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Pit Barrel Cooker (PBC) Appreciation Thread

My PBC arrived last night. Planning to cook 3 racks of Loin back ribs and a whole chicken this weekend. Any advice from anyone? I will be following the lighting instructions to the letter for this first cook. Where I live is 965 Ft above Sea level so I will be adjusting the vent to 1/4. Not sure if I will try to hand the whole chicken on the Turkey hanger or split it into halves. I can't wait to try the PBC out. Yes I will post photos of my cook and a summary review of my weekend cooks.
Darren
 
talls6 said:
My PBC arrived last night. Planning to cook 3 racks of Loin back ribs and a whole chicken this weekend. Any advice from anyone? I will be following the lighting instructions to the letter for this first cook. Where I live is 965 Ft above Sea level so I will be adjusting the vent to 1/4. Not sure if I will try to hand the whole chicken on the Turkey hanger or split it into halves. I can't wait to try the PBC out. Yes I will post photos of my cook and a summary review of my weekend cooks.
Darren
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I would cut the chicken in half and hang like is shown in the videos. Other than that your plan sounds good. Just don't be afraid to crack the lid if your temps aren't as high as you'd like.....assuming you even monitor that.

Good luck!
 
Hi guys. Was fortunate to score a never used PBC from a retired gentleman who received it as a gift from his son in November of last year. He said, and I quote, "I have no idea why he gave it to me. I have no interest in smoking meat". Full setup including cover and ash pan for $175. He even had the 2 bags of rubs that came with it. Only issue I can see is a bit of surface rust on the inside of the barrel at the bottom.

Anyway, read most of this monster thread and thanks to all the expertise in here I feel OK about the process. Planning to fire it up tomorrow. Being from NC, it only seems right to make some bbq so I'm going to christen her with a pork butt. Shoulder seems to be pretty forgiving so Im hoping to achieve a decent meal. Open to any tips and I'll let you guys know how it turns out.
 
pocketflask said:
Hi guys. Was fortunate to score a never used PBC from a retired gentleman who received it as a gift from his son in November of last year. He said, and I quote, "I have no idea why he gave it to me. I have no interest in smoking meat". Full setup including cover and ash pan for $175. He even had the 2 bags of rubs that came with it. Only issue I can see is a bit of surface rust on the inside of the barrel at the bottom.

Anyway, read most of this monster thread and thanks to all the expertise in here I feel OK about the process. Planning to fire it up tomorrow. Being from NC, it only seems right to make some bbq so I'm going to christen her with a pork butt. Shoulder seems to be pretty forgiving so Im hoping to achieve a decent meal. Open to any tips and I'll let you guys know how it turns out.
Click to expand...

Welcome! And nice score on the (not so) used PBC!

We usually recommend that you cook your first cook pretty much like you'll find in the PBC cook videos. That means take the butt to 165ish then wrap in foil until probe tender. One thing I'll add is once the butt is probe tender take it out, slightly unwrap it and basically "tent" it for about 15 min. Then re wrap and put in a cooler with a towel or two for at least an hour.
I like Ployboys Yardbird rub on butts but I bet you have some good rubs in NC.....

Good luck!
 
Congrats and welcome!

Funny enough I scored my v1 PBC for $175 BNIB from an older gentleman saying "This was gifted to our church. It's beyond me and I have no idea what to do with it." Rest is history. Great cooker and loads of fun.
 
AClarke44 said:
Welcome! And nice score on the (not so) used PBC!

We usually recommend that you cook your first cook pretty much like you'll find in the PBC cook videos. That means take the butt to 165ish then wrap in foil until probe tender. One thing I'll add is once the butt is probe tender take it out, slightly unwrap it and basically "tent" it for about 15 min. Then re wrap and put in a cooler with a towel or two for at least an hour.
I like Ployboys Yardbird rub on butts but I bet you have some good rubs in NC.....

Good luck!
Click to expand...

Thanks Andrew. Your advice in the thread has been great. I am sticking closely to PBC instructions with the only real deviations being a couple of your tips. I didn't time my Chimney coals but instead went with the look test based on your startup pic. I also lit 38 coals instead of 40. I couldn't resist monitoring temp and it seems to have settled in at 268. I also didn't put the meat on right after dumping the Chimney but waited a few minutes for clean wisps of smoke and for the temps to drop a bit.

Absolutely planning to wrap and it will need to rest in a cooler a couple hours at least to hold until dinnertime.

I'll let you guys know how it turns out. Humid here today so interested to see if that has any effect on time and temp.

Thanks again for all the expertise!
 
ssv3 said:
Congrats and welcome!

Funny enough I scored my v1 PBC for $175 BNIB from an older gentleman saying "This was gifted to our church. It's beyond me and I have no idea what to do with it." Rest is history. Great cooker and loads of fun.
Click to expand...

Nothing like feeling like you got a deal. Enjoyed all your info and pictures in this thread. To say you produce some beautiful food would be an understatement. Thanks for the warm welcome.
 
Last edited:
440 pages wow!

I can tell y'all definitely like the PBC. So when it comes to smokers I always like trying new cooker types. I currently have a couple WSMs and several kettles, a Cookshack pellet smoker, an Akorn and a Shirley Fab stick burner. I've looked at UDS cookers before, but I'm just not a projects guy to go and build one no matter how easy it may be. I remember seeing the PBCs when they first came out and was intrigued, but never picked one up. Someone in my area is selling one that's only be used a few times for $200 so it got me curious again. Amongst my current cookers the PBC seems to most closely match the WSM, but I know that's likely in shape only. So what kind of differences do you see in cooking on a PBC versus my current smokers? I'm trying to decide if I should pick this up or add the $200 to my "gravity fed smoker or Shirley trailer" fund.
 
AZRaptor said:
440 pages wow!

I can tell y'all definitely like the PBC. So when it comes to smokers I always like trying new cooker types. I currently have a couple WSMs and several kettles, a Cookshack pellet smoker, an Akorn and a Shirley Fab stick burner. I've looked at UDS cookers before, but I'm just not a projects guy to go and build one no matter how easy it may be. I remember seeing the PBCs when they first came out and was intrigued, but never picked one up. Someone in my area is selling one that's only be used a few times for $200 so it got me curious again. Amongst my current cookers the PBC seems to most closely match the WSM, but I know that's likely in shape only. So what kind of differences do you see in cooking on a PBC versus my current smokers? I'm trying to decide if I should pick this up or add the $200 to my "gravity fed smoker or Shirley trailer" fund.
Click to expand...

16Adams is better to answer this but he describes the flavor differences as PBC = Amazing Brazillian BBQ style flavor. WSM = Great smokehouse flavor. Of course you can pretty much replicate either cooker with the other.

Edit: Gotta be honest since you are looking to get a big expensive smoker (get a Shirley BTW!)....you can buy a hanging rack from Amazon and cook in your wsm like it's s PBC. Just buy the meat hangers from PBC website...they are the best!
 
So the butt cook went well. Meat had good bark, flavor and was moist. The cook was a bit strange. Temps fell to about 220 or so 4 hours in. I cracked the lid to get temp up which worked fine. Took 6 hours or so to get to 165. I pulled and wrapped and put back on. Took about 8 hours in all which is longer than I expected for a 7.5 lb butt. I've got some pics but not quite sure how to load them up.

Alls well that ends well though and I was pleased with the Q. Looking forward to tweaking the temp process a bit but pleased overall with the PBC.
 
pocketflask said:
So the butt cook went well. Meat had good bark, flavor and was moist. The cook was a bit strange. Temps fell to about 220 or so 4 hours in. I cracked the lid to get temp up which worked fine. Took 6 hours or so to get to 165. I pulled and wrapped and put back on. Took about 8 hours in all which is longer than I expected for a 7.5 lb butt. I've got some pics but not quite sure how to load them up.

Alls well that ends well though and I was pleased with the Q. Looking forward to tweaking the temp process a bit but pleased overall with the PBC.
Click to expand...

As I understand it 8hrs is right at the hairy edge of cook times for a load of charcoal in the PBC. What do you do if you aren't done with your cook yet?
 
AZRaptor said:
As I understand it 8hrs is right at the hairy edge of cook times for a load of charcoal in the PBC. What do you do if you aren't done with your cook yet?
Click to expand...

You should be able to get closer to 11 hrs. But your options would be as stated above....add more coal or finish in the oven.

But if everything goes as planned the PBC should be cooking at 275° - 325°. At those temps you will rarely need more than 7-8 hrs to cook just about anything...
 
My employer gave us tomorrow as holiday, which is very nice. I love 4-day weekends! Have family coming over for dinner in the late afternoon and will probably eat around 7 pm. Gonna cook two 6 lb butts. Will be starting them around 8 am, as the last time I did 2 butts it took about 8 hours. Hope to have them rest in a cooler for several hours. The wife is actually working until 2 pm tomorrow so I will have some alone time. My question is what time should I start drinking beer?
 
Bob C Cue said:
My employer gave us tomorrow as holiday, which is very nice. I love 4-day weekends! Have family coming over for dinner in the late afternoon and will probably eat around 7 pm. Gonna cook two 6 lb butts. Will be starting them around 8 am, as the last time I did 2 butts it took about 8 hours. Hope to have them rest in a cooler for several hours. The wife is actually working until 2 pm tomorrow so I will have some alone time. My question is what time should I start drinking beer?
Click to expand...

It's 5 O'clock somewhere! :thumb:
 
AClarke44 said:
It's 5 O'clock somewhere! :thumb:
Click to expand...

5-oclock-beer.jpg
 
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