Help - Questions After First Use

[Smokefood]

Got my cooker this weekend, did one rack of ribs and a chicken per Noah's instructions.  Came out okay, probably user error and I wanted to get some help on questions:

1.  I use a chimney starter, once I pour the coals from the chimney into the basket, am I ready to cook or should I let them burn for 15  bit with the lid on or off before putting the meat on?

2.  My ribs actually fell off the hook about 1 hour and 40 minutes into the cook, they came out a little dry and the chicken halves cooked in 90 minutes versus 2 hours.  I think it is running hot, I closed the damper but it was still at about 350.  I filled the charcoal (standard kingsford) up to just the top of the baseket before taking some out for the chimney starter.  Did I use too much?

3.  I am going to try a pork shoulder today... question... how do you incorporate wood or wood chips?  What is the proper method?

Thanks!

[teesquare]

Someone will come along with really good experience and advice shortly I will bet. In the mean-time...Try looking in the areas of the site for "Charcoal" grills/smokers - as well  you might want to try a site search using the red search bar in the upper right of the screen.

Hang in there! we will get you some answers!

[aliengriller]

Two suggestions from experience:  Let ALL the charcoal in the chimney get ALMOST to the point where it's gray ash--I judge by the "flames" coming out the top, then wait about another 5-10 minutes, spread it out.  I think your fire was too not, especially for the ribs.  Might be OK for the chicken.  Common mistake we all make when we first start grilling with charcoal, IMHO.   More is not necessarily better.  Ribs do best over a cooler, more indirect heat-then finish them over the direct to get a nice bark on them.   Lots of twists and turns you can take.   You can always add wood chips, or preferably chunks, to your fire for some smoke taste.    Not truly smoking. 

[smokeasaurus]

I use the lighter fluid method that Noah shows on his site and I have never had a problem. If you are not overly sensitive to lighter fluid (some are) give it a try.

Noah and Amber are only a phone call away.............

[hikerman]

I have used my PBC just four times with no problems. I start by filling the basket and taking 10 briquets out to get started in chimney. Once lit, 15 minutes later the 10 lit are dumped into basket which I usually have 2 pieces of cherry or hickory wood, I'm ready to hang the meat. Make sure your vent is adjusted for your elevation, and all should go smoothly. Issues seem to arise when vent is not adjusted correctly or when too many lit coals, or coals that were started TOO long get thrown in. Work on these basic steps and you'll find YOUR sweet spot! 

[spuds]

I  did 30 coals in the chimney and the other 90 in basket,a 20 minute chimney light with 2 weber starter cubes and then 20 minutes to light those in the PBC and got a great bed of coals.Chimney coals were almost fully lit when poured into basket,let them light for 20 minutes with lid off.Pretty much maintained right about 289-295F.

Im at 5000 foot level.

[muebe]

The ideal bed of coals IMHO is a full bed of charcoal in the basket and the entire top layer ashed over with little to no visible flames...



I have zero experience using a charcoal starter with my PBC. All my cooks have used the lighter fluid method with great success. I personally do not taste the lighter fluid because I use good fluid(Kingsford), I do not let the fluid soak into the coals(Kingsford regular), and wait the full 20 minutes to allow the coals to get lit and the fluid to completely burn off.

Wish I could be more helpful.

Seems like using a charcoal starter can be a but tricky with the PBC. Once you find a method that works for you let us know.

As others have stated you can call Noah or Amber directly for assistance. They are more than happy to help you get the results your looking for

[teesquare]

For longer - high heat cooks, I uses roles up newspaper under the Weber charcoal chimneys ( 2)  and heap the chimneys full. I light the paper with a Mapp gas torch, and give it 10-15 minutes, NO MORE...THen I dump all of the charcoal int eh basket. It takes a bit of practice -but you can get all but a couple of them to hit the target ....

I can cook for 5-6 hours on this. 

[1Bigg_ER]

Do what I did, own the PBC.
I fire up only 8 briquettes, get them ashed then drop them in the basket. Leave it uncovered for about 15 minutes. Then it's cook time.
The only time that I fire up a whole compact chimney is when I cook chicken. Which actually takes about an hour to cook.
It's yours now, experiment at will.

Keep in mind that everytime you lift the lid temps go up in no time flat.
Might seem frustrating now but you'll enjoy that cooker.

[spuds]

It certainly seems very dependent on altitude on getting lit,I did the ten or so in chimney first time and never got my bed of coals fully lit.

[1Bigg_ER]

It certainly seems very dependent on altitude on getting lit,I did the ten or so in chimney first time and never got my bed of coals fully lit.

Then there's that. I didn't check my sea level I just adjusted as I went along until I found my sweet spot.
Come to think of it, I'm not qualified to give any PBC tips coz I haven't followed any of the recommendations per PBC folks. LOL.
 

[Smokefood]

Thanks everyone for your assistance.  I did a second cook on Sunday - 6 LB boneless pork shoulder and it came out great (just need some advice on getting a good bark on it).  I filled up the basket just below the top with charcoal, lit about 3/4 of it a chimney starter, tossed it in after 20 minutes with some peach wood chunks.  Temp on the cooker stabalized after about 20 minutes about about 305 and slowly ticked down from there.  After about 3 hours it started dropping fairly quickly because the pork shoulder was dripping on the coals a lot.  I quickly redistributed some of the coals and the temp went back up.  The total cook time on the pork shoulder was 5 1/2 hours.  After 7 hours the cooker was still at 250.

All and all i am thrilled with it.  I want to figure out how to get a nice bark on my pork and also figure out the ideal approach to adding wood but it will be fun experimentation!

[tekn50]

Glad you got it figured out.  It looks like you left the lid off for a long time, which got it too hot.  I have also had coals start to burn out from juice drippings.   Also the side closet to vent, seems to be hotter than the back.  Not by a whole lot, but enough to notice.  Once you get a couple cooks under your belt, you will enjoy this great cooker.  Myself and a bunch of others have.