Set and forget

[TechniKal]

How well does the PBC live up to it's "set and forget" marketing?

I've been doing my smoking on a kettle and it's fine, but I have family duties that pull me away on weekends, and it's hard to keep the kettle in range without adjusting it every hour or two. It would be nice to have something that I could leave for a few hours to attend kids soccer games, or do mountain bike rides or whatever. If things cook faster on the PBC, then that means more sleep which is a good thing as well...

I'm not interested in installing fans or temp controllers. So, straight out of the box, unmodified, following the lighting instructions - do you get successful ribs, butts, chuck roast, chicken and brisket from the PBC without having to babysit it?

[RonB]

People here have cooked ~ 8 hours unattended on a kettle with a Slow N Sear. And it's cheaper than a PBC. Of course, it doesn't give you that new cooker rush.

[HawkerXP]

Yes. The PBC is faster. I have never done an "overnighter". I'd rather get up early get it started and crash for awhile once its going. The key to cooking on the PBC is how you start your fire. Check out the PBC topic in Channels lots of good info there.

I also agree with RonB I also do long cooks on my kettle with the S n S just have to knock down the ash around the 4 or 5 hour mark.

Both are great tools.

[Troutman]

Might also want to consider a pellet cooker if you’re looking for true set and forget on long cooks. Not the same flavor profile due to limited and milder smoke, guess that’s the compromise.

Not sure about your budget but a small insulated vertical cabinet would also do the trick. Fully loaded some of those go 12 hours with fuel left over.

Lots of options, quickest would be adding an SNS likes been mentioned.

[gdsim1]

In my experience, it does an excellent job of "set it and forget it"... my first cook was pork ribs, I just followed the time guidelines on the recipe at the PBC website, and my girlfriend said they were the best ribs I’d ever produced. 👍 Everything since has gone great as well, unless I was the cause of the screw-up (my "turn a pork belly into a charcoal briquette" faux pas lives in infamy lol).

You’re spot on about the getting more sleep part - no more getting up at oh-dark-thirty to get a brisket or pork butt done by dinner time. Things DO cook much faster in the barrel.

Not sure about leaving the house for extended periods though, not without monitoring you can check on your phone anyway. Piddling around the house, cutting the lawn, etc? Go for it. But if your kid’s game goes to double overtime or something, you may come home to a crispy critter in the barrel if you don’t have a way to monitor it.

I’d say pull the trigger on one. They really do perform as advertised... and the end of trying to get a cook together while slugging down coffee at 4:30am is worth the price alone. 😊

[JimLinebarger]

The "charcoal briquette" might just be a rite of passage for PBC users. Mine was a pork butt. Used only 1 hook. Never again.

[gdsim1]

LOL When I did my first pork belly, at the end of the cook, I cracked the lid for the last 3 or 4 minutes to crisp it up a bit. Good...

I also forgot to put the rebars back in. NOT so good... 😂😂😂

The additional oxygen plus the buku rendering from such a fatty cut of meat... yeah, I should’ve just tossed what was left of the pork belly into the coal basket with the rest of the charcoal where it belonged. 😂😂😂

Live, learn and keep grillin’! 😃

[TechniKal]

I have the SNS in my kettle. I find that temps start dropping around 4 hours in due to ash build up, and when you knock the ash out and add charcoal, you have to tinker with settings to get the temps back in range. The temperatures also swing a fair amount. I'm not super particular about trying to keep it spot on, but if I leave it alone for 2+ hours, it's unusual to see temps move +/- 30f. I hear stories of super long unassisted cooks on kettles with SNSs - I'm not sure what they are doing but it hasn't worked for me.

[Mr. Bones]

Cool insight...I'd haveta consider +/- 30° a purty 'set it an ferget it' range, on a live fire cook...

[TheQuietOne]

I monitor mine and often don't touch it for 4-5 hours, but I'd be uncomfortable leaving it alone for more than a couple.

[Mr. Bones]

Yup.
I often don't haveta do thing one, with my cookers, but I am not trustin enough to allow them to take care of business, without some intervention, so I check, min 1 hr, depends on th protein, an th cooker(s)

[JeffJ]

Once the PBC settles in it's pretty much set/forget. Last Friday I cooked 15 pounds of butt for a grad party and it stuck at 340. I had to plug the rebars with foil and with 2 holes foiled it settled in around the 285 mark. There was some fluctuation, about 15 degrees on each side of 285 but it was within what I view as an acceptable range. I was able to trim some bushes, mow the lawn and do other yard-work while the PBC was doing its thing.

One thing to know about the PBC: It was engineered to run on KBB. For my grad party cook I lit 40 Kingsford Professional (which runs hotter than KBB) and the unlit coals were Weber. I think this is why mine ran so hot. Usually when I use KBB only it will run in the 260-290 range.

[TechniKal]

Ok I joined the club. I found someone near me on Craiglist selling one at a price low enough that it was an easy decision to experiment. Picked up chicken, ribs and a brisket point to try out this weekend!

[Mr. Bones]

First of all, Howdy from Kansas Territory, Welcome to Th Pit...
Super Glad to have ya here, with us...
I'm lookin forward to yer Experiments, amigo...
Countin on ya to demonstrate why I oughtta/gotta up an buy me a PBC, since nobody has graciously donated one, fer my review, thus fer...

[rwalters]

Nice! Keep us posted

[TechniKal]

First pass was good. I lit following the instructions on the site (fill the basket, remove 40 coals, light those for 12 minutes and add to the basket).

I then added the meat and walked away for about 2 hours. I didn't monitor temps or make any adjustments. I walked past it at 2 hours and it was still smoking. I took a peak and everything looked good. At 3 hours I checked again and used an instant read thermometer. Chicken was good to go and ribs passed the bounce test. The taste was very good, especially compared to the effort. I don't sauce ribs and just used a simple salt and pepper rub. For the chicken I used salt, pepper and paprika.

I think it would have been a bit better if I'd pulled the ribs a bit earlier, and cracked the lid for a few minutes on the chicken. Again not bad at all given zero effort during the cook.

I'll try a small brisket point tomorrow...

[kenrobin]

Ribs are the one protein that I try to monitor a little on the PBC. Mine always seem to cook faster than I anticipate but I haven't done enough of them on the PBC to really master it yet.

[hoovarmin]

Great find! In our area you'd never see a PBC for sale, no one has even heard of them.

[Mr. Bones]

Super Pleased to see yer success, an gotta tell ya:great lookin food, as well...
Nice Job!

[JimLinebarger]

I have to be very careful of the set and forget, because I will/would/have.

[Mr. Bones]

Then later when I look at what I wrote, can't figure out why I wrote it. lol!

Hail, don't even, fer a minute, feel too awful dang bad bout th whole deal, then...

Most times, I cain't even find where I put what I wrote down at, an when/if I do happen to, I cain't never seem to make heads, nor tails of my chicken scratches! D
JimLinebarger
btw, with yer kind permission, gonna haveta steal me that there "Set, an Remember" *term...
Purty dang dang funny, that there is, an I grade tough!

*(Provided, I can remember where I saved it at, on my puter )

[JimLinebarger]

@Mr. Bone If'n ya like it, she be yorn.

[Mr. Bones]

Thankee, Brother!
'Preciate it..

[TechniKal]

Second run. A small brisket point. Salt and pepper rub. Lit using the 40 coals in a chimney method. Just after starting we had a series of large thunderstorms roll through. I was tracking temps this time and with all the rain, it wasn't pushing much past 215f. After a break in the rain, I cracked the lid for a bit and temps settled around 250f. After about 5 hours, I pulled it and wrapped in butcher paper, put it on the grate, kept the rebar out to raise temps and let it go for another couple of hours. I pulled it when it hit 203f and let it rest in a cooler for an hour while i made the sides. Turned out wonderful...

[Mr. Bones]

Jus in case yer as hard on yerself, as I am on me; can ya see a dang thing wrong with that brisky? Well, can ya?
Might be cause I'm old, an all, but I sho nuff cain't, to save my soul...
Nice Job, amigo!

[JimLinebarger]

What Mr. Bones said. That there brisket looks good enough to eat!

[New2Cue]

Four years in, I have a lot of problems maintaining temps with my PBC. I've got ribs on now, and I've had to go outside about 8 times over the last two hours to crack lid/close lid to get the temps in the 240-300 range. For whatever reason, I can't keep steady temps on it. I had it started around 315, then once the ribs went in, temps started steadily falling. Not sure if the ribs are extinguishing the coals or not, but I've been having this problem over the last couple of years.

I wish they offered a lid with a build in valve to be able to get the airflow and temps more stable. I'm getting to the point where I might just sell it and buy a Gateway or Hunsaker.

[Mr. Bones]

not an expert, by any means, nor even a PBC Owner/Operater, but from what I've seen posted, haveta ask if yer lid is a sittin down proper, an sealin well? Never mind me, cause much smarter/more informed / experienced folks will chime in, here, directly

[New2Cue]

If it's not sitting proper, my guess is that there will be an opening as if you cracked the lid, making temperatures skyrocket upward.

[NapMaster]

Just put an exhaust in the lid yourself. There is a thread some months back about adding it. Should be a simple job.

[New2Cue]

Yeah, I might have to.