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

[Smokin Okie]

Just took the birds out of the brine. Been in four hours. Meat Church Bird Baptism brine takes them over the top. They'll be juicy goodness. Seasoned with Kosmos Dirty Bird. They're in the fridge. Gonna fire up the PBX in about 45 minutes.

 

[Smokin Okie]

 

[Smokin Okie]

30 minute turn

 

[Smokin Okie]

It was a crazy cook. I've got years of experience with stick burners, gravity feeds, and most of all , a WSM.

But this dam thing acts crazy.

I panicked all the way through this cook. It started out great, but then the temp dropped, I got worried , and it stabilized lower than my target temp. So I opened it up some more and then I began worrying about having enough charcoal to get through a two hour cook.

Then at the end it gained temp...................... WTF ???

Chicken was good though.

Next time, I put a chimney of UNLIT charcoal in the basket, then put a chimney of LIT coals on top, and hope it reaches 325* and holds.

 

[912smoker]

No advice for the temp control but the birds look good!

Keith

 

[Smokin Okie]

Looking at it now, the real puzzling part was the last time I opened it up to check temp. When I closed it up again, I got the highest temp of the cook and that was with the lid closed. Before that, I'd barely got it back up to 300 with the lid cracked open.

I got a lot to learn about temps in this cooker. Running the Minion Method is not a problem. But my target temp for this cook was 325.

Here's my last chicken cook on the WSM , it held temp much better. I ran it wide open and did not have to make any adjustments.

 

[Smokin Okie]

My rib cook last week was with Minion Method, which is recommended by Pit Barrel. I filled charcoal basket with unlit, pulled out 25 coals, got them full lit and put them back in.

That cook ran hotter than a full chimney of lit coals.

Yesterday, before the cook, I was worried about it running too hot. Did not know how I was gonna cool it down if it got up near 400.

I'm totally surprised.

Here's my rib cook last week, these temps would've made a good chicken cook.