PBC : Time For Chicken Quarters ?

[ChrisD46]

For those who have done chicken quarters in their PBC - please advise a recommended cook time , as well as , any other useful tips and experiences you would like to share ...Thanks to all in advance !

[muebe]

Normally I find that chicken quarters are going to take at least an hour more like 1 1/2 hours. But this is depending on how much coals you get going in the basket. It is important to have a strong bed of coals when cooking chicken in the PBC. Especially when there is a lot of chicken. There will be a lot of dripping onto those coals and that will cool the heat some.

If you can leave one rebar out. This will increase the temp about 50F in my experience.

You can also crack the lid slightly the last 10 minutes to help finish the skin. I like to remove the lid the last 5 minutes to do this but you must keep your eyes on it because you could end up with charred chicken very quickly!

Because of the way the PBC cooks it is tough to overcook the chicken. The grease fog helps keep the chicken from drying out creating a rich, humid, and flavorful environment to cook it. I would start checking the quarters after the first hour and every 10 minutes after that.

Good luck and don't forget to post pics of your cook

[ChrisD46]

Thanks muebe ! One thing that I plan on doing (because you can with a PTC !) is to run a digital temp probe into a thigh joint the last 45 minutes or so of cooking until it hits 170 ~ 175 degrees F. In the meantime , since I'm new to the PTC I want to use my temp probe ( old single style digital probe ) in thru the rebar vent to check if I am hitting the magic 275 ~ 310 degrees F. range like I should when (per Noah) your lower baffle vent is set up correctly using KBB charcoal. 

[smokeasaurus]

The horseshoe handles on the side make for a nice little shelve for your thermometer. I have also left one rebar out at the beginning of the cook to crisp up the skin immediately then add it back in....ya get a good moist chicken that way.........but Muebe is correct about if the lid is open with air hitting 8 lbs of burning KBB....ya gonna get some big flames......

[ChrisD46]

Smoke : I appreciate the suggestions ...Chicken is a house favorite and I have two sons who eat like Great White Sharks who stage several feet away from the PBC like it is seal island or something !
I plan to observe my next few chicken trials and introduce one suggestion at a time to see it's effect . The good news (at least with chicken ) is even your less than optimum efforts on the PBC are still quite good and eaten without hesitation !

[smokeasaurus]

PBC chicken is eaten very quickly around our house and I am pretty darn sure there won't be too many leftovers at your place 

[Las Vegan Cajun]

PBC chicken is eaten very quickly around our house and I am pretty darn sure there won't be too many leftovers at your place 

Chickens fear the PBC, soon there will have to be a support group for PBC Chickenaholics.  Thanks to the PBC there is a whole new generation of addicts addicted to chicken.