First PBC cook

[Master MC]

My first post.
Just got my new PBC on Thursday and could not wait until today to fire her up on her maiden voyage.
I got the kingsford, two baby back ribs and a whole chicken.  Prepped everything and left it overnight in the fridge.
Started her up about 1:15, waited 12 minutes for the charcoal to light up.  Then hung the ribs.
2 hours later I hung the two chicken halves. 
2 hours later I slathered the ribs with some Baby Rays and put them back on.
Pulled everything after 30 minutes.

While it all came out great, the chicken breasts needed 3 minutes in the microwave to hit 165, they just wouldn't get any higher than 155 in the PBC.  Not sure what the deal is, but I can try some suggestions next time.

Pictures attached.

Cheers,
  Paul

[attachments deleted after 6 months]

[Kona]

I've never had an issue hitting temp on chicken or any meat for that matter. When you pulled your ribs, you could always get the heat cranked up higher by either cracking the lid or removing a rebar if it's free

[HighOnSmoke]

Tasty looking first PBC cook.

[smokeasaurus]

Great looking ribs.

When we do chicken, I use one rebar diagonally leaving two holes open. Really cranks up the heat more.

[Smokin Papa Steve]

My first post.
Just got my new PBC on Thursday and could not wait until today to fire her up on her maiden voyage.
I got the kingsford, two baby back ribs and a whole chicken.  Prepped everything and left it overnight in the fridge.
Started her up about 1:15, waited 12 minutes for the charcoal to light up.  Then hung the ribs.
2 hours later I hung the two chicken halves. 
2 hours later I slathered the ribs with some Baby Rays and put them back on.
Pulled everything after 30 minutes.

While it all came out great, the chicken breasts needed 3 minutes in the microwave to hit 165, they just wouldn't get any higher than 155 in the PBC.  Not sure what the deal is, but I can try some suggestions next time.

Pictures attached.

Cheers,
  Paul

Theoretically you can cook as many pcs of protein as you can fit in the PBC.  But in actuality this is difficult to achieve.  Ribs cook at about 250F while chicken, having little fat, cooks around 300F.  So if you are doing both at the same time there is a temp conflict.  I personally would not want chicken "grease smoke" on my ribs.  In fact we do not enjoy the way PBC chicken turns out and I now grill chicken on my PK Grill instead. To answer your question about not being able to cook your chicken to 165F, perhaps the chicken drippings were just not evaporating fast enough to keep the coals going full strength - make sure you trim all the excess fat which may help.  If you view the videos you will never see the pit temp being monitored.  I always monitor mine so see what is going on.  All the good advice you will see here is based on experience so feel free to experiment to see what works best for you and have fun which is what this is all about, at least to me. And your food looks great!

[Pappymn]

Great looking results

[Smokin Don]

Welcome and it looks like you did great on your first PBC cook!!! Don

[tomcrete1]

Looks great to me! 

[muebe]

Outstanding!

Next ice just pull the ribs and crack the lid to raise the temp to finish the chicken.

Just keep an eye on it cause it will get real hot real fast!

[Groovedigger Dan]

While it all came out great, the chicken breasts needed 3 minutes in the microwave to hit 165, they just wouldn't get any higher than 155 in the PBC.  Not sure what the deal is, but I can try some suggestions next time.

I've got 6 cooks under my belt now, 3 with chicken and have experienced that "chicken stall" as well.  My experience so far is that if you wait it out, they will eventually get up to temp, or I've cracked the lid also to crank it up a bit.  Frustrating for us thermometer watchers, but all that frettin' pays off when you eat it!

[Master MC]

Thanks everyone for the great comments and suggestions.  I will keep those tucked in my back pocket for next time.
Actually I'm looking forward to a cracked pepper tri-tip next.  Using the same style as Texas Land and Cattle's Smoked Sirloin, these things just come out great!

I'll post more pix in a new thread.

Thanks again,
  Paul

[akruckus]

Good looking grub for your first cook!