Thanks, Thingfish!
Sooo, I did my first cook on the PBC yesterday. What a revelation! For 15+ years I've used a WSM and have enjoyed it, but it's gotten a little long in the tooth. It's not quite as tight as it was, though it still works well. And as for getting long in the tooth, I'm at an age and physical condition where the attention that the WSM needs is sometimes bothersome.
On the PBC I did 2 slabs of St. Louis spares, a couple of split fryers and some brats. I am not exaggerating when I say that the ribs were the absolute best I have ever done.
*This* was the texture I had been after for ages and had never been able to achieve with the WSM. Probably because I was wedded to the bbq-has-to-be-low-and-slow school. I always seemed to overshoot with ribs. Brisket and chicken were always good. And the ribs were good, but I really hate falling-off-the-bone ribs.
I followed the setup instructions and hung 2 racks of ribs with a couple of chunks of cherry and some pecan chips scattered throughout the coals. 2 hours later I hung 2 split fryers. The ribs were perfectly done at hour 3, so I pulled them. Decided not to sauce as I wanted the "nekkid" flavor to judge by. Chickens stayed on for another hour, though they could have come off a bit sooner, I think. However, they were very tender, moist and flavorful. Brats got hung in an improvised basket for an hour or so.
Temps cruised along between around 280, with occasional forays up to 300, but were pretty darned steady. One thing I did experience was nearing the end of the cook was dropping temperatures. I cracked the lid a tiny bit, which rapidly brought the temp back up, but I had to do this periodically, as they would eventually start falling again. When I looked into the barrel, I could see that the primary heat activity was near the vent. briquettes on the opposite side of the coal basket looked as though they hadn't even really been touched! So I'll have to figure out what's going on there. I couldn't tell last night, but this evening I'll look and see if there are a bunch of unburned briquettes in there.
Anyway, I am sold on this thing. I love it and we'll be spending lots of quality time together this summer!