Pit Barrel Cooker slow to come to temp

[razor488]

I am currently in the middle of my first cook with the PBC and it took forever to come up to temp (260F). I filled the basket full of B&B Oak Briquettes and then removed some to fill up the chimney. I lit the PBC chimney per the instructions on their site and let the starter cube go for 12 minutes. I then poured the coals into the basket. I attached a flame boss temp probe to one of the pieces of rebar and it took about 80 minutes before the grill reached 250 (slowly climbing from 140). The PBC eventually stabilized at 250-260 but now I am an hour behind schedule.

Do I need to let the chimney go longer next time or what am I doing wrong?

 

[mrmerck]

I`m don`t own a PBC but have a Barrel House Cooker which I think is very similar. My suggestion might be to give it a little more air through the vent system.

 

[millerbuilds]

I am currently in the middle of my first cook with the PBC and it took forever to come up to temp (260F). I filled the basket full of B&B Oak Briquettes and then removed some to fill up the chimney. I lit the PBC chimney per the instructions on their site and let the starter cube go for 12 minutes. I then poured the coals into the basket. I attached a flame boss temp probe to one of the pieces of rebar and it took about 80 minutes before the grill reached 250 (slowly climbing from 140). The PBC eventually stabilized at 250-260 but now I am an hour behind schedule.

Do I need to let the chimney go longer next time or what am I doing wrong?

I know you posted this two months ago, but if you are still having issues please let me know. I use my PBC on a weekly basis and have never had it take that long to come to temp. Did you set your intake air to the correct setting based upon your elevation? I am at 500' in elevation and mine is set at 25% open and it cooks right at 295-305 degrees.

Smoke ON!

- Jason

 

[razor488]

Hey Jason,

Thank you for the response.

On my last cook, I used Royal Oak Classic briquettes (a yellow bag that says "classic" on it). I started the PBC per the instructions except I let the chimney go for 15 minutes - it was sufficiently lit. I had the bottom vent 25% open since I am in the Dallas/Fort Worth area.

It was slow to come to temp so I cracked the lid. Once it got to 290 I would close the lid and the PBC would slowly fall all the way below 250. I ended up opening the bottom vent 100% and only then would the PBC stabilize at 280 degrees.

On my next cook, I plan to use Royal Oak All Natural briquettes and see if I have a different result.

I guess it doesn't make a difference to have the bottom vent completely open as long as the temp is ok? Any thoughts?

Thank you

 

[millerbuilds]

Hey Jason,

Thank you for the response.

On my last cook, I used Royal Oak Classic briquettes (a yellow bag that says "classic" on it). I started the PBC per the instructions except I let the chimney go for 15 minutes - it was sufficiently lit. I had the bottom vent 25% open since I am in the Dallas/Fort Worth area.

It was slow to come to temp so I cracked the lid. Once it got to 290 I would close the lid and the PBC would slowly fall all the way below 250. I ended up opening the bottom vent 100% and only then would the PBC stabilize at 280 degrees.

On my next cook, I plan to use Royal Oak All Natural briquettes and see if I have a different result.

I guess it doesn't make a difference to have the bottom vent completely open as long as the temp is ok? Any thoughts?

Thank you

That is odd. I am in DFW as well and have never had to open my vent more than 25%. I light the charcoal chimney and let it go until the top coals start to turn white. I dump the hot coals on top of the 75% full charcoal basket (Creating the minion method) and it holds steady at 290. I just started it 10 minutes ago... I have used lump charcoal, but found that Kingsford works best (every year Lowe's runs a sale for 2 20lb bags for $9.99).

You are letting the charcoal in your turn white in your chimney before pouring it on to the cold charcoal correct?

 

[razor488]

After 15 minutes the coals at the very top of the chimney are not yet white but the goals underneath the top layer are. Maybe I should let it go for 18 minutes?

 

[millerbuilds]

After 15 minutes the coals at the very top of the chimney are not yet white but the goals underneath the top layer are. Maybe I should let it go for 18 minutes?

I don't look at a clock. How fast they get burning depends on many things (type of charcoal, what you are using to light it, temp outside, humidity, etc...) I always let mine go until the top pieces of charcoal are mostly white. I then pour the charcoal into the center of the basket loaded with cold charcoal.

Hope that helps!

- Jason

 

[millerbuilds]

Razor,
Here are some pictures for me firing mine up.

Loaded Charcoal bin (small load as I only need a 1 hour cook time)

Loaded chimney

Lit Chimney (I use scrap paper bags with a little vegetable oil)

Coals ready to be added to the PBC

Damper position

Hopefully these help!

Smoke ON!

- Jason

 

[razor488]

Cool thank you! I don't think I am letting my chimney go long enough.

 

[razor488]

So I did a dry run and let the coals in the chimney look like yours. It took about 20-25 minutes in the chimney but the temp in the barrel immediately went up to 280 and stabilized so THANK YOU for your help!

I did not fill up the basket 100% since I wasn't cooking anything, but I wish I had to see how long the temp would have maintained. My temp began to drop off after about 3-4 hours, but like I said I probably only filled it 80% full. How much time are you getting out of your cooks with a full charcoal load?

Edit - it appears some of the coals in the basket did not light

 

[millerbuilds]

So I did a dry run and let the coals in the chimney look like yours. It took about 20-25 minutes in the chimney but the temp in the barrel immediately went up to 280 and stabilized so THANK YOU for your help!

I did not fill up the basket 100% since I wasn't cooking anything, but I wish I had to see how long the temp would have maintained. My temp began to drop off after about 3-4 hours, but like I said I probably only filled it 80% full. How much time are you getting out of your cooks with a full charcoal load?

Edit - it appears some of the coals in the basket did not light

Glad it worked better!
I easily get 6-8 hours cooking time with a full basket. Make sure when you dump in your coals that you distribute them evenly, every so often I will get 3-4 that do not burn, I leave them in for the next cook. Yours may not have lit, because the basket was not full and they were not against a hot coal.

Did you try and cook something on it yet?

Smoke ON!
- Jason

 

[daveomak]

From reading your description of lighting it...... Your exhaust is not big enough if you have to open the lid....

 

[millerbuilds]

From reading your description of lighting it...... Your exhaust is not big enough if you have to open the lid....

Dave,
The PBC does not have a traditional exhaust, it uses the hole that the rods for hanging meat on hang from. You only control the inlet, which you set to your elevation. It is a pretty sweet set up and I know Jeff just wrote an article on cooking ribs in one.

- Jason

 

[daveomak]

Dave,
The PBC does not have a traditional exhaust, it uses the hole that the rods for hanging meat on hang from. You only control the inlet, which you set to your elevation. It is a pretty sweet set up and I know Jeff just wrote an article on cooking ribs in one.

- Jason

Wow, I didn't know that... Thanks for the lesson.. Well, I'd put some exhaust in it so it would work correctly...

 

[razor488]

Glad it worked better!
I easily get 6-8 hours cooking time with a full basket. Make sure when you dump in your coals that you distribute them evenly, every so often I will get 3-4 that do not burn, I leave them in for the next cook. Yours may not have lit, because the basket was not full and they were not against a hot coal.

Did you try and cook something on it yet?

Smoke ON!
- Jason

Yesterday I cooked some ribs and after letting the top layer of coals in the chimney turn white, I really didn't have any temp problems at all. It did fall down to 250 or so a couple of hours in so I cracked the lid to get it back up to 270+, but it was nothing like the issues I was having before. Your pictures really helped - thank you!