First cook on the PBC - Success, but...

[Sandpaper]

Did my first cook on the PBC the other day (LINK). Did Simon & Garfunkel chicken and two racks of St. Louis ribs with MMD. The ribs were absolutely amazing and chicken was dang good. But I noticed some weirdness on this first cook. Maybe all of the issues were from the same cause - a small amount of smoke leaking from the lid. Here's what I noticed:

• The chimney at 12 minutes had absolutely no ash on top, so I let it run for another 3 minutes before dumping. There still wasn't much ash at all on top, but there was decent ash further down the chimney. I'm at 800ft altitude.
• I didn't have fzxdoc 's guide handy, but left it uncovered for about 5 minutes, then 10 with the lid on, then about 5 with the rebar in.
• When I put the ribs on, pit temp was around 375
• After 30 minutes or so, temp settled down to 330 and stayed between that and 315 for the entire cook, at least until...
• The 4.5 hour mark, where it dipped to around 280

As a result of the high temps, I would imagine, the St. Louis were done around 3h45 and the chicken at around 1h45. Chicken was a little bit over - it read 165 in the breast from the probe, but the instant read showed 175. It wasn't *dry*, but it could have been more juicy.

Also, I learned a valuable lesson as I joined the club - just because 1 rack isn't done yet doesn't mean the other isn't too! I had one rack fall into the coals. No big deal. From reading the forums here, I know that there are two kinds of PBC cooks: those who have had ribs fall into the coals and those who haven't...yet.

I ordered a LavaLock for my next cook tomorrow, but may also just try to weigh the lid down with a paver to see if that helps. I hear that maybe I should just be patient and wait for it to gunk up after a few cooks.

Anyhow, I love what it produced even with the issues, and can't wait to get more experience.

[pkadare]

I also have a PBC and haven't run into the issues you did, however, I am curious as to where you're going to put the gasket. Do have noticeable smoke coming out from under the lid? I don't on mine.

[Skip]

Nice cook Sandpaper . Welcome to the PBC Club too. I am also in the process of learning my PBC. It's been a little tough to leave it alone and let it do it's own thing. I've only had mine a few months.

[MBMorgan]

It's been a little tough to leave it alone and let it do it's own thing.

Literally the only difficult thing about cooking in the PBC ...

[AverageJoe]

Agreed

[Sandpaper]

pkadare - yes, not a ton, but I confirmed that it was smoke coming from the lid and not, as I first suspected, smoke from the rebar curling around the lip.

[TNPIGBBQ]

A second hook threaded through the first will prevent ribs from falling. Same method Noah uses in his brisket video.

Ive had a rack fall in the fire too, so it’s what i do now if I have the spare hooks.

[HawkerXP]

agree!

[mnavarre]

Try spraying the rim of the lid with cooking spray, that usually helps seal small lid leaks. I have to do it every couple of cooks or if I haven't used the PBJr. in a while. Also getting an actual temperature in the barrel is hard, I've hung 2 ambient probes and had almost 30 degrees difference between them.

It does take some getting your head around the Zen of the thing, just how much faster it cooks and the fact that it's pretty much going to do as it pleases. Trying to chase temperatures on it leads to madness.

[Sandpaper]

Thanks for the tip. I will try the cooking spray as well

[hoovarmin]

+1 on that idea. No gasket needed after a cook or two using this method.

[FishTalesNC]

Not much more to add but I’ll pile on with the "let it do it’s thing" crowd.

A good lighting is key IMHO, try to get that consistent with the 10/10/10 method (I too actually do 15/10/10 and the very top isn’t yet ashed over). I’ll then dump in those 40 briquettes and use tongs to spread them evenly across the top of the loaded charcoal basket. My PBC is pretty consistent then, wanting to start around 335F and slowly falling to 265F over longer cooks.

I watch ambient temp pretty much to a) make sure nothing crazy is happening, b) if cooking poultry, watching for when I need to crack the lid to keep temps up. I made my best batch of PBC chicken to date yesterday, and kept temps between 350-400F. Dry brine it overnight and make sure to get it under the skin onto the breast meat and I think you’ll see a huge improvement in the moisture. I personally wouldn’t cook ribs at that same temp tho.





Learn to let it go, and good luck! 👍🏻

[fzxdoc]

Sandpaper , congrats on your first PBC cook! Sounds like things turned out pretty tasty. Nice that you made your offering to the BBQ gods with that plummeting rack of ribs, getting that rite of passage out of the way early.

FWIW, ribs and chicken like two different PBC temps. Ribs like to rock around 250 to 275° PBC temp and chicken is best when done at 350° or higher if you're interested in getting some crispy skin. For that reason, I never cook the two together.

Even the smallest amount of lid leak on the PBC can shoot the temps up, especially in the beginning of a cook, and continuing an hour or two before the temps seem to settle. So yes, take care of that leak before the next cook, and you should hit a sweet spot cooking temp with your PBC around 270ish.

I find that the time for the topmost coals to begin to ash over depends on the type of charcoal and the shape of the chimney. So for the first leg of the 15-10-10 procedure (or 10-10-10) might be longer or shorter. I seem to always go longer, sometimes doing KBB at 15-10-10 but with Kingsford Professional it's more like 20-10-10. The point is that just leave the chimney alone until you begin to see some ashing over on the topmost coals, regardless of how long it takes. Then for sure you know you've got a good light on the coals in the chimney. A good light on those will help you get a good light on the unlit coals in the basket which is what getting a good steady temp in the PBC is all about.

Continue to enjoy cooking on your PBC. You're going to have so much fun with it.

Kathryn

[AverageJoe]

I have heard that some people have to tap their lid down to get it to seat correctly, although that is a rare thing. After a few cooks you will get a nice layer build up around the seam of the lid that should help with your smoke issue.

What charcoal chimney are you using. Much like fzxdoc I switched to the Char-Broil Half-Time Chimney instead of using the regular Weber chimney. Below is her write up on it. For $10 I like the little thing. It is a bit wider so there are less layers for the fire to get up to the top and ash over all of the briquettes. And I live at 5k feet elevation so any little bit to get the whole process started faster is a bonus. I however do not do 40 briquettes. I do a minimum of 25 but more often than not it is 30. It all depends on how the pile looks.

I am in the process of testing it in the elements to see how long it is going to last compared to other peoples talk about it rusting out fast. But for $10 it is cheap enough to replace. And I love the fact that it is small enough that I can get the lit coals dispersed over the top of the unlit fairly uniformly without having to use something to move them around in.

https://pitmaster.amazingribs.com/forum/accessorize-your-pit/215808-charcoal-starter-chimneys-char-broil-half-time-vs-weber-compact

The joy of cooking is that you can take what someone recommends and tailor it to your needs and wants. And the joy of this Club is that there are always people that will give you recommendations, tips, and tricks without batting an eye.

[TheQuietOne]

The trial and (sometimes and I always hope minor) error part is part of the fun. Fortunately, I've never made anything inedible and in making errors I sometimes stumble into something really good.

[mnavarre]

This. Pretty much always.

[hoovarmin]

I never have ash after 12 minutes in the PBC chimney. The humidity here is usually between 80-100%, so that's never going to happen except on those rare days in the winter when the humidity drops.

[CaptQ]

I had a hard time with the set it up and walk away thing with my PBC and being new to this whole thing I couldn’t leave stuff alone and installed a thermometer in the lid. It amazes me how the temp stays so steady. I did notice the vent at the bottom of the barrel seems important based on your altitude. We are over 5000 feet here so it needs to be all the way open which limits any adjustments you can make save cracking the lid. I instya Weber style Ben on top and that give more temp adjustments. I found ribs hanging closer to the fire get a bit crunchy so I started cutting the rack in half and always see two hooks per rack

[CaptQ]

I use the small chimney from PBC and run it 20 mins. I bought a bunch of stuff from them because good stuff and fellow vet owner