Hello & Request for Help from Indiana

[budbrew2]

Hello.  My name is Bud and I'm from Zionsville, In - just outside of Indianapolis.  A little background...I am a Harley Davidson technician and my interests are beer making, seeing live blues and making good smoked foods for family and friends. 

I wanted to join this forum to try and gain some knowledge from those who have been using the PBC longer than I have so as to improve my skills.  Please forgive in advance as I tend to be a bit verbose in trying to explain things.

I purchased a PBC over the summer and have been struggling to make consistently great food.  I feel like it is all user error in temp control...though I think I'm doing things like I'm supposed to be.  I have made several attempts at pork back ribs, pork butt, chicken halves/wings and salmon. I've had the most success w/pork butt, though it takes much longer on the PBC than I thought it was supposed to (approx. 1-1/4 hours per pound).  Ribs have either overcooked in a little over 2-1/2 hours or are done but not tender in 4.  Chicken halves are getting done in the 2ish hour window, but the skin has never been crispy.  Wings I made last night finally achieved crispy skin after 2-ish hours, but were overcooked. 

I am doing chicken halves as I write this. I have my opening at 1/4 open (approx. 850 ft above sea level), Kingsford blue bag, filled the basket and pulled 40 briquettes out and started in chimney. Once the coals were ashed over, I dumped in the basket and placed lid on w/it cracked open for about 15 min, added the rebar, hung the chicken and secured the lid.  After a 1/2 hour I noticed no smoke so I checked the temp.  I was at 205 degrees.  I cracked the lid for about 10 min and it came up to 300.  I secured the lid and checked 10 min later and it seemed to be steady at 260.  I just checked again...now about 20 min later and I'm down to 223.  It's 40ish degrees outside now w/a little sprinkling rain...but my PBC has acted this same way on dry days and 85 degrees,  I jut cannot get the PBC to hold a constant temp to yield consistent results.

So any insights as to what I need to do to improve are greatly appreciated.  Thank you in advance for your help.  Thanks and have a great evening.

Bud

[smokeasaurus]

Howdy Bud, I have probably had my PBC longer than anyone here and it sounds to me that you are following Noah's directions/videos.

Have you contacted Noah and Amber about your issues??

P.S.:  Welcome from So-Cal 

[Pappymn]

Welcome from Minnesota

[drholly]

Another Minnesota welcome! I have been using my PBC for some time (on the advice of The Smoke...) I tend to follow Noah's instructions and have had good success. As The Smoke said, if you are having problems by all means contact Noah or Amber - they have the absolute best sense of customer service you will ever find. Let us know how things go for you...

[smokeasaurus]

One thing to consider is if your charcoal has gotten wet/damp. When I buy my Kingsford (Memorial Day-4th of July-Labor Day), I purposely pick the bags from the center of the pallet. I have seen charcoal bags in the stores with dried water rings on em in the corners. This will affect the way the charcoal burns.

Please let us know what Noah and Amber says..........they want you to be happy with your PBC 

[Big Dawg]

Welcome from NC ! !

Lot's of PBC users here.





BD

[N. Ontario Smoker]

Welcome from N. Ontario Canada.

[budbrew2]

Thank you all for the welcome!

I did send a note a couple of months ago to Noah & Amber.  Amber surmised I was not lighting the PBC correctly & advised me to make sure I was following the lighting instructions.

So follow up on tonight's chicken.  After playing w/the lid a couple times, the chicken hit 165 in the center of the breast (I am using an Thermapop thermometer) in about 1 hour 45. The cook time felt right-ish based on everything I have seen/read online, but the skin was not palatable...it was rubbery.  The meat was moist and tasted great.  The only other thing of note was that the joints & the meat around them (esp. the wing joint at the breast) were still tough and sinewy...like the chicken needed to cook a little longer.

Could I not be leaving it on the cooker long enough? I just don't want to sacrifice the meat for the skin like I did with the wings last night.

Thank you again for you thoughts.

[teesquare]

Thank you all for the welcome!

I did send a note a couple of months ago to Noah & Amber.  Amber surmised I was not lighting the PBC correctly & advised me to make sure I was following the lighting instructions.

So follow up on tonight's chicken.  After playing w/the lid a couple times, the chicken hit 165 in the center of the breast (I am using an Thermapop thermometer) in about 1 hour 45. The cook time felt right-ish based on everything I have seen/read online, but the skin was not palatable...it was rubbery.  The meat was moist and tasted great.  The only other thing of note was that the joints & the meat around them (esp. the wing joint at the breast) were still tough and sinewy...like the chicken needed to cook a little longer.

Could I not be leaving it on the cooker long enough? I just don't want to sacrifice the meat for the skin like I did with the wings last night.

Thank you again for you thoughts.

Bud - you are on the right track. I have left chickens not he PBC until the breast reads 180-185F. It was an accident at first, but I leaned that the chick was a little more "joint-tender" and the breast was not dry. And to crisp the skin: try drying off all of the water after prepping the chicken. Spritz a very light amount of Pam on the chicken ( it is canola oil)  then dust on your rub. When you know the chicken is close to done - then crack the lid and leave it that way for the final 15-20 minutes. That should raise the pit temp, and increase airflow, removing more surface moisture - so the skin texture will be more like what you are looking for.
T

[ACW3]

Another welcome from North Carolina.

Art

[sliding_billy]

Greetings from North Texas.

[Old Dave]

Hello Hoosier,

I can't help you with the PBC cooker problem as I don't have any experience with one but I do want to welcome you to the forum. I live about 35 miles SW of you in Coatesville,  Indiana.

Good luck with the new cooker as I am sure the good folks on the forum can solve your problems.

Dave

[muebe]

Welcome from Southern California

[akruckus]

Welcome from Philly Burbs, and fellow PBC owner.

For lighting I use the chimney as well, but some people have found better results by starting with lighter fluid.  Not sure if you have tried that method.  As for the crispy chicken skin that is tough because of the grease fog inside the barrel is moist.  I dry brine my chicken halves at least 24 hours in advance, usually 48 hours to really dry out the skin.  For seasonings, I add a little olive oil then rub, then hang the chicken.  I also trim up the bird to remove some excess fat, this stops the fat from hitting the coals and cooling them off as much making your cooks hotter and faster.  My chicken cooks are about 75-90 minutes, one rebar out to get some more air flow.  Sometimes I get good skin, but most of the time I don't.  I did do a low and slow bird on the rack spritzing every 20-30 minutes for 5 hours and had bite through skin.  I am at 289 ft above sea level.

[teesquare]

Welcome from Philly Burbs, and fellow PBC owner.

For lighting I use the chimney as well, but some people have found better results by starting with lighter fluid.  Not sure if you have tried that method.  As for the crispy chicken skin that is tough because of the grease fog inside the barrel is moist.  I dry brine my chicken halves at least 24 hours in advance, usually 48 hours to really dry out the skin.  For seasonings, I add a little olive oil then rub, then hang the chicken.  I also trim up the bird to remove some excess fat, this stops the fat from hitting the coals and cooling them off as much making your cooks hotter and faster.  My chicken cooks are about 75-90 minutes, one rebar out to get some more air flow.  Sometimes I get good skin, but most of the time I don't.  I did do a low and slow bird on the rack spritzing every 20-30 minutes for 5 hours and had bite through skin.  I am at 289 ft above sea level.

Aruckus adds some really valuable info there...In addition - once you dry the chicken, and apply the rub, place them on a cookie sheet uncovered in the fridge for an over nite ride. The refrigerator will help remove near surface moisture from the chicken skin because it extracts moisture from the air during the cooling process.