Welcome!


This is a membership forum. Guests can view 5 pages for free. To participate, please join.

[ Pitmaster Club Information | Join Now | Login | Contact Us ]

Only 4 free page views remaining.

Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

Off taste with my new PBC.

Collapse
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

    Off taste with my new PBC.

    I recently purchased a PBC. I've cooked brisket, chicken, pork shoulder, and ribs. I've used a handful of different types of fuel types... lump, kingsford, stubbs, etc. Most of the cooks have resulted in the meat having a chemical type off taste. Does anyone have any experience with this, and what I might be doing wrong. Or what I could do to get better results.

    #2
    What do you think it could possibly be, do you have any suspicions? Any chance you're not letting the lighter fluid burn off properly? Perhaps some lower coals have lighter fluid soaked into them and it never actually burns and just smolders during the cook?

    Comment


      #3
      Which Kingsford?

      Comment


        #4
        Yep I'm using a chimney and no lighter fluid. I used Kingsford Blue the first time I cooked, but I'd rather use a more natural briquette. I have been using Stubbs all natural briquettes the last few times. I also was adding wood chips the first few times, but this last time I didn't use any wood per Jerod's sugestion.

        Comment


          #5
          fzxdoc - what do you think?

          Fzxdoc is our resident PBC guru. She'll know what's going on.

          Sounds to me though like you aren't letting the coals get lit enough before you put the food on. I let mine get fully ashed over.

          Comment


            #6
            I agree with David Parrish , Defazio . The PBC is such a simple setup that there are only a handful of things that could be a problem. If it was my PBC, I'd stick with one type of charcoal for a while and use the lighting procedure outlined in the first post of this sticky topic, (click the link) because it pretty much guarantees a good burn each and every time. If you don't get that chemical taste with Brand A, then you can move on to Brand B and so on. In fact, I'd make it even simpler and test on just one meat, say, chicken. Do a couple of chicken cooks in a row with Brand A charcoal using a good, reproducible lighting procedure and go from there. (And FWIW, I've heard folks here say that Stubbs gives off a bad flavor sometimes, although I've never used it myself so I can't say that for certain.)

            Although I do a 15-10-10 method using the chimney for Kingsford Original, I have to let the Kingsford Competition burn in the chimney 5 minutes longer to get a good amount of ash on the topmost coals, so for Competition I use a 20-10-10 lighting procedure. Go by looks, as Pit Boss recommended, as far as how long to let those coals stay in the chimney before pouring them over the unlit coals in the basket.

            By 15-10-10 I mean that you let the coals burn in the chimney for 15 minutes (or whatever time it takes for some good ash on the topmost coals), then pour the burning coals into the basket and use the tip of the rebar to evenly distribute them. Let the basket burn for 10 minutes with the rebars out and the lid off. Then put the lid on, secure it well, (rebars still out) and let it burn for another 10 minutes. Then put the rebars in, hang the meat, secure the lid, and let the PBC do its thing. It's good if you have a dual probe remote thermometer like a Maverick to check the smoker and meat temps. The smoker temp is always going to plummet when you first put the cold meat in, but should climb back up to a sweet spot in the 250-290 range. If it doesn't then follow the information in that link I provided above.

            Also, is your vent set correctly for your altitude? I've found that, for my altitude, my PBC runs best when the vent is open a little wider than recommended so my fire is not starved, because an oxygen-starved fire can sure result in some bad flavors. I don't fiddle with the lower vent once it is set to that optimum opening. It stays the same for every cook.

            Is your smoke that nice pretty blue smoke that we all know and love? That is, not a whole lot of white smoke and certainly no grey smoke?

            You'll get to the bottom of this, I'm sure. The PBC puts out amazing food with relatively little effort, and I'm sure yours will do the same.

            Best of luck,
            Kathryn
            Last edited by fzxdoc; January 30, 2016, 08:46 PM.

            Comment


              #7
              fzxdoc your PBC writeups, including this post, deserve an award!

              Comment


              • fzxdoc
                fzxdoc commented
                Editing a comment
                Awwww, thanks Huskee for the nice words!

              #8
              First of all... Thanks for all the good advice everyone... I really appreciate it!


              fzxdoc I will start by using your lighting suggestions and process of elimination and go from there. I have in the past used Kingsford Competition and really liked it. We have a local hardware store that sells it so I think I'll give it a try again. I was using it when I was smoking with my Weber Kettle using a Smokenator. Always had great results!

              I think I have my vent set right. After I hang the meat, within 10 minutes it settles in at 250 to 275 and holds for at least 4 hours or so. I have noticed though that I do not have that blue smoke that I used to get when I was cooking with my kettle. It's more of a white smoke with the PBC.


              @Pitt Boss I've not been letting the top coals in the chimney get any ash. I was going by what the PBC company was telling me to do.

              Comment


                #9
                Originally posted by Defazio View Post
                First of all... Thanks for all the good advice everyone... I really appreciate it!


                [USER="294"]@Pitt Boss I've not been letting the top coals in the chimney get any ash. I was going by what the PBC company was telling me to do.
                Most of their advice is rock solid but in this instance I believe our lighting procedures work better. Give our suggestions a try and let us know what ends up working for you.

                Comment


                  #10
                  Defazio , let us know how your next cook turns out. I hope it's the best ever!

                  As a point of information, I only use Kingsford Competition for my poultry cooks because I like cooking them hot and fast at 325 to 360 PBC temp. (Many folks here cook poultry at those temps; Meathead recommends it and it works!) A 4 to 5 lb chicken gets done in just over an hour, and boyohboy are those birds ever juicy and tasty with a bite-through skin.

                  But I've had better luck with the Kingsford Original for longer cooks. The few times I've tried it, the Competition did not last as long for the longer cooks. I get about 7-8 hours or so with Competition and 10-12 hours with Kingsford Original, as a rough rule of thumb.

                  Kathryn

                  Comment

                  Announcement

                  Collapse
                  No announcement yet.
                  Working...
                  X
                  false
                  0
                  Guest
                  Guest
                  500
                  ["pitmaster-my-membership","login","join-pitmaster","lostpw","reset-password","special-offers","help","nojs","meat-ups","gifts","authaau-alpha","ebooklogin-start","alpha","start"]
                  false
                  false
                  {"count":0,"link":"/forum/announcements/","debug":""}
                  Yes
                  ["\/forum\/free-deep-dive-guide-ebook-downloads","\/forum\/free-deep-dive-guide-ebook-downloads\/1157845-paid-members-download-your-6-deep-dive-guide-ebooks-for-free-here","\/forum\/the-pitcast","\/forum\/national-barbecue-news-magazine","\/forum\/national-barbecue-news-magazine\/national-barbecue-news-magazine-aa","\/forum\/national-barbecue-news-magazine\/national-barbecue-news-magazine-aa\/bbq-news-magazine-2019-issues","\/forum\/national-barbecue-news-magazine\/national-barbecue-news-magazine-aa\/bbq-news-magazine-2020-issues","\/forum\/national-barbecue-news-magazine\/national-barbecue-news-magazine-aa\/bbq-news-magazine-2021-issues","\/forum\/national-barbecue-news-magazine\/national-barbecue-news-magazine-aa\/bbq-news-magazine-2022-issues","\/forum\/national-barbecue-news-magazine\/national-barbecue-news-magazine-aa\/current-2023-issues","\/forum\/national-barbecue-news-magazine\/national-barbecue-news-magazine-aa\/current-2024-issues","\/forum\/free-deep-dive-guide-ebook-downloads\/1165909-trial-members-download-your-free-deep-dive-guide-ebook-here"]
                  /forum/free-deep-dive-guide-ebook-downloads/1165909-trial-members-download-your-free-deep-dive-guide-ebook-here