Well, I guess it had to happen. After hundreds of cooks in the PBC, I finally had a BAD experience. I've had mostly great results, an occasional mediocre result, but nothing inedible before...
My brother-in-law gave me this huge pork loin, must have weighed over ten pounds. I seasoned it with a bit of olive oil and some PBC All Purpose Rub and cooked it on the grate (it felt too heavy to hang from hooks). In fact, I had to cut it in half to fit. It had a fat cap, which I thought was going to be a plus, but it may have been my demise. Cooked to 145 internal (took a little over an hour), and while cooking, I noticed the smoke smell was never very appealing.
It came out tasting oily, almost like kerosene. I think the fat cap may have done me in, dripping way too much onto the coals causing them to smolder. Blech. Could have been old charcoal, too. It was the first cook of the season and I pulled half-bag of kingsford from the garage.
On to the next cook!