Notes from a complete BBQ rookie after a dozen cooks...

[Smokin Don]

I don't have a PBC, wish I did but getting too old for learning a new cooker, but looks like you are turning out some great meat there!!! welcome aboard!!! Don

[teesquare]

A warm Illinois welcome to you VMac! 
I like Muebe's suggestion questioning the moisture content of your coal. Storage of your charcoal, given where you live, might be critical.After removing moisture from coal give it a whirl. If you still have issues then by all means try the fluid. But if it solves your problem, I'd invest in a few bins to keep your coals dry. I store my pellets and charcoal (open bags) in galvanized cans and unopened bags of both up in the loft of my garage, where they stay dry as a bone.
I agree with Tee, never clean the inside of your barrel, rods yes wipe off but the more we use our cookers the better they perform.
And good luck, but I'm sure you'll figure this dilemma out!

Something I have tried...and it works well enough to leave pellets outside on my deck ( and I live in a rain forest...literally ) is a water and airtight- gasketed, and threaded- bucket lid.  Screws on or off. MUCH easier than prying the lid off of a traditional 5 gal bucket. Even better if you  can find 6 gal. buckets as they hold almost all of a 40 lb. gap of pellets. Perhaps 38 - 39 pounds...


http://www.homedepot.com/p/Leaktite-5-Gal-Screw-Top-Lid-5GAMMA6/203205720

[Pappymn]

A warm Illinois welcome to you VMac! 
I like Muebe's suggestion questioning the moisture content of your coal. Storage of your charcoal, given where you live, might be critical.After removing moisture from coal give it a whirl. If you still have issues then by all means try the fluid. But if it solves your problem, I'd invest in a few bins to keep your coals dry. I store my pellets and charcoal (open bags) in galvanized cans and unopened bags of both up in the loft of my garage, where they stay dry as a bone.
I agree with Tee, never clean the inside of your barrel, rods yes wipe off but the more we use our cookers the better they perform.
And good luck, but I'm sure you'll figure this dilemma out!

Something I have tried...and it works well enough to leave pellets outside on my deck ( and I live in a rain forest...literally ) is a water and airtight- gasketed, and threaded- bucket lid.  Screws on or off. MUCH easier than prying the lid off of a traditional 5 gal bucket. Even better if you  can find 6 gal. buckets as they hold almost all of a 40 lb. gap of pellets. Perhaps 38 - 39 pounds...


http://www.homedepot.com/p/Leaktite-5-Gal-Screw-Top-Lid-5GAMMA6/203205720

This is how I store my charcoal and bird seed outside. No problems.

[spuds]

A warm Illinois welcome to you VMac! 
I like Muebe's suggestion questioning the moisture content of your coal. Storage of your charcoal, given where you live, might be critical.After removing moisture from coal give it a whirl. If you still have issues then by all means try the fluid. But if it solves your problem, I'd invest in a few bins to keep your coals dry. I store my pellets and charcoal (open bags) in galvanized cans and unopened bags of both up in the loft of my garage, where they stay dry as a bone.
I agree with Tee, never clean the inside of your barrel, rods yes wipe off but the more we use our cookers the better they perform.
And good luck, but I'm sure you'll figure this dilemma out!

Something I have tried...and it works well enough to leave pellets outside on my deck ( and I live in a rain forest...literally ) is a water and airtight- gasketed, and threaded- bucket lid.  Screws on or off. MUCH easier than prying the lid off of a traditional 5 gal bucket. Even better if you  can find 6 gal. buckets as they hold almost all of a 40 lb. gap of pellets. Perhaps 38 - 39 pounds...


http://www.homedepot.com/p/Leaktite-5-Gal-Screw-Top-Lid-5GAMMA6/203205720

This is how I store my charcoal and bird seed outside. No problems.

I have a kitchen full of those,they also make them for the smaller bucket,those things are great!

[spuds]

I was having similar issues with maintaining a decent temperature with my PBC, but think I solved it on my last cook. It seems that when using a chimney to start the charcoal, less is more. I filled the basket with charcoal, then removed exactly 20 briquettes and lit them in the chimney starter, and let them burn for 15 minutes. Dumped them in the basket, and left the lid off for another 10 minutes, then hung my chicken and put the lid on. Temperature was 305 degree 5 minutes after putting lid on, and remained between 300 and 275 degrees for over 4 hours without ever having to crack the lid. On previous cooks, I had lit about 30-40 briquettes in the chimney, and was unable to maintain temps over 250 degrees for more that 2 hours, when it would then dip down to the low 200's... very frustrating. I also kept notes, so that if something didn't go right, I could go back and adjust 1 element at a time until I got it right. Hope this helps.

It DOES help indeed,thanks for the tip Ed!

[hikerman]

A warm Illinois welcome to you VMac! 
I like Muebe's suggestion questioning the moisture content of your coal. Storage of your charcoal, given where you live, might be critical.After removing moisture from coal give it a whirl. If you still have issues then by all means try the fluid. But if it solves your problem, I'd invest in a few bins to keep your coals dry. I store my pellets and charcoal (open bags) in galvanized cans and unopened bags of both up in the loft of my garage, where they stay dry as a bone.
I agree with Tee, never clean the inside of your barrel, rods yes wipe off but the more we use our cookers the better they perform.
And good luck, but I'm sure you'll figure this dilemma out!

Great idea Tim!
You know, I have a few of these for storing grain. I buy 5 gal pails of various whole grains which keep a long time with these lids! They work great

Something I have tried...and it works well enough to leave pellets outside on my deck ( and I live in a rain forest...literally ) is a water and airtight- gasketed, and threaded- bucket lid.  Screws on or off. MUCH easier than prying the lid off of a traditional 5 gal bucket. Even better if you  can find 6 gal. buckets as they hold almost all of a 40 lb. gap of pellets. Perhaps 38 - 39 pounds...


http://www.homedepot.com/p/Leaktite-5-Gal-Screw-Top-Lid-5GAMMA6/203205720

[tekn50]

I also had issues with the chimney method.  Never did get it to work right, so I switched to the lighter fluid.  It has worked better for me.  I have about 20 cooks on the barrel now.  So if it is running low, I can guess at how much and how long to crack the lid.  As the video says, theres no need to clean the barrel.

[Flipside]

VMac,

Where are you positioning the probe in the barrel?  I think that can make a big difference in accurate readings.  Too close to the food or the barrel wall can lead to low readings in my experience. I like for it to be at least 2-3" away from the meat, and as close to the center of the barrel as possible. When the cooker is loaded down, this can be tough to do.

Next, is your stuff done when the videos say it should be?  For example, if those three yard birds were done in 2 hours and your temp was reading 265 for the majority of the cook, I would guess that was a low reading and it was really running closer to 300.

On the other hand, if you crack the lid to get up around 300, and the chicken was done significantly sooner than 2 hours, then I would guess the true temp was 325 or even a little higher.  I have had this scenario play out when the probe on my Maverick was too close to the birds. When I checked them at 2 hours they were way hotter than I thought they would be.  

Just something else to consider. 

[VMac]

Where are you positioning the probe in the barrel? 

Lots of great info/responses here.  I very much appreciate all the feedback and suggestions!  I will probably invest in some kind of container to ensure my charcoal doesn't get damp.  I did wonder about the probe thing.  Most of the time I just have it hanging along side the barrel wall.  If I rig it over one of the rods to be away from the wall, it sounds like you are suggesting it hang just below the meat (but not too close to the coals)?  I'm doing a cook today (2 tri tips, 2 brined birds), and will incorporate all the great feedback here. 

[Flipside]

VMac,

I have read on here that the sweet spot for temp on the PBC is in the middle of the barrel right around grate level.  I would think you would get pretty accurate readings anywhere from grate level to the bottom of the rods.  I have not gone below grate level for fear of being too close to the coals.

I usually hang the probe with an extra PBC hook by the bracket that clips into grates.  If the cooker is loaded down and there is no room to do it this way, I would just try to make sure there is some room around the probe whichever way it is rigged. 

Here is a pic with the temp probe hanging from the hook.

Hope your cook goes well today.  I'll be doing ribeyes on the Weber kettle for my Mom's birthday.

[Pit Barrel Cooker Co.]

Where are you positioning the probe in the barrel? 

Lots of great info/responses here.  I very much appreciate all the feedback and suggestions!  I will probably invest in some kind of container to ensure my charcoal doesn't get damp.  I did wonder about the probe thing.  Most of the time I just have it hanging along side the barrel wall.  If I rig it over one of the rods to be away from the wall, it sounds like you are suggesting it hang just below the meat (but not too close to the coals)?  I'm doing a cook today (2 tri tips, 2 brined birds), and will incorporate all the great feedback here.

Vmac- How are things going? Just wanted to check in with you, great looking pics on your cooks BTW, thank you for sharing! PBC Co. - Amber