Pit Barrel Cooker, PBX, on sale at Academy, $150.

[Smokin Okie]

Although, Meathead says this , I don't quite get it .......... when I'm direct heat cooking with my WSM, and I take the lid off, the chunks burst into flame. So why would they not do that in the PBX ?

If you want to high temp grilling foods like wings, sausages, fish, steaks, etc., place the grill grate on the supports, add the food, and begin your cook, lid off to increase airflow and thus temp.

 

[chopsaw]

I checked the Academy by me , and they were gone . I bet you're gonna like it .

Maybe get some SS nuts , bolts and washers .
Figure the distance you want from the top . Get a 1X and drill the hole in it . Hold the one end flush to the top and drill the location . Then do the same around the drum . Helps keep the holes close . Trying to measure and mark upside down is a PITA .

 

[Smokin Okie]

I checked the Academy by me , and they were gone . I bet you're gonna like it .

Maybe get some SS nuts , bolts and washers .
Figure the distance you want from the top . Get a 1X and drill the hole in it . Hold the one end flush to the top and drill the location . Then do the same around the drum . Helps keep the holes close . Trying to measure and mark upside down is a PITA .

Yes , thanks, that was bothering me.

 

[Gonna Smoke]

Out of stock here. Even shipping says out of stock. Thank goodness! LoL

Same here...

 

[Smokin Okie]

That's normal . I do the same .

This may or may not help . Something I was messing with for my kettles . Might be an idea there somewhere , but adding extra supports would be way cheaper .
View attachment 705305
I really wanted it to raise the fire for grilling steaks . Needed to be shorter .
View attachment 705304
Then maybe a greater distance from the heat source . Never really panned out .
View attachment 705306

I have a couple of the bread warmers that came with my Kettles. One of those on each side supporting a cooking grate might work on you Kettle.

 

[Smokin Okie]

I plan on using this PBX as a direct heat cooker. I don't see any diff between the PBX and the Chud Box at $2,000


Chud Box


Or the Hasty Bake Roughneck at $1,000

Hasty Bake Roughneck


I've never been to Snows BBQ in Texas. Its always made the Texas Monthly top 10 list of Texas joints. And people rave about the chicken. The pitmaster Tootsie cooks on old direct heat pits, and she mops the birds .

And I've got this vid set to start with a description of their direct heat pits

 

[Smokin Okie]

I made my first improvement to the PBX. Its pretty heavy. I can lift that much weight but the problem is its bulky. Having to reach around to the handles gets my arms extended and its hell on my old bad back.

So I bought a barrel roller from Amazon. This did the trick. $40 . Good sized casters and two of them lock.

Vevor 55 gallon barrel roller

 

[chopsaw]

barrel roller

Nice . Only way to fly . When I added wheels to my WSM , I put an eyelet on one of the legs , and have a 1/4 " rod with a hook bent in one end . That way I can move it around ( pulling ) from the bottom instead of pushing on the top . Helps to keep it stable .

 

[Smokin Okie]

This roller is stable. I've rolled it all around the patio trying it out. These casters extend to the outside of the barrel. Its pretty wide.

I can see where stability would be a problem on my 18" WSM.

 

[912smoker]

Just snagged one 3 hrs away but I'll be heading thru there of Friday going to see the new granddaughter.
I'll be ready up this week and first cook will be for them!

Keith

 

[Smokin Okie]

Just snagged one 3 hrs away but I'll be heading thru there of Friday going to see the new granddaughter.
I'll be ready up this week and first cook will be for them!

Keith

I've yet to cook on mine. Mrs Okie has been on a two week quilting camp and I need someone to help me eat whatever I cook.

 

[Smokin Okie]

Just snagged one 3 hrs away but I'll be heading thru there of Friday going to see the new granddaughter.
I'll be ready up this week and first cook will be for them!

Keith

I bought this barrell roller from Amazon to move this cooker around.

Its heavy, not too heavy to lift, but its bulky. I had to extend my arms around it to reach the handles and when I do that, I lose leverage with my legs. Its all arms and back.

This appears to be an answer.

Barrel Roller

 

[912smoker]

I bought this barrell roller from Amazon to move this cooker around.

Its heavy, not too heavy to lift, but its bulky. I had to extend my arms around it to reach the handles and when I do that, I lose leverage with my legs. Its all arms and back.

This appears to be an answer.

Barrel Roller



View attachment 706164

Great idea and that will definitely be added!

Keith

 

[Smokin Okie]

An oldie, somewhat .............. 9 slabs of baby backs on the PBC . Some got a bit crusty, down by the coals. Wish he'd gone into detail about his coal bed and chunks .

 

[Smokin Okie]

First cook on my PBX. Even though I bought this for chicken, I went with ribs cause it seems to be the most common meats to hang on these cookers.

I got three racks of whole spares and trimmed them to St Louis. Seasoned with Kosmos Dirty Bird for salty savory and Honey Chipotle Killer Bee to add some sweet.

I ran it Minion Method. Lit 25 B&B coals in a Weber Jr Chimney and dropped them into the middle of the basket. Same thing I do on the WSM. I put in four " skinny " 8" splits of pecan.

Then I just let it run. Did not try to adjust the air, either intake or output. It ran up over 350 for about the first hour, then after I opened to rotate the ribs, it settled into about 315.

I ran it for three hours and the ribs were done. Might've gone a little too far. From another forum, I'd learned to double hook the meats, and that paid off to keep me from making a newby mistake, as the hook pulled out of two racks. The first was out at 2 hours, and I did not try to rehook, I just wrapped it and put it in the kitchen oven. The other was at the end of the cook.

The end result was ribs that are darker than what I cook on the offset or the GF. But they were dayuum good. They had a different flavor, no doubt. The edges were more " crispy " . The fat was more rendered.

The bottom of the racks near the coals, did get scorched. But I'm not mad about that, as those end bones were crispy good. Think pork fat, that's a bit burned, like on a pork chop or a pork steak. Delicious.

I don't have a lot of pics, as first time on a new smoker, I had a lot on my mind other than taking pics.

Here , ya can see my splits of pecan, on all four sides

This was the rack that I wrapped after 2 hours. Scorch on the bottom is evident.

These two spent 3 hours on the smoker

The autopsy of the cook. I was pleased with how even the coals burned, with maybe a little more burning toward the bottom air vent.

And it did not burn a lot of coals.

All of my splits completely burned up.

 

[Smokin Okie]

Pic of the double hook method from Amazing Ribs, who btw, have a great sub forum dedicated to the Pit Barrel Cooker. I think its something like 180 pages long, been added to for over 10 years. Yes, its behind a paywall but its only $30 a year, or $2.50 a month. Worth it....... it is.

 

[Smokin Okie]

Lowered that useless top grate position today. The odds are very low I buy any accessories for this cooker.

Its now setting approx 18" above the coal bed. The factory bottom position is approx 12" above the coal bed.

 

[912smoker]

I like that idea. Only accessory I want is the hinged grate.

Keith

 

[Smokin Okie]

I like that idea. Only accessory I want is the hinged grate.

Keith

That hinged grate would be good for adding baked potatos or some beans or some side while hanging meats.

I'm getting the PBX ready for a chicken cook today using the grate.

I took out the charcoal basket and the foil I put in the bottom for my rib cook, and found I did not get complete coverage. Its not easy bending over into it, to reach the bottom. But with some Simple Green and a 6" putty knife, it came up pretty easy.

On my WSM, I used 1 and 1/2 chimney of full lit charcoal to hot and fast chicken. I'm gonna do that today, but I'm concerned it will get too hot and I'll be scrambling to find a way to shut it down.

 

[Smokin Okie]

I like that idea. Only accessory I want is the hinged grate.

Keith

I was looking at the ash pan also. So I searched the Amazing Rib forum. And as I suspected, even with the ash pan ya need to put down foil. So I decided against.

This is the post that swayed me

About the ash catcher for the PBC: many people like it. I don't because when I smoke briskets or pork butts, the fat often runs off the edge of the ash catcher and pools underneath. What a mess. Instead, lining the bottom of the barrel first with 2 layers of heavy duty aluminum foil gives you a 1 minute cleanup. Just fold up the ash and grease in the foil and toss. Also, since ash is corrosive, it's probably best to remove it as quickly as possible. I've had my PBC for over 8 years and the bottom shows no signs of corrosion. FWIW, some here have reported a lot of damage to the bottom of their PBC barrels from neglecting to remove ash for long periods of time.