New PBC - SLC Ribs

[AZRedneck]

This afternoon I'm firing up the PBC for the first time (finally). Loading up some SLC ribs. I'm gonna go blind, just like the instructions say. Light it, hang meat, close lid. No thermometers, no fuss. Check on them after 3 hours or so. Gotta go rip the silver skin off and slap some kinda salty rub on so see you folks later with the results!

After reading all the science here, I admit it's going to be really weird not using thermometers. However I am looking forward to the old school, no fuss, relaxing cook. It's not easy for me to trust a brand new cooker, but enough people have shown it works so... I'll just relax and drink beer.

[EdF]

Go get 'em, Boss! I'll have a sympathy beer or two for you!

[Mr. Bones]

I'm in like Flynn!!! ;-) Can't wait t' see th' results!

[DWCowles]

Don't forget the pics

[lschweig]

You are a brave fellow for not using a thermometer.

[Nate]

It will be awesome! Enjoy.... Let us know what you think.

[Huskee]

More brave than me, I used a thermometer on my first cook. Actually I have too many thermometers to not use them.

[AZRedneck]

Just dumped the chimney. 15 minutes, I'm hangin' the ribs.

[HawkerXP]

Going to be great!

[AZRedneck]

Meat on at 1600 hours. Cook data is CHARCOAL = LIT; MEAT = HUNG; BEER = COLD. See you guys in about 4 hours or so.

[AZRedneck]

ARMY won. Just thought I'd share.

[AZRedneck]

No thermometers and I am supposed to be relaxing, but I can't. I am at roughly 1100 ft above sea level. Is this opening good at the bottom?

[Jerod Broussard]

You could open a tad more. No biggee though. I've closed all the way it could be closed and air will still come through plenty.

[HawkerXP]

That looks like a good place to start.
Your not using the legs?

[AZRedneck]

Yea, they are on there, just not in the picture.

[AZRedneck]

OK kids, cook completed. Here's what happened.

First, I am not a writer, or a reviewer of products, so I will keep this short.

As stated above, I did not use thermometers for this cook, and I did not peek for 3 hours.

The ribs were good, but not fall or even pull off the bone. WHY??? Here's what I think...

I lit the basket with a chimney of 40 coals like the recommendation says. I was confident, very confident... until I dumped the entire basket into the bottom of the PBC. WHY/HOW?!?!?!

ADVICE TO EVERYONE : If your balance sucks, don't use a meat hook to balance a full basket of lit coals to move it from your Weber Kettle to the bottom of the PBC.

So... the lit coals are now all mixed up with the unlit ones after I picked up the PBC and dumped all the errant coals back into the basket which I moved back to the kettle after emptying it into the bottom of the PBC.

WHY DOES THIS MATTER? I don't know, but I think it changed the way the coals burned. I let the now mixed lit and unlit coals burn in the PBC for 15 minutes, then hung the meat, and lid on. Shortly after that (about 30 minutes) I didn't see smoke so I assumed it was the ever evasive blue smoke we all want. Sporadically, there was 5 - 10 minute spans of light visible smoke, so I figured it was new coals lighting or whatever.

3 hours later... lid open, picked up a slab and probed it. Not tender yet. No big deal, I put it back and closed the lid for another 30 minutes.... TIME PASSES. (Smoke is flowing now because the lid was off I'm sure. Should I have used a thermometer? If I saw the chamber temp was low I coulda cracked the lid.)

3 hours and 45 minutes into the cook, I figured I would wipe them with sauce and let them sit in there for another 20-30 minutes. It was really easy to stab them with the point of my thermapen, so since I was anxious and hungry... what the hell.

4 hours and 10 minutes into the cook, I took the lid off and started hooking the slabs! WOOHOO. I'm hungry! They look great! The first one hit the plate and looked great! I dropped the second one onto our transfer platter. I grabbed the third hook and it was very light... this is because it fell in the fire. Well what do I do now? I quickly grabbed it up out of the bottom of the cooker and threw it on the platter. Fortunately it landed over the coal basket handle so ash transfer to the meat was minimal. (Or the sauce hid it, whichever.) It was more "carmelized" than the other two slabs but can't cry over spilled milk right?

I called MRSRedneck into the kitchen, and sliced up the "carmelized" slab. We ate the whole thing. Then I showed her the picture and explained what happened. No worries, it was good.

My Takeaway:
1) Use a damned thermometer if you have it! At the very least you can tell if your pit temp is off, and I think that would have improved this batch of ribs.
2) Don't be afraid to double hook!
3) If meat falls in the fire, it's still ok to eat if you can bite thru the bark!

[lschweig]

Getting a good light is super important. I have always done what Noah recommends. Put a very liberal amount of lighter fluid and then add more without letting the lighter fluid soak in, light and wait 12-15 minutes before putting the product in, the flames will literally leap out of the top for a short while and after the allotted time you should see some ash developing as well as some hot spot(s)and quite a bit of smoke coming out.

No, I do not get a lighter fluid taste ever.

When I put the product in I throw a wood chunk(s) on the hot spot and close it up.

I also have never double hooked and have never dropped a slab as of yet, but I hook lower down the rack from the membrane side around 4-6 ribs down and let it flop over the hook portion.

I also think all of us at some time(s) have thought we placed the lid on properly only to discover later that it was slightly adjar, which is why a thermometer is helpful as well as the varying weather conditions play a huge factor.

Don't worry it will get better as there is a learning curve as with any new thing.

Tomorrow we are supposed to get up to 12" of snow and I am still planning on doing ribs. Hopefully all will go well. Call me stupid.

As far as the setting of the vent goes just do your best to duplicate the smile portion of the recommended settings. I could not really see your setting in the picture, but as you are at 1100 ft I would recommend setting it between the recommended sea level and 2000 ft setting.

Just my thoughts.

[fzxdoc]

Well,we all say that having a PBC is a great adventure, and you sure proved us right, AZRedneck . Sounds like an interesting cook.

You proved a second PBC finding as well--the food always tastes so doggone good! Congrats on that.

You did just like I did, but with chickens--I followed Noah's recommedations for the first cook. After only a few cooks I started tweaking my lighting procedure and temperature management. I used a thermometer for the PBC temperature though. I just couldn't not know what was going on in there! And I got my PBC before The Pit was started, so the wealth of information that's available here was not around at the time. Fumbling toward good smoked food back then was fun anyway.

Enjoy your future cooks!

Kathryn