Did four racks of St. Louis ribs in the PBC today, although they turned out pretty good I think I need some more practice with this one. Followed the video instructions on the PBC website with only two exceptions, 1) coated the ribs with mustard in addition to the PBC Beef & Game Pit Rub, 2) did not sauce the ribs with any BBQ sauce.
The ribs were done in just a little over two hours, no where near the five hours the video said it takes for St. Louis ribs. I realize the video cooking was done at mile high 5280' and I'm at 1800' MSL. I did have the vent cap at 1/4 opening as per the directions for altitudes up to 2000' MSL.
The pros: Ribs were very tender and pulled off the bone just as they should, flavor was fantastic, loved the charcoal flavor from the cook combined with their Beef & Game Pit Rub.
The cons: Ribs were not quite a moist as when I do them on the pellet grill, although not bad, but I do get a little more moisture out of my ribs on the pellet grill. This may be due to the fact that on the pellet grill I spritz them with moisture throughout the cooking process and did not do this on the PBC. Also the bottom 2-3 bones were overdone and dry, not even edible. I know that can be solved by cutting the racks in half so they won't hang so low to the fire.
Overall my satisfaction of my first ribs in the PBC is still good, I just need to get through the learning curve on ribs which is part of the joy of cooking and trying new methods. I'm also finding out, after two cooks in the PBC, that this thing is a charcoal eating hog. There is no way to shut it down to conserve the unburned charcoal for the next cook like I do on my Weber's. This means if I want to maximize the use of the charcoal I need to plan on cooking more food and putting it away for future use.
I'm still satisfied with my purchase of the PBC and it will be a cooker that will get a lot of use. I just need to adapt to the way this thing works and burns fuel.
Ribs seasoned, hooks installed, ready for the PBC
Hanging in the PBC
Pulled from PBC after just over two hours
The smoke ring