Been lurking for a while; I've been a proud owner of a Pit Barrel Cooker for around a month now. I've researched; read the forums, watched the videos, and have a pretty good idea what I'm doing. I've done five cooks; including Thanksgiving yesterday and have turned out some pretty inconsistent results. I'm in Buffalo New York; around 600 feet above sea level, so my air vent is 1/4 open. I have a Thermapen I'm using for temperature testing; and I'm pretty certain it's accurate (Boiling water returns a 212 every time). The lid seems to be sealing correctly. I was willing to wave off the other bad cooks as being new; maybe rushing and not paying enough attention to detail. I don't have any notes, so the earlier ones are from memory:
Cook Number One was a chicken, based on everything I read here that was the way to start. Used the lighter fluid method; had a solid bed of coals after 20 minutes and hung four chicken halves. After three hours I was seeing around 135. Took another two hours to hit 160; pulled it then. A little pink around the bone but decent. Was a little dry.
Second cook was two racks of Baby Back ribs. These were excellent, but the cook took longer than I’d expected. Details are fuzzy; I used a charcoal starter chimney.
For the third cook, went with a brisket. Was an 8 pound flat; took 6 hours to hit 205 and was a little tough. Wrapped in foil with some broth and back on the rack for two hours; and was actually amazing. Charcoal Chimneys again.
Fourth time in I tried the chicken again; with the Chimney. Didn’t split the chicken, hung two of them whole. The cook times are fuzzy, but was in the 4-5 hour range. Turned out a little rubbery and dry.
Yesterday; tried a turkey. A fresh premium bird; 15 pounder. Brined in water and salt overnight; allowed to dry, then coated with Olive Oil and rub. Based on the size and the video on the Pit Cooker website I thought it should be a little more than an three hour cook. Used the Lighter Fluid method; started coals at 10:45 and put the turkey on at 11:05.
At three pm; the thighs were 135 and the breast was 140. Can’t be ready. Again at 4pm; was seeing 142 in thigh and 150 in the breast; still very short. Lid back on; and by 5pm had 155 or so in the thigh and 160 in the breast. Total cook time six hours; I pulled and let it rest for 20 and then carved it. Meat had a great smoke ring, but was dry and disappointing.
So; what am I doing wrong? I don’t seem to be nailing the temperatures I should in a timely manner; should I be watching the cook times more than the temperature? I can't imagine I'm supposed to pull it before it's cooked all the way through, but I'm missing something. Hopefully something simple.
Thanks!