First Cook On the New PBC and Then Part 1 of 3

[Paul Hart]

First cook on the new PBC.
I tried to follow the video from PBC for chicken.  I split a 7 ½ Lbs. chicken rubbed on EVO and sprinkled a little Sea salt and freshly ground pepper.  I wanted to taste this without rubs and see how good this is virtually naked.  Charcoal type = Kingsford Original Blue bag.
Weather was 32 deg. with some freezing rain finally warming to 34 deg. and light rain. Wind less than 2 MPH. My grill and smokers are under a roof.                    
Filled the charcoal basket level and removed 40 pieces to put in the chimney. Stuffed 2 sheets of newspaper under the chimney placed on the grate in the PBC and lit off.  After a lot of smoke and 8 minutes later the coals did not lite. I then put the chimney on the side burner of my grill for 8 minutes and the coals lit, were poured into the charcoal basket and spread around.  Waited 20 minutes for a good burn and ash then hung the chicken.  Closed the lid and barrel temp was at 523 deg. - Chicken temp was 46 deg. Time: 4:01 PM. ( Picture of coal bed before hanging chicken)
CM

Yeah doesn't look full. At such a high starting temp though you should have been able to have that chicken done with what you had in there in 90 minutes or less.

[Chief Mac]

Guys
First of all I would look like to say Thanks to you all for responding to my post and providing your input. If your thoughts and ideas were not important to me  I would not have posted anything to this forum. I am not discouraged and ready to to fire it up again (with Kingsford  Charcoal lighter)and using your ideas to achieve success.
I will update on my next attempt. 
CM

[Paul Hart]

I have only ever used the 38-40 coals in a chimney technique, dump them in when they're mostly white, get em evenly spaced around the basket, wait 2-3 minutes and hang the food. No issues. Occasionally temps drops a little low first 20 min but  a lid crack of about a 90 seconds brings it right up where it'll stay. Lighting the coals first in the chimney and then waiting another 15 min for them to light the others is not necessary in my experience. You can expect a pretty good lighting off of the 40. I think that fluid is an extra and unnecessary expense when two sheets of old recycled newspaper will do the trick.

[Chief Mac]

I have only ever used the 38-40 coals in a chimney technique, dump them in when they're mostly white, get em evenly spaced around the basket, wait 2-3 minutes and hang the food. No issues. Occasionally temps drops a little low first 20 min but  a lid crack of about a 90 seconds brings it right up where it'll stay. Lighting the coals first in the chimney and then waiting another 15 min for them to light the others is not necessary in my experience. You can expect a pretty good lighting off of the 40. I think that fluid is an extra and unnecessary expense when two sheets of old recycled newspaper will do the trick.

Paul
The way the temps looked I figured I would be ready to pull the chicken just before 6:00PM. I thought for about filing another chimney and tossing another 40 hot ones on the cooling bed. But my better half made a remark about eating before 9:00 PM and I decided to pull of 1 half and finish in the oven and work with the other half to see if I could finish on the PBC. We ate dinner at 7:15 PM and the wife really liked the taste and moist juicy texture. Since I did finish the 2nd half on the PBC and it tasted very good also, I will not call it a successful venture. But, not a failure either. And, I got to learn a few things about moving lids and temperature changes. If you want to get it hot in a hurray pull the lid half way back. 
CM

[teesquare]

I have only ever used the 38-40 coals in a chimney technique, dump them in when they're mostly white, get em evenly spaced around the basket, wait 2-3 minutes and hang the food. No issues. Occasionally temps drops a little low first 20 min but  a lid crack of about a 90 seconds brings it right up where it'll stay. Lighting the coals first in the chimney and then waiting another 15 min for them to light the others is not necessary in my experience. You can expect a pretty good lighting off of the 40. I think that fluid is an extra and unnecessary expense when two sheets of old recycled newspaper will do the trick.

If I can offer a couple of things...? If you are using the  LARGE Weber chimney - fill it up, even rounded over on the topAnd -truly - fill 2 of them and the both of them will fill your charcoal basket.
 Second, Do not wait for the briquet to ash over white. Give 'em 15-20 minutes and NO more... then dump them in the basket.
Doing this changed the entire cooking temp curve for me in the PBC.

[Chief Mac]

I have only ever used the 38-40 coals in a chimney technique, dump them in when they're mostly white, get em evenly spaced around the basket, wait 2-3 minutes and hang the food. No issues. Occasionally temps drops a little low first 20 min but  a lid crack of about a 90 seconds brings it right up where it'll stay. Lighting the coals first in the chimney and then waiting another 15 min for them to light the others is not necessary in my experience. You can expect a pretty good lighting off of the 40. I think that fluid is an extra and unnecessary expense when two sheets of old recycled newspaper will do the trick.

If I can offer a couple of things...? If you are using the  LARGE Weber chimney - fill it up, even rounded over on the topAnd -truly - fill 2 of them and the both of them will fill your charcoal basket.
 Second, Do not wait for the briquet to ash over white. Give 'em 15-20 minutes and NO more... then dump them in the basket.
Doing this changed the entire cooking temp curve for me in the PBC.

tee
I have a smaller model Masterchef or something like that, my neighbor gave to me. I guess he got it at Lowe's and I think it will only hold 55-60 pieces.  I am going to try the lighter fluid starting method as per Muebe and see how that works. I keep logs on all my smoking operations and I did not think the PBC would require that type of data log as my gas smoker. I am going to continue with the log for the PBC  (which I was using during this first cook) to keep all these ideas and suggestions for the next and future cooks.
CM   

[teesquare]

Try several methods, and you will find one that you like. And, I look forward to seeing your results from logging the PBC cooks.

[1Bigg_ER]

If you're cooking just one bird, take the free rebar out. The extra vent opening will give you better airflow for bird cooking temp.
The bottom vent does next to nothing for dialing in temp. Top rebar vents are your keys to dialing in temps.
You might ask why? Ok, same reason that the temp will increase drastically when the lid is crack opened, air drag.

Same applies to dialing in temps on the WSMs. Use the lid vent, but I digress.

Are your thermometers accurate? If your initial temp was 523 degrees, then the drastic drop in temp is airflow issue.
Try to pat down the foil as flat as possible or get a flat pizza pan to use as an ash tray

[Chief Mac]

If you're cooking just one bird, take the free rebar out. The extra vent opening will give you better airflow for bird cooking temp.
The bottom vent does next to nothing for dialing in temp. Top rebar vents are your keys to dialing in temps.
You might ask why? Ok, same reason that the temp will increase drastically when the lid is crack opened, air drag.

Same applies to dialing in temps on the WSMs. Use the lid vent, but I digress.

Are your thermometers accurate? If your initial temp was 523 degrees, then the drastic drop in temp is airflow issue.
Try to pat down the foil as flat as possible or get a flat pizza pan to use as an ash tray

1Bigg
Thanks for the input and ideas. I cant really answer the thermometer and temps over 500 degrees cause I never had much reason to worry about temps over 350 degrees with my smoker prior to getting the PBC.  I did a calibration check on the Mavevrick  a couple months back after getting longer cables and they were within 6 deg on the low side and 5 deg higher than my house oven at 350. So yes 523 could have been a bogus temp. Again thanks for the input and I am reading your 22 pages or so about the PBC and taking notes.
CM

[tn_5568]

I had a similar problem with a chicken awhile ago.  I didn't have a full basket and used a chimney. Now fill to the brim with lighter fluid for 20 min and its worked perfectly since

[Chief Mac]

I had a similar problem with a chicken awhile ago.  I didn't have a full basket and used a chimney. Now fill to the brim with lighter fluid for 20 min and its worked perfectly since

TN
Thanks for the input, I already purchased my lighter fluid and I will stay with the lighter fluid until I get real comfortable with the entire process.
CM 

[70monte]

I have the smaller Weber chimney starter that holds 40 briquets perfectly.  I then use a Weber starter cube and let it go 15-20 minutes and then dump it on the unlit coals in the basket.

I fill the basket up to the top for every cook and then take the 40 briquets out of it to put in the chimney.  I have not had any problems with my cooks doing it like that.

Good luck on your next cook.

Wayne