The two hour mark

[buschj1971]

Hi everyone,

First of all, happy Memorial Day weekend. I bought my PBC in February, but wanted to do a few cooks in warmer weather before I asked this question: I've noticed that right around the 2 hour mark the temp in my PBC starts to drop below 260-270. I've heard many times that for ribs and chicken the pit barrel is "set it and forget it" but I often feel like I need to add more charcoal once the temp drops down towards 250 around the 2 hour mark. Is this typical behavior for the PBC, or am I not managing my fire correctly?

I'm using Kingsford original charcoal, letting it light up for 10-15 minutes in the chimney until the top coals start to turn white, then burn all the charcoal another 10 minutes in the cooker (lid off), and have my vent open around 1/4 of the way (I'm close to sea level).

Thanks.

- Jim

[fzxdoc]

Don't add more charcoal--if you look in the barrel, you'll most likely see there is plenty left, especially after only 2 hours.

Instead, crack the lid for about 5 minutes or so. Do this about 3 times in the next 30 to 45 minutes to make sure your fire is good and re-lit. Sometimes it grabs and sends you back up to 275° so for another few hours. Sometimes it doesn't and you just have to crack the lid now and again to boost the temp back up for the remainder of the cook. One full load of KBB coals in the basket should last you about 8 hours or more at 250-290° PBC temps.

You may want to take a peek at this topic and try a bit of a different lighting method to start with:https://pitmaster.amazingribs.com/fo...ures#post12614 . Getting a good initial light of those coals goes a long way to enjoying stable PBC temps throughout the cook.

And FWIW, I have noticed that with two ambient probes in the PBC , one on the vent side and one on the side opposite, the temperatures can vary between the two by as much as 40 to 50°F or so during a cook. Sometimes the temps switch and the hot side becomes the cooler side. All of this is to say that the "set and forget" feature is likely based partly on this phenomenon. The temperature at a single point inside the cooker may not represent what's going on in other areas at the same time. I always use 2 ambient probes for every single PBC cook and use the average between them as an indicator of PBC temp. It helps me keep my mitts off the PBC and let it do its thing for most of the time.

Kathryn

[JimLinebarger]

I have noticed that if I pull my starter charcoal from a full basket that there may be gaps and no real overlap of coals when I put the hot coals back on. If I don't overlap the hot coals, it will start to die down and just burn the coals under the hot coals. I end up rearranging the coals so that there is good overlap and not just end to end. Overlap almost like the minion method, just not as organized and pretty.