Trouble with temp on PBC

[goosebr160]

Hi all,
I'm smoking a pork butt and planning to put some ribs on with it after I wrap it. I've been going for about an hour and a half at fairly high temps. It was in the 360 range, I covered two of the rebar holes happ with foil and that dropped it to 350. I covered the other two holes and now it's holding around 325. It doesn't seem like the lid is leaking, but I tapped around it with a rubber mallet. I followed fzxdoc s lighting method. The only thing I did different was I added additional wood chunks about 30 minutes into the cook, on top of the ones I already had in there.

[HawkerXP]

Chill. I have two probes hanging right now cooking 15lb brisket and they are reading almost 40* different just on different rebar. Let her go. Besides a butt cane take the heat.

[goosebr160]

Thanks HawkerXP .

[RonB]

Is the air intake set according to your elevation - that could affect your temp.

[fzxdoc]

I agree with HawkerXP and RonB , and also wonder whether you may have a leak. The one I had was hard to detect because it was right above one set of rebar holes. I had to hold a piece of cardboard between the holes and the lid rim to see the smoke coming out there. On my PBC (before I added a gasket) the leak had its greatest effect on temp earlier on in a long cook.

And, just like HawkerXP, I always run two temperature probes into my PBC. They can read way different from one side of the barrel compared to the other. When I started using two PBC probes is when I stopped fiddling so much with the temp during a cook. It really gentled me down on that score.

As I recall, you had higher than expected temps on a previous cook as well. If your vent is set properly and you can't see a leak, then you may want to back down your lighting procedure to maybe 15-10-5 or even 15-5-5 next time and see how it goes. If your topmost coals in the chimney are heavily ashed over instead of just some ash at the edges, you may want to back down your chimney burn time (the 15 min) and leave the other two times alone. You'll get a feel for it soon. The good part is that the food always turns out great on that sweet little barrel.

Enjoy that pulled pork--I bet it's going to be delicious.

Kathryn

[phoccer]

Looks to me like your climb started around the time you added the wood chunk(Right around 8:30 with the quick dip in temps). Until then you were running in a sweet spot just above 300. If that's the case then you simply have too much fuel going at one time. Also, I've noticed whenever I lift the lid on my PBC for any amount of time that temps can spike and stay for a while. You are adding in a lot of oxygen at one shot which can really get things rolling. Could be the combination of the air and or those added wood chunks kicked it up just enough to push temps up. But as HawkerXP said, chill. The PBC is a very humid cooker so high heat isn't as big of a deal and pork butts are forgiving. Only thing you might want to pay attention to is the bark. You might end up with a little more bark than you want cooking at the higher temps. You can mitigate that by wrapping the butt around 170 ish, or whenever it looks good to you, and finish the cook wrapped. That will keep the bark in place but not let it get out of control. That, however, is all personal preference. Enjoy the finished goods!

[smn1285]

I have been running high lately too (325). But I’m hearing/reading that’s not a big deal. I even emailed sales@pbc and they said it seems fine too. I would still rather be in the 275 zone. I know I have a lid leak as it got bent in a wind storm when my PBC got knocked over. So I’m going to bend the lid back tonight and add the gasket that fzxdoc recommends.

But it here is my question. I am just under 200’ elevation. So I’ve been leaving my damper at the all the way down position, as opposed to 1/4 open. That couldn’t be contributing to higher temps, could it? Doesn’t make sense that it would to me...

[MBMorgan]

Probably not. An improperly set bottom vent could contribute to more dirty smoke, though ...

I'd recommend setting it according to the PBC advice ... then forget it and cook on ...

[Spinaker]

Put weight on the lid, I bet you see a drop in overall temps.

[fzxdoc]

Personally, I don't much like running my PBC over 300°F average pit temp over a cook (averaged between two PBC probe readouts, probes looped over the rebar and hanging down about mid-meat level, one on the vent side and one on the opposite side) unless I'm cooking poultry. With KBB, my PBC will spike between 360 and 400°F at the beginning but will pretty quickly settle in to its sweet spot of 275°F; that's what I aim for--er, that's what my PBC aims for.

smn1285 , a couple of other folks here who use their PBCs at sea level say they shut their lower vent down slightly lower than recommended by the PBC folks, but as MBMorgan says, close it too much and you run the risk of starving the fire and creating some yukky smoke. OTOH, many folks here run their PBCs at sea level with the vent set to 1/4 open as recommended with no problem. You may want to think about going back to 1/4 open vent, fix that lid leak, and, if you still run too high, modify your lighting procedure.

Kathryn

[smn1285]

I fixed the lid, applied the gasket, damper 1/4 open. Heated the coals for 10mins and started cooking immediately. Never went above 300, beautiful!

[smn1285]

Oh yea, and the 2 briskets came out amazing! I forgot to take pics tho 🤦

[fzxdoc]

Wonderful, smn1285 . Good smoking times ahead, sounds like, now that you've got that temp problem licked.

Kathryn

[goosebr160]

Thanks everyone. It eventually settled down and everything came out great! I ended up putting foil around the lid and I took the foil out of the rebar. The meat was outstanding! By the way, the double hook method on the ribs saved a rack!

[phoccer]

Beautiful

[HawkerXP]

Nice!

[Spinaker]

Boom!

[jecucolo]

I just added a gasket to my lid after a couple of years of owning it. It made a difference. I wish I would have done it sooner.

[Polarbear777]

I added a gasket before I ever used mine and have never had issues running hotter than I need.

[fzxdoc]

Thanks everyone. It eventually settled down and everything came out great! I ended up putting foil around the lid and I took the foil out of the rebar. The meat was outstanding! By the way, the double hook method on the ribs saved a rack!

Gorgeous looking ribs and pulled pork! Sounds like the lid leak was the culprit all along, goosebr160 . Now the vent can go back to its correct position, you don't need to foil rebars, and when you gasket up your lid, all should be easy peasy. In the meanwhile, foiling the leak area with a doubled strip of aluminum foil crimped tight to the trouble spot will save the day. I used that method for a few cooks until I got the gasket.

Happy smoking!

Kathryn

[goosebr160]

fzxdoc, did you install the gasket on just the lid? Or does it go over the lip of the barrel as well? I'm assuming just the lid would be sufficient.

[fzxdoc]

goosebr160 --Just on the inside of the lid's edge. I cleaned the area with degreaser and rinsed it and let it dry. Then I applied the gasket. It was an immediately effective solution to a problem that I had been living with for a while, thinking it would get better. For my PBC, I don't think the lid leak problem would ever have gone away by itself.

K.

[goosebr160]

Thank you fzxdoc! I ordered it and will install. Probably a more permanent solution to the one flaw I've found of the PBC.

[goosebr160]

fzxdoc , installed the gasket a few days ago and cooked another butt today. Temps were much better! Peaked around 400 then settled down in the 250 range. Dipped down to 215 towards the end, but I just cracked the lid for a few minutes to bring it back up. Thanks for all the advice! Now to start preparing for my father's day brisket in two weeks.

[fzxdoc]

goosebr160 Yay!

K.

[bigbird]

fzxdoc - can you please direct me to materials and instructions to install a gasket?

[fzxdoc]

bigbird , I bought the Lava-Lock gasket from Amazon. Just click on this link to find it.

To put it on my PBC, I cleaned the indented track (groove) inside the lid's edge with Krud Kutter degreaser and a 3M scrubber square. Then I rinsed and dried it well. Then I let it sit overnight before putting the gasket on, which basically involved peeling the paper backing off and sticking it in the lid's groove, pressing all the way around. I put the lid back on my PBC and fired it up the next day for a cook. It worked like magic. Yay! That gasket hasn't budged and I've never had a problem with a PBC leak since.

I hope the gasket solves your leak problem too so you can get back to enjoying each cook on your PBC.

Best wishes,
Kathryn

[bigbird]

Thank you! I'm about a half dozen smokes after following your instructions and it has made a huge improvement.

[fzxdoc]

You're very welcome, bigbird . Interesting how such a simple fix can make future cooks much more enjoyable. Smoke on!

K.