Pit Barrel Smoker

[sargetony]

Just bought a Pit Barrel Smoker from Colorado Barbeque Outfitters here in Colorado Springs. I had to replace my COS and needed something better now that I am more confident in my smoking ability. I did a lot of research on this and decided to pull the trigger when they announced on Friday that they had two in stock.

I bought it, got it home and set it up. 30 mins total! Then I lit it and while the coals were heating up, I prepared the ribs. Then I hung them just like the instructions on the web site. All told from store to ribs cooking: 1 hour!

Tomorrow I plan on doing a brisket, but I am only doing a 6 pounder as I didn't want a lot of left overs. Anyone that has used one have a ball park figure on 6 lbs vs a 13lb packer? I was going to figure half the time...

Looking forward to discussing this a lot more.

Happy smoking!

[Jon Solberg]

WTG Sarge. Congrats!

[Jerod Broussard]

On brisket it depends on how early your wrap. I usually don't wrap until the 180's internal so it can easily take 8 hours on my packers. If you wrap early you can get done in 5-6 hours. I've never really had a half the time cook with lesser weights because of consistent thickness, which ultimately determines cooking time. And then you just have stubborn pieces of meat.

What I mean is I have cooked 16+ pound packers and little 8 pound packers. Not a whole lot of time savings on the smaller ones. I actually had two of those smaller ones. They came in a box of briskets and were mirror images of each other, right and left hand. When one was in the 190's, the other was just in the lower 180's. Go figure.

[sargetony]

Awesome, thanks Jerod. I will plan on starting it at 11 to give it 6 hours. I can always let it rest in the oven at 170 until it is eating time if I am done too early.

[David Parrish]

I'd start at 8 AM and plan to let it rest. They always take longer than you want them to and the rest helps the meat reabsorb some of the expunged juice AND makes it more tender. If you can Faux Cambro I prefer that over the oven.

[Jerod Broussard]

On the briskets I cook (select/choice) from wal-mart I find the quicker you cook, the longer you rest. 6-8 hour cook would benefit from at least 2 hours in a faux cambro or 170 oven.

[sargetony]

Ok, one rack came out great, the other one was overdone and dry after 2.5 hours.

I have a theory that it is my altitude. I am in Colorado Springs and we are at 6,000ft. The vent is supposed to be 3/4 open at 5,000-8,000ft and half open at 2,000-5,000ft. I think tomorrow when I do the brisket I am going to shoot for 2/3 open. It felt pretty hot compared to my egg and COS, so I think heat was my culprit, but I wasn't running a temp gauge after reading a lot on this.

Another question. Do you think it would be a good idea to light it and wait for the temp to stabilize before putting the meat on? I have read a few reviews that it peaks around 500 an hour after lighting it and then drops down to the 250ish range.

Thoughts?

[Jerod Broussard]

I put mine on as soon as the lighting is done. Most mine peak just over 300 (with a good light up) then settle back down to 260-270.

I just hung some chicken, light up was not the greatest, hung at 15 minutes and it was wanting to peak at 270 and I knew it would only drop lower. So I opened up my valves I have installed and cracked the lid a little later to bring it up to about 300.

It is now running 331-333, course with B & B it maintains a little hotter temp. I am at sea level pretty much and have it opened b/n 1/4 and 1/2.

[JPP]

Regarding a faux cambro... that's just a cooler you heat up on the inside, right? What do you guys do (assuming that prior statement is correct) with the meat prior to committing it to the cambro? i.e. what do you do to prep the faux cambro, what do you wrap the meat in before placing it in... no detail too small for me! I'm hoping to locate a nice brisket and have a little party on labor day...

[Ernest]

Dump hot water in the cooler, shake it some, leave the water in there for maybe 5 minutes. Wrap meat in HD foil paper followed by a kitchen towel. Then throw that mess in the cooler after draining the hot water.

BUT, I really don't bother with the water treatment 95% of the time. Most coolers do a fine job of keeping food warm.

[_John_]

I keep toilets away from mine I wrap mine tightly in a bath towel that is now a smoke towel and just put it in. If my temp was at the top end I will open the foil and let the heat stop rising, once the heat has settled (10 minutes or so) I wrap it back and put it in the cooler.

[Huskee]

Kitchen toilet? Lol. Towel, yes.

I set mine outside on hot sunny days, opened to let the sun warm the inside plastic of the cooler. I've done it in winter when the cooler was just room temp and everything works out fine. That 200* hunk of meat and foil will do a great job heating the cooler up on its own.

I wrap my meat in two layers of foil, tightly, then put a layer of towels in the cooler, put the meat/foil mess in there on top of the towels, and then wrap it with more towels. I leave my meat probe(s) in. Lid it, and you're good to go for hours. Serve it before the meat drops too far below 150.

[David Parrish]

I concur with Ernest and Huskee. You can skip the hot water and do just fine. I have a whole bunch of cheap cotton garages towels (cheap towels used to clear stuff in the garage). I lay a whole bunch in the bottom of the cooler, then add the wrapped meat (I like to put the wrapped meat in a pan then put all that in the cooler just in case I get a juice leak). Then I throw a bunch of towels on top. This will keep the meat warm for 3 or more hours. It of course helps to have a good cooler. It doesn't have to be terribly expensive... less than $30 for a medium sized cooler is fine.

[Ernest]

HAHAHA towel towel towel.

[boftx]

I don't know. That might have been a Freudian slip indicating where he thinks his cooks belong.

[JPP]

I often use my tablet for posting here, that can be a danger because autocorrect can kill!

[Ernest]

HAHAHA! But all our cooks and up there anyway.