Newbie questions -- thermo placement and uneven cooking
I'm pretty new to BBQing, and brand new to the PBC. I've done a couple of cooks, and have some questions -- hoping to figure things out before I ruin the Thanksgiving turkey next week!!
1) Anyone have a suggestion for the best way to place the pit thermometer in the PBC, when you're just hanging stuff and not using a grate? I know you're supposed to feed the wire through the rebar hole, but how (and to what) do you affix the probe itself? Seems like just letting it hang there would shorten the life of the probe's wire. The probe has a clip for attaching to a grate, but what to do without a grate?
2) In the two cooks I've done so far, I've gotten really varied results. First cook, I did three racks of pork baby back ribs, a pork loin (not a tenderloin), potatoes & onions in the hanging basket, and sweet potatoes on skewers. I'd watched a lot of videos -- Noah's and others' -- to figure out how much time things should take. However, nothing cooked in the time I expected -- the meats took much longer (nearly 4 hours for the ribs, almost 2 for the loin), the sweet potatoes much less time (40 minutes, though some were overcooked and others under), and the potatoes & onions never did get done (they hung for 2 1/2 hours then I took them inside and sauteed them). The loin was great, but the ribs were really inconsistent -- some tender, some overcooked, even on the SAME rack. The meat pulled back from the bones on some ribs, but not others, again on the same rack. The bottoms of two of the racks were inedibly charred.
On the second cook, I did a tri-tip and three racks of St. Louis style pork spareribs. The tri-tip cooked for 1 hour 10 minutes (most recipes say 35-45 minutes) and was still very rare when I sliced it. The ribs had the same results as before -- inconsistent. I tried wrapping foil around the bottom two or three ribs about 3/4 of the way through the cook, but they still got burned.
Let me say that I've set the bottom port correctly for my altitude, I'm following the instructions for lighting, and I don't do a lot of "peeking" during the cook. I didn't have my pit thermometer yet, so I couldn't track the temp in the pit, but it sure felt hot. I know some guys flip the ribs midway through cooking, or cut the racks in half -- I'm willing to do these things, but first want to figure out if I'm doing something wrong. After all, the main reason I chose the PBC was for its reputation for being "unfussy". It just seems like my heat isn't as uniform throughout the cooker as it's supposed to be.
1) Anyone have a suggestion for the best way to place the pit thermometer in the PBC, when you're just hanging stuff and not using a grate? I know you're supposed to feed the wire through the rebar hole, but how (and to what) do you affix the probe itself? Seems like just letting it hang there would shorten the life of the probe's wire. The probe has a clip for attaching to a grate, but what to do without a grate?
2) In the two cooks I've done so far, I've gotten really varied results. First cook, I did three racks of pork baby back ribs, a pork loin (not a tenderloin), potatoes & onions in the hanging basket, and sweet potatoes on skewers. I'd watched a lot of videos -- Noah's and others' -- to figure out how much time things should take. However, nothing cooked in the time I expected -- the meats took much longer (nearly 4 hours for the ribs, almost 2 for the loin), the sweet potatoes much less time (40 minutes, though some were overcooked and others under), and the potatoes & onions never did get done (they hung for 2 1/2 hours then I took them inside and sauteed them). The loin was great, but the ribs were really inconsistent -- some tender, some overcooked, even on the SAME rack. The meat pulled back from the bones on some ribs, but not others, again on the same rack. The bottoms of two of the racks were inedibly charred.
On the second cook, I did a tri-tip and three racks of St. Louis style pork spareribs. The tri-tip cooked for 1 hour 10 minutes (most recipes say 35-45 minutes) and was still very rare when I sliced it. The ribs had the same results as before -- inconsistent. I tried wrapping foil around the bottom two or three ribs about 3/4 of the way through the cook, but they still got burned.
Let me say that I've set the bottom port correctly for my altitude, I'm following the instructions for lighting, and I don't do a lot of "peeking" during the cook. I didn't have my pit thermometer yet, so I couldn't track the temp in the pit, but it sure felt hot. I know some guys flip the ribs midway through cooking, or cut the racks in half -- I'm willing to do these things, but first want to figure out if I'm doing something wrong. After all, the main reason I chose the PBC was for its reputation for being "unfussy". It just seems like my heat isn't as uniform throughout the cooker as it's supposed to be.
Comment