Just thinking about 3 possible reasons for the uneven burn:
1. prevailing wind: was the intake vent facing the direction of ANY breeze? That could cause the side closer to the vent to catch much faster than the other
2. Uneven lighter fluid distribution: If for any reason your application of lighter fluid favored one side of the basket....it would ignite and possibly raise the heat enough to cause an evaporation of the fluid on the side that did not get as much.
3. size of briquettes: The PBC was designed around using KBB. KBB is available every where, and pretty consistent in performance. ( I am not promoting it as the high performance choice, or any choice. I am merely pointing out that the PBC was designed using it
) When you use a larger sized briquette - I wonder what impact that can have on the airflow/temps in the basket? Just a question.....