First PB on The PBC

[_John_]

I got the pit ready for meat about 230 and once it hit 300 and started heading back down I was comfortable enough to go back to bed at about 3. I checked every hour or so, I never can sleep well when I have meat going, and it spent most of the time at 270. At 8, about 5 hours in, it was at 155 internal and the pit had dropped to 240 so I took off the lid while I transferred to the grate and it was about 310 once done and eased back to 270. I cracked it a little at about 10 while I pattied some burgers and sort of forgot for a bit and it hit 340, but that is fine with me, especially around the stall as it can help get it past the 'wall'. Timeline is getting a little close and I seem to have hit a second stall at 185 internal, hasn't moved in an hour, so I let it up to 300 just now.

[Tim E]

_John_ good info
Here is how things are progressing for me:
on at 6:45, temp spiking at 466 degrees
7:15 - 340 degrees PT (pit temp)
8:00 - 298 PT
8:30 - 280 PT
9:00 - 261 PT, 118 IT
9:15 - 250 PT, 126 IT

I have to leave for a couple of hours so I think I am going to go ahead and set them on the rack. Not having done this cook before I am nervous they will fall in before I return!

[_John_]

Not a bad idea, I have dropped 3 so far. Seems to be dropping awfully low considering the good light you got. I would let that go back up to 300 before leaving myself or it may be 200 when you get back.

[Tim E]

Thanks for the tip _John_. How did yours turn-out?
I was able to bump it up to 285 before I left. I returned 1 hr 45 minutes later to find my PT down to 208! This has been characteristic of my cooks on the PBC so far. I always have issues maintaining a steady temp for a good period of time without fiddling with the lid or pulling rebar. So I pulled out the rack, stirred coals, ect and now have it up to 300 degrees again. IT is sitting around 165.

[_John_]

Mine was like that when I first got it, I fixed it by opening the bottom up more. If it isn't hanging out between 250 and 290 for 4-5 hours without fiddling then something needs adjusted. Try opening the bottom and if that doesn't work call the PBC people, they are awesome and have folks there that can talk you through anything.

Mine was ok, but that temp spike I said I wasn't worried about must have happened right in the center because there was a 4" square patch that was burnt on the bottom. Not really a big deal but a screw up I don't usually make.

[Tim E]

Butts are off and resting. Here is the full summary:
on at 6:45 AM, temp of PBC spiking at 466 degrees
7:15 - 340 degrees PT (pit temp)
8:00 - 298 PT
8:30 - 280 PT
9:00 - 261 PT, 118 IT
9:15 - 250 PT, 126 IT
9:50 - 282 PT, 140 IT
11:30 - 208 PT, 160 IT, at this point I stirred coals, rotated basket, went on on up to 300 degrees
12:15 - 254 PT, 162 IT, pulled out 1 rebar
1:15 - 264 PT, 176 IT
1:30 - 260 PT, 178 IT, pulled out 2nd rebar, PT spiked to 300 degrees
2:00 - 271 PT, 183 IT
2:35 - 250 PT, 1876 IT, cracked lid
3:15 - 250 PT (and falling) added 25 +/- chimney'd hot briquettes, no rebar
3:45 - 279 PT, 190 IT
4:30 - 228 PT, 198 IT, PBC was done
Moved grate with butts over to the gasser over water pan with indirect heat at 300 degrees
5:00 pulled off butts, IT of 203

Quite a journey. I definitely need to figure out why the extreme temp drops. I pretty much had to babysit this thing all day. Which in and of itself isn't the worst thing when you are expecting it, or using equipment that requires it. My understanding of the PBC, is that it is not supposed to "yo-yo" like this.

[Jerod Broussard]

that drop in temp was caused by the butts entering the stall they are releasing tons of moisture into the cooker when I'm about 4 to 5 hours in or at least when the butts reach 16o I crack the lid to get some of that moisture out and amp up the heat

[_John_]

Dropped way too far way too fast, personally I would copy paste that in an email to them and ask for tips, they have folks that help people tweak these every day. We know a lot about them, but they know substantially more.

So, how was the food?

[fzxdoc]

Great idea, John.

Tim E, if you do contact the PBC folks, please let us know what they say.

Kathryn

[Tim E]

I definitely feel like my PBC is always in a state of falling temperature. I can crack the lid or pull rebar and get the temperature to spike but the minute I set it back the way it is intended, it is a steady drop to nothing. After my challenges with the first cook on the PBC, I did have a discussion with them regarding my challenges. Their recommendation was to reduce the time in the chimney from 15 minutes to 12. They also did not recommend using wood chunks and only using wood chips, if any at all. That conversation was a few cooks ago.
After that discussion, I actually decided to follow the start upprocedure contained within this forums PBC start up sticky. I really did not want to abandon adding wood to the cook. So I have kept with adding wood chunks. I just make sure they're good and burned down by the time I hang my meat.
I will likely follow up with them again and will report back to the forum with their recommendations.
On the plus side, the pulled pork was delicious! I do feel I got the bark a little over done by finishing in the grill. You got to do what you got to do, and it was still really good. I served it with the slaw, Lexington sauce, and KC style sauce on rolls. All recipes from this AR site, it was all awesome!
Unfortunately, I made a big mistake and did not get pictures after the pull, I was too busy eating. Sorry about that

[kranknhank]

Eating over pictures we hear ya!

[fzxdoc]

Ditto that. Enjoying that great 'Q trumps photos every time. I'm glad to hear it turned out well, Tim.

The more cooks you do on the PBC the better you will get at managing that fire to suit your needs. A little tweak here, a little technique there, and you'll have that thing singing for you. John suggested that perhaps you'll want to open up the lower vent a bit more. Change just one thing (like that, for example) on your next cook and see if it makes a difference. When I was first inching my way up the learning curve, I made sure only to change one parameter at a time so I could gauge the effect more accurately. That method works for me. And BTW, I'm still inching along that learning curve!

I toss a chunk of wood in the basket for many of my cooks. I can't tell that it makes that much difference in my PBC's temperature fluctuations. I always weigh my wood, though, using the amount recommended by Meathead for the various cooks. Usually I use 4 oz for shorter cooks and double that, spaced 4 hours apart for longer cooks.

Kathryn