in 7-8 hours total, based on their published recipes. I guess this is a factor of smoking at a higher temperature than 225.

I was just wondering whether this is the experience of most of the PBC users on here. If it truly is "set it and forget it" and can cook even the largest items like a brisket or Boston butt on a single load of fuel - something I cannot do on either my Weber Kettle with SnS or my offset smoker - then I am starting to think a PBC would fulfill my mass smoking needs needs in a much cheaper fashion than a pellet smoker would.

Can anyone comment on this?

If you have to pull everything out and add charcoal then that is certainly a consideration in a long cook, and something I would prefer to avoid.

Thanks!

Jim

[SoCalTim]

There is actually a whole thread/posting on this very subject, it’s in the sub thread section.

[RobertC]

I think jfmorris' question isn't about "cooking times" for various types of meat, I think he's asking about how long a single full load of charcoal will last.

[SoCalTim]

Agreed, but this particular topic is extensively covered in the thread - Tim

[jfmorris]

Ok I will do some searches. Thanks.

[RobertC]

A rough rule of thumb I've been using for planning purposes is that to get up to the 275-300 range and keep it there I need about 1 pound of KBB per hour + a pound. There are 18 KBB briquettes per pound, and the PBC has around an 8 lb (or ~130 KBB briquettes) capacity, perhaps a little more if you're OCD about stacking. So, ballpark, that's good for something like 7 hours at 275-300, give or take. If you're willing to go a little lower in temp, you can go longer.

[jfmorris]

RobertC, what I was really asking, is whether you have to reload the Pit Barrel Cooker to get through a cook of something like a brisket or Boston butt. I really don't care if its 6 hours or 10 hours, as much as does the PBC, in its normal mode of use (not pimped out with a controller and fan), do the full cook without a reload of fuel. I.e. is it "set it and forget it", aside from wrapping meat at a certain temperature.

In the reviews from Meathead of the PBC, we are told to NOT mess with it, other than set the bottom vent based on altitude. The recipes on the PBC website all seem to indicate you cook stuff faster than on other smokers, and I have to imagine that is based on the standard configuration, running at whatever temperatures that produces, and not running at 225 like I do now.

[HawkerXP]

Never had to reload. Biggest cook to date was 3 racks of ribs and 15 lb brisket.

[Sasquatch]

I've cooked numerous pork shoulders on PBC with out changing charcoal. Last 4th of July two 10 lbs shoulders, and 4 chicken halves with out a charcoal change. I did have to crack lid at one point to get temp back up. I think I crammed everything to close together. I did crutch all my shoulders. Mostly due to time constraints than anything else. If you don't want to crutch maybe there will be a fuel issue for very long cooks? I believe the PBC website bases its times on crutching long cooks like brisket or Boston butt.

[jfmorris]

Yes, I noticed that. But seeing a cook time of 6-8 hours versus the 16-18 I normally get when cooking pork shoulders on my current smokers makes me want to investigate the crutch.

[RobertC]

You can load up the PBC with, um, a buttload of butts, and filling it can add time. In addition, in cold and windy conditions the burn rate to maintain a constant temperature can increase (more because of the cold wind than because of the cold by itself). So, the bottom line is that unless you're loading it up full or it's cold and windy, you can generally cook a butt on (less than) one full load at higher temperatures.

I think "set it and forget it" isn't really a good description for the PBC. I think that there's some learning curve: what's sorta closer to accurate is that there are very few ways to control the temperature in a PBC absent a blower and temp controller, so they've turned a bug into a feature. It's hard to choke down to 225 F, so mostly everyone cooks higher than that. Likewise, because what little control there is (by cracking the lid or stoppering the exhaust holes) has high latency, it's hard to dial in the temperature once it's going. So most of the advice given here is to repeat the starting protocol with precision and rigor: you do it the same way every time to minimize variability in the burn rate. That's "setting it." Once you get to that stage, you load your meat in, then you may as well forget it cuz you can't do much about the temp anyway.

It's kinda zen. I like it. I liken it to raking a sand garden meticulously, then sitting in the lotus position and meditating. The quality of the food I've been getting out of my drum cooker is really quite good, and I don't spend time tending to it, other than the initial set-up.

My mom told me that her grandmother cooked on wood or charcoal all her life, could look at a stick and determine how long it would burn and how much heat was contained in it, and never used a thermometer (or recipe) in her life. I often think of her when I use my cooker.

[jfmorris]

Well, thanks for the advice. The reasons, aside from just MCS, that I am thinking of either a pellet job or a PBC is that with my current setup I have either excellent temperature control (Weber 22 w/ SnS) but with low capacity, or larger capacity (offset) but having to babysit the fire at least hourly. All the positive reviews of the PBC and the fairly reasonable price tag make be consider the PBC, or possibly a WSM, as my next smoker. Hanging the meat from hooks just seems to have more "cool" factor though!

[phoccer]

I went through the PBC vs WSM debate in early 2017. In the end I went with the PBC for these reasons:

1. It's different. Yep, I found hanging the meat cool as well.
2. It's a small company. I love supporting the little guy.
3. I never read a bad review about the product when I was researching
4. It's a barrel and a lid. I liked that vs the three components for the WSM. Easier for me to haul from the garage to the patio out back

I'm really glad I did. I know the WSM has won world championships and produces amazing BBQ in the right hands but in the end the uniqueness of how the PBC cooks and Noah's story won me over.

[jfmorris]

Those are all good points, and I also like to support small business, and veterans like Noah.

One thing I do not see on their website is if the PBC is made in the US?

[phoccer]

I thought I remembered seeing they were made in the USA and one point but I don't see that claim any more.
The AR review page says no: https://amazingribs.com/model/smoker/pit-barrel-cooker

[Butchman]

In my experience I can definitely cook a whole prime packer without having to load extra charcoal. The problem is it can take quite a bit longer if I just set it and forget it because the temps get pretty low and the cook will take longer. If I tend to the PBC by occasionally cracking the lid and maybe adding a small chimney of charcoal or rotating the brisket and stirring the coals the cook time can be reduced quite a bit.

[SmokinLearner]

If you decide to go with the pellet cooker, I hope your experience turns out better than mine did. I dont mean to sound negative here but I found the temp settings on the pellet grill I used was way out of whack!! My first try at ribs on the pellet grill took forever. So I purchased thermopen's "smoke" temp system. For the second go around with a port butt I found my 225 setting on the pellet grill was actually 145F - 195F. The 250 setting was actually 190F to 300F. The 300 setting was 280F - 450F. So at no time was I ever cooking at a temp of 225F as the controller was labeled. To progress in BBQ I understand the value of changing only one variable at a time to zero in on your goal. But it is hard to change only one variable at a time when your internal temps vary all over the place. Just my experience yet I am sure there are many members who have had very good results with their pellet grills.

[jfmorris]

SmokinLearner Thanks. Ironically, I found my house oven to have similar temp control issues when I used it last night to finish up a 10 pound butt I was smoking on the Weber kettle, and decided not to tend the fire overnight. A setting of 225 on the oven resulted in a range of 190 to 215. 230 would result in a range of 215 to 235. 250 gave me a range of 225 to 255. I think The oven sensor being in the top versus down at the rack level where I clipped the Smoke probe may be part of the reason for the difference. I think the oven temp is just an average probably, and same for the pellet burners.

With the Weber and SnS I smoked from 6 to midnight, and had to go outside about 3 times during that period as I hit my 225 or 275 alarms and adjust the dampers, but it wasn’t bad, considering it was 28 degrees. Definitely have the dampers open way more than warm weather.

[Polarbear777]

I’m contemplating the same questions and haven’t pulled the trigger for the same reasons. Thinking about a fan mod for the PBC that is easily reversible, which wouldn’t be too hard, but not sure it will run low temp (below 250) even with a fan tending it, since that’s not how it was conceived.

I can currently run my pk360 12-15 hours rock solid at 225F without touching it, and I got 20+ hours on the no meat calibration run. The only problem is capacity, so sometimes I have to cram stuff in which nets less than optimal results.