Good morning fellow BBQ enthusiasts! I'm considering a PBC. Been reading and watching everything I can get my hands on and chatting extensively with fzxdoc who has been great. I understand the Pit Barrel Cooker does not excel at grilling. I've considered getting GrillGrateTM for my Weber Spirit based on the review on AR. Does anyone have any experience and/or feedback on the GrillGrate add-on for the PBC?
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When I do ribeyes in the WSJ with GrillGrates the surface temp of the GG flat side hits over 450 degrees as measured by my Thermoworks IR gun. I don't think that will happen in the PBCjr unless I modded it to lower the grate. Now the problem is trying to see what going on down there, taking a temp, and brushing up the inside of the barrel and getting gunked.
It can be done, but I don't think it's optimal, and I say this as a huge PBC fan. I may be biased going into my third decade of WSJ cooks.
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jpsep I think Grillgrates will be a great addition to your Weber Spirit. I recommend getting the full replacement set for your Spirit 200 or 300 grill, versus a surface set that sits on top of the Weber cast iron grate. With the replacement set, you can still sit them on top like that if you wish, but I find they work much better dropped in place of the cast iron grates. Do a deep clean of your Spirit, scrape it down, clean it up, then put the new Grillgrates on, and you will find that the inside of your grill stays a lot cleaner, requiring less deep cleaning of all the crud that normally winds up falling into the grill, causing fires and such.
For the PBC, I question the utility of Grillgrates. As a grill, the PBC will have the fire maybe 18 inches below the grate, so while the Grillgrates might help amplify that heat some for better searing, its just so high above the charcoal for grilling versus smoking...
The other issue with grilling on the PBC is that the grate is down inside the barrel 6 or 8 inches. This makes it hard to get down in there with a spatula to flip things when grilling. Like @N227GP says - be prepared for black gunk and grease getting on your arms! I think you would end up with having to use tongs, and reaching straight down from above the meat to grab it. You certainly won't be making smash burgers down in that hole!
The PBC is a great cooker - and can be used as a grill - I just personally don't know that it is the best grill, to where I would spend the money on Grillgrates. For me, the big deal with Grillgrates is that they even out the heat and prevent flareups from burning my food. I use them on my Weber kettle and my Weber gas grill. The PBC has the fire so far below the grate, that flareups is probably never going to be an issue.Last edited by jfmorris; June 1, 2020, 08:41 AM.Comment
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I have a PBC, which I do enjoy using as a smoker. If you only had a PBC and did not intend to have any other cooker and it was all you had to use as a grill as well as smoker, I would suggest you add a second set of nuts and bolts in the barrel, acquire a second grate, in order to raise the charcoal basket closer to the upper grate which would be holding the meat, enabling you to get a higher cooking temp. Because you have a nice gasser, I would go with exactly what jfmorris suggested above. That would be a nice addition and would definitely add value to your gas grill. No reason not to grill on gas vs charcoal as likely your food will not be in the cooker long enough to pickup a lot of smoke anyway. And if you wish, get a smoke tube which holds wood chips or pellets, lay it as close to the burners as possible and smoke away! ...FULL DISCLOSURE ON THIS LAST ITEM: I have heard mixed review on how well these smoker tubes work and have no personal knowledge as to how well they work.Comment
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I have only had a PBC for 2 cooks. In my extremely limited experience I would not add the GrillGrates to the PBC. I WOULD add the GrillGrates to your gasser!
I've got GrillGrates for 1 side of my BroilKing (turned flat side up) and it's the single best upgrade I've done on anything. They have hit 700 deg F. Which puts a fantastic sear on a steak.
I got GrillGrates for 1/2 my dad's grill. He loves them. He has grilled 3-5x a week for as long as I can remember, and he won't go back to not having them.
My father in law bought a grill so I could grill him steaks. So I gave "him" GrillGrates for xmas.... for me to use at his house.
I'm a big fan.
But I wouldn't put them on the PBC. Just my 2 cents
Also - I have smoked pork butt and ribs on my gasser for years. Follow the set up on the main site, and you can have a lot of success. I'm loving the PBC. They're a pretty fantastic duo.
It is also standard operating procedure here to encourage the purchasing of more equipment.... so get the new grates for your Weber, and put a shiny new PBC next to it.
Weber for reverse sear, pbc for smoking.Last edited by BFlynn; June 1, 2020, 12:10 PM.Comment
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Thanks @all! Do GrillGrates ever go on sale? 15 bucks for shipping is a tad steep in the age of Amazon and free shipping over $x.xxComment
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I think I caught a free shipping deal when I bought them as gifts...... Maybe.....
But I haven't kept an eye on the prices.
If you're trying to save a few dollars, you don't need them for the whole grill.
I have then covering 2 of my 5 burners.
For my dad's set up we covered 2 of the 4.
Keep your old grates for 2 zone setup
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Bbq guys has them with free shipping on orders over $50
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Buy that smoke tube I mentioned above and get over $50.00 Freight savings will likely pay for most of that difference. Or some other accessory you think you will use. BTW, no idea if you are interesting in griddling but those grill grates turned upside down will give you a nice flat surface to fry things on. Squash burgers, pancakes, sausages, eggs.....(woops put a pan on the grates and use a skillet cause the eggs will go through the holes)............anyway you can definitely fry with them inverted..just be sure your gasser can handle the grease falling down inside....lots of folks do it.Comment
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I just added grillgrates to my Weber spirit and it completely transformed my grill. I now have no flare ups and can get a great sear on anything. Highly recommend them!
They had a promo code available a few weeks ago when I ordered mine. Try "Save10". The 10% discount basically came out to free shipping.Comment
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So I guess so far the answer to the question is no one has experience with Grill Grates on the PBC... lol No surprise really with how the PBC is configured and I would never expect to sear on my PBC with or without grill grates so all good points above. Yet now I wonder how most of my life grilling experience of nearly 50 years I had no freaking idea what a sear was until I joined this group and always grilled excellent steaks. So now because I'm curious I'm going to grill a couple steaks on my PBC to see if the unique PBC flavor profile might just provide another tasty option.Comment
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My method steaks used to be - throw the steaks on a hot grill.
Drink a beer.
Flip steaks.
Drink a beer.
Steaks are done.
Drink a beer while they rest.
They were tasty, and I loved them.
Now, cooking low til they hit 110-115 and then a 3 min sear on each side...... I think they're better. Take longer. And I can't measure my grill times in "beers drunk"..... but I may have aged out of that category anyway.
I will try putting them on the PBC and finishing on the grates/gasser.
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