the thrill of the hunt

[smoke ninja]

there have been alot of clearance deals posted lately. I haven't found anything of interest until today. this morning brickseek showed a barrel house cooker for $90. it was Walmart 10 miles from home, listed as limited stock.

made my way to the store and headed to the back corner where out of season stock is held. there was plenty of yellow tagged merchandise from utensils to grill covers. I made a pass and didn't see the bhc. I doubled back to see one left. the box looked good. no sign of damage or having been open. it was marked $140. determined I flagged an associate to scan the box.....................

............$90. yes! I clumsily loaded the oversized box on top of my cart stopping down the grocery aisle to wedge a yard bird in the buggy. I exited the store trophy in tow with a victorious grin on my face.

assembly was easy, quality was mediocre at best but worth the price.



I removed the backbone and split the chicken in half. each half was lightly slathered with mayo and rubbed with oakridge chicken and game bird before double hooking them.





he fire basket feels small, I filled it with a little weber briquettes and topped it of with some lump and a few pecan chunks. I lit the basket off with 2 starter cubes and assembled the cooker after 20 minutes. I let it settle in for 30 minutes before hanging the two halves.





the cook took just over 1.5 hrs. the bird had great color and I like the oakridge flavor. I consider myself a pretty good chicken cook and the bhc produced chicken as good as I can with other cookers. I let the barrel house run out its fuel load. with an unexpected 4 inch snow storm it managed to run at cooking temps for 5 hrs. I could have load an hour or more of fuel precook. adding another chimney of lit charcoal would be easy, the main cooker lifts off the base similar to a wsm.

over I'm happy with it after my first cook. it ran with zero adjustments and one stir of the coals. I think I may take it up to moms to use when I visit as I dont really need another cooker at home

 

[Titch]

Could you show me the air/fuel control if you gets the chance please

 

[pjtexas1]

What didn't you like about the quality?

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[Titch]

Thanks
All control from inlet I assume(seems we are getting a clone down here)
Does your elevation really make that big a difference?

 

[Czarbecue]

So the bottom intake is like a Hunsaker? Have to leave it open when running ?

 

[IamMadMan]

Awesome deal and awesome chicken.....

 

[16Adams]

When I was using my PBC every third cook it seems those leftover coals and cook time were used. Have a quick meatloaf or meatloaf cupcakes ready to sit on the grate. While you eat clean the tables and wash dishes your still cooking some kick arse food. I’ve still not used my BHC. I meandered thru a BBQ store the other day for some Mild Bills chili powder. The PBC display was giving me the eye. I did lift the lid on a Hunsaker. What a beast.

Barrels are cool Cookers. Chicken looks perfect

 

[16Adams]

So the bottom intake is like a Hunsaker? Have to leave it open when running ?

It has slide dot read out adjustments

 

[Mikhail]

Well now, Brickseek says I have a few of those locally. Good thing My Favorite Redhead is out of town..

So you think it is a pretty decent barrel cooker?

 

[pjtexas1]

Thanks

All control from inlet I assume(seems we are getting a clone down here)

Does your elevation really make that big a difference?

I only have 1 elevation to test with but temp stayed exactly where it stated for my elevation.

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[pjtexas1]

So the bottom intake is like a Hunsaker? Have to leave it open when running ?

Not wide open. I think it would draw enough air thru the 4 exhaust holes to run low and slow if you closed the exhaust. I used tiny foil balls to block exhaust or it would have never shut down until it ran out of coals.

I think with the porcelain coating it's well worth $45-$90 we are seeing them at. I never would have paid full retail because i would have just got a pbc.

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[16Adams]

I was patiently waiting the PBC Jr to go on sale when the BHC happened. Impulse. Also for those wanting to build- Hunsaker sells a UDS-Clone Kit.

As to comparing a PBC to BHC In my opinion it would be better to compare a BHC to a UDS. No way could you home make a Barrel Cooker this nice for $45. BHC is definitely worth the closeout price of $45 that I paid. What’s haunting me is the 69$ Oklahoma Joe Highlander and the 4.50 bags of B&B Lump an hour away.

I’ll say it again. Nothing screams BBQ like an offset burping blue. Freakin ceramic pos patio chimneys are a C-Note. Even if the OKJ was used as a hickory smoke chiminea it’s a solid 69$ buy.

I’m not sure when my first BHC cook will occur. For now it’s sits covered.

 

[LordRiffenstein]

Dang that chicken looks amazing. And congrats on a new cooker!

 

[smoke ninja]

What didn't you like about the quality?

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Ok, mediocre at best is a bit of a hyperbole. I'm comparing it to the other well known 18 inch vertical charcoal smokers at the same retail price point. I have first hand experience with the 18 wsm and its not up to the quality of Weber. I haven cooked on a pit barrel cooker but seen one in the store and fit and finish seemed better on that one also. There were a few scratches, one on the bottom and some on top of the rolled upper lip where the enamel ends. The transition from porcelain to raw metal isn't very clean and I feel it will be prone to chipping. No washers for lid handle and I feel it should be rotated 90° to make hanging the lid easier. The lid has a few imperfections also, looks almost hammered in a spot or 2. Its decent but at $300 I would have been unhappy. $90 is a great price, $40 is bargain. I'd spend at least $90 trying to build anything close myself and that's without the porcelain coating.

Well now, Brickseek says I have a few of those locally. Good thing My Favorite Redhead is out of town..

So you think it is a pretty decent barrel cooker?

Yes, as stated above its at least $90 in parts. Good capacity and easy to use.

 

[pjtexas1]

Are we talking about washers on the inside or outside? Mine was the floor model and it has washers on the inside of the barrel.

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[smoke ninja]

Review

Ok I'll give my barrel house cooker review here. Remember this is only after one test so my experience is limited.

The first thing I noticed after an easy assembly was the 4 feet create a stable but not quite sturdy base. If it's on an uneven surface it will rock some. 2nd thing I noticed was the size of the fire basket. It is small. Says 6 hour runtime and I'd say that's about right but the barrel lifts off the base making the addition of a lit chimney of charcoal easy.

I read the instructions manual once and then used it to light my first loaded charcoal basket. It suggests briquettes but I mixed in some lump and pecan. It burned well, the chicken had a nice clean smoke profile.

It took 20 minutes to get the fire burning good and another 30 to get clean exhaust. I'd plan on 1 hour setup time from lighting off to cooking.

The lid therm will read lower than cook temp according to the book, well I think it did......where did I put that thing anyway? I setup the smoke to double check the readings for the first cook. Things were reading almost 400 to start. After hanging the bird the reading was 350. The temp dropped slowly during the whole cook until I stirred the coals a few hours in. That raised it back up some. After 5 hours it was out of steam and under 250. I'm not sure if a butt or brisket would have finished on that one basket but I think it would. If not it would be easy to add chimney to finish up.

I have never used a PBC but am familiar with the design. The barrel house should be able to do everything it does and more. The bhc has multiple configurations. You can grill by placing the grate directly on the fire basket in the same manner as a wsm. You can also use the grate low or high in the barrel or use the hanging grate in the middle position to hold the basket and grill on the grate in the upper position. The grates fit in nicely to the grooves in the barrel with nothing to get hung up on. Of course it's truly designed to hang food but these multiple configurations make it more versatile out of the box than the wsm or pbc.

The intake works well and improves on the PBC inability to close. The exhaust consists of 4 holes so magnets or foil balls are needed to shutdown and save the leftover fuel. The removable barrel makes clean up easy and eliminates having to drop a hot basket into the cook chamber.

The lid needs some pressure to seat well. I feel the handle is oriented the wrong way making hanging the lid awkward. There does not seem to be much room from the upper grate position to the lid.

I wish there was a place to stash the grate or ring when not in use and a place for the removal tool. After market hooks are the first mod in order and the only one I see needing aside from maybe a better charcoal basket and maybe wheels.

All in all it's a good cooker. Very versatile, more so than the competition is out of the box. I was hoping this would be my travel smoker. Its probably a bit big for that. The removal tool works well but feels cheap and like an after thought.

This thing seems to be an improvement on the pbc in every way. At least in terms of innovation. I'm not sure if these improvements were meant for a new PBC model before barrel house and pit barrel parted ways.

Advantages as I see them

Removable base for easier lighting, reloading and cleanup.
Better control over intake
More cooking configurations.
Cool touch handles

 

[16Adams]

Are we talking about washers on the inside or outside? Mine was the floor model and it has washers on the inside of the barrel.

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Yes extra washers on outside to protect porcelain finish at stress point. Also two bolts are slightly longer and are meant for the lid handle. I probably missed that as well

 

[Mikhail]

The OKJ Highlanders are $139 near me. Still a great deal, but I think I would prefer the barrel. Less real estate taken up, and I already have the Open Range.

 

[dadsr4]

And, again, it's 30 miles to the nearest Walmart stocking these things. Supposedly.

Akorn-$139.00
BHC-$89.00 and "Limited Stock". It was none in stock two days ago.
And I just found 55 gal barrels for $20.00. I think I have everything else on hand to build a UDS, which would count as fun.
First world problems.

 

[smoke ninja]

And, again, it's 30 miles to the nearest Walmart stocking these things. Supposedly.

Akorn-$139.00
BHC-$89.00 and "Limited Stock". It was none in stock two days ago.
And I just found 55 gal barrels for $20.00. I think I have everything else on hand to build a UDS, which would count as fun.
First world problems.

There's still "limited stock" (meaning maybe one) listed close enough to me. I have nothing but time these days. If you want I can pick it up make a short road trip, I'm sure theres a brewery close by to justify the drive