Pit Barrel cooker

[Errestaurants 2570]

Anybody have one? Thinking about buying one at Buc-ee's

 

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[jimmyjazz 46152]

I have one and I'm selling it.  I just don't have the time any more.

[Nueces River Rat 5539]

I have one.   It does well for slow cooking meats like ribs and brisket and instead of using a grill surface,  you hang the meat.  It does come with a grill, but it’s limited in size.   You might be able to get 8 burgers on there.

I’m looking at getting a Green Egg  or pellet grill to replace it soon .  Only because I’m doing a lot of meal prep and I’d like a larger surface to grill on.

 

[dcbc 14510]

I bought one after reading a thread about it on TOS.  After using it for a year and reading the thread on the Weber Smokey Mountain, I bought a 22" WSM.

So, since the PBC and 18" WSM are the same price and the 22" WSM is only $100 more, I think a comparison is worthwhile.

The PBC is super easy to use.  It cooks a bit faster since it cooks a bit hotter.  It does chicken extremely well.  It does a pretty good job with ribs.  Pork shoulder and brisket are okay.  Hanging stuff in it is a good way to get a lot of food into a small space, but it's a pain if you need to add more fuel on a long cook and the fire flares up fast if you have the lid off for more than a few seconds (and it takes time to get the temp back down).  Lastly, forget about using it as a grill.  It's fairly worthless at that. 

The WSM takes a bit more time to set up, but once you get used to it, getting temperatures to lock in is easy.  Cook times are longer if you got low and slow, but that can be more convenient if you like to cook overnight and like to sleep in.  With the 22", you can get quite a bit of food on the smoker.  The Cajun bandit door and a gasket for the lid are good upgrades and pretty inexpensive.  Also, clay pot bases in the water pan make for one less thing to worry with.  With careful pouring, you can get over 20 lbs of charcoal in the basket and it will run (assuming no heavy wind) for nearly 20 hours.  Lastly, the taste of the food is just better.  Apart from chicken and the occasional ribs, I cook on the WSM way more often and much prefer the end product vs. the PBC. 

I thought about selling the PBC, but figured it was worth keeping for when I cook a ton of food and want to use it for overflow.  I did ribs on it two weeks ago because I wanted them fast and, although they were pretty good, the ones I make on the WSM are much better.

 

[Sbbruin 21894]

We got 3 of them as leftovers from a promotional thing my wife's company did.  I used it once and scrapped it.  Sold the other 2 new in the box.  

[jimmyjazz 46152]

On 5/28/2019 at 2:29 PM, dcbc said:

The PBC is super easy to use.  It cooks a bit faster since it cooks a bit hotter.  It does chicken extremely well.  It does a pretty good job with ribs.  Pork shoulder and brisket are okay.  Hanging stuff in it is a good way to get a lot of food into a small space, but it's a pain if you need to add more fuel on a long cook and the fire flares up fast if you have the lid off for more than a few seconds

This is my biggest complaint.  It's a damn fire hazard.  I had to water it down with a garden hose once because I thought my house was going to go up in flames.  (No, I wasn't using it inside, but it was too close to the back porch for comfort.  Fortunately, I didn't have the food on yet.)

[deft 6880]

Make one?

[Errestaurants 2570]

2 hours ago, deft said:

Make one?

Pretty cool. After all the comments im rethinking getting one. 

[baboso 6057]

I'll second dcbc's recommendation for a WSM instead of the PBC.

[deft 6880]

I mean yeah, if I was buying then I’d spring for the Weber. But by building a uds, you have input on how it is designed and works. Also cheaper which is nice. I am toying with the idea of adding a wsm style door on the side. There’s a company that makes a badass heavy duty one for upgrading your uds or wsm but I don’t have the link handy and I’m in a kayak atm.

[dcbc 14510]

1 hour ago, deft said:

I mean yeah, if I was buying then I’d spring for the Weber. But by building a uds, you have input on how it is designed and works. Also cheaper which is nice. I am toying with the idea of adding a wsm style door on the side. There’s a company that makes a badass heavy duty one for upgrading your uds or wsm but I don’t have the link handy and I’m in a kayak atm.

https://www.cajunbandit.com/category/weber-smokey-mountain-upgrade-parts/weber-smokey-mountain-doors/

 

I put one on my WSM and the door leaks are gone. 

[deft 6880]

This was an entire bulkhead and door.

 

Edit: found it

 

https://bbqsmokermods.com/lavalockr-quick-coaltm-wsm-door-mod-for-22-5-weber-smokey-mountain-or-55-gallon-uds-smoker.html

[Errestaurants 2570]

Im wanting something to smoke a couple racks of ribs or brisket and easy to use. 

[dcbc 14510]

1 hour ago, Errestaurants said:

Im wanting something to smoke a couple racks of ribs or brisket and easy to use. 

WSM is easy to use and the results are excellent.  You just get it to temp and leave it alone.  PBC is easy to use and the results are . . . fine.  It picks the temp and you leave it alone. 

[Focht Up 631]

I bought a PBC recently.  It's very easy to use, and there is no real assembly required.  So far I've cooked pork ribs, hamburgers/hot dogs, and cornish game hens.  All were excellent.  My previous smoker was a pellet smoker, which is the easiest thing available, but I was never able to get that smoky flavor in the meat.  With the PBC, I just throw a couple of chunks of wood on the charcoal, and the result exceeded my expectations.

I'm cooking a big salmon filet this weekend, and am looking forward to hanging a pork butt and brisket in the near future.  I'm very happy with the PBC so far.  I had a WSM years ago, and I thought it sucks that so much smoke and heat escapes from the little door at the bottom.  I know you can upgrade with a Cajun Bandit or whatever, but why must they sell it in a shitty condition which requires you to spend extra money and time to fix it.  They should do that for their customers up front.  Just my opinion.

[dcbc 14510]

Chicken and ribs is what it does best in my opinion.  I never had any success using it as a grill. 

I get that the WSM has a leaky stock door.  But I'm sure you noticed how much smoke is escaping around the lid of the PBC as opposed to what's going out the rebar holes.  Plus, if you ever have to do a long cook (like on a stubborn brisket), you'll miss having door access to add charcoal easily.

In any event, I'm glad you like it.  Check out the video for the melted brie with preserves and herbs on their website.  Big crowd pleaser. 

[Focht Up 631]

38 minutes ago, dcbc said:

Chicken and ribs is what it does best in my opinion.  I never had any success using it as a grill. 

I get that the WSM has a leaky stock door.  But I'm sure you noticed how much smoke is escaping around the lid of the PBC as opposed to what's going out the rebar holes.  Plus, if you ever have to do a long cook (like on a stubborn brisket), you'll miss having door access to add charcoal easily.

In any event, I'm glad you like it.  Check out the video for the melted brie with preserves and herbs on their website.  Big crowd pleaser. 

Thanks for the info.  Good point on adding additional charcoal during a cook.  I'm hoping I won't have to.  When I try a brisket, we'll see.  I see very little smoke coming out from under the lid - it seems to fit very well.  I used the grill configuration for the hamburgers and hot dogs, and it came out very good, with a bit of smoky flavor.  What was the issue when you tried to grill?

In any case, me experience so far with the PBC has been very positive.

[dcbc 14510]

1 hour ago, Focht Up said:

Thanks for the info.  Good point on adding additional charcoal during a cook.  I'm hoping I won't have to.  When I try a brisket, we'll see.  I see very little smoke coming out from under the lid - it seems to fit very well.  I used the grill configuration for the hamburgers and hot dogs, and it came out very good, with a bit of smoky flavor.  What was the issue when you tried to grill?

In any case, me experience so far with the PBC has been very positive.

I'm not trying to discourage you by any means.  I've made some fine food on mine and still have it, but use the WSM 99% of the time these days.  I will say that with briskets and pork shoulders, you absolutely need to wrap around the stall point.  Both of those types of cuts will dry out if you try to roll through without wrapping on the PBC.

When I did steaks and burgers, they took forever, and getting them to sear was simply not happening.  I think the newer ones have different instructions for grilling (no rebar, crack the lid, magnets over one or two holes).  But I just bought a Weber kettle for that sort of thing and don't worry about it these days. 

I'll also mention that throwing  a whole potato or two on the hooks yields some pretty good baked potatoes. 

The thing absolutely excels at split chickens.  I think it does pretty good ribs, too.  But with pork ribs, the issue I sometimes had is hitting that sweet spot between not quite done and overdone.  You really have to watch it on the PBC because when that window closes, into the fire the ribs may go.  I've fished a few racks off of hot coals.  I have the turkey hanger, but only have used it successfully for whole chicken.  The one time I tried a turkey, I stupidly put cut up oranges in the cavity, and they dripped onto the coals and doused the fire.  I haven't tried another one, but may some day. 

 

Edited May 5, 2020 by dcbc

[Focht Up 631]

2 hours ago, dcbc said:

I'm not trying to discourage you by any means.  I've made some fine food on mine and still have it, but use the WSM 99% of the time these days.  I will say that with briskets and pork shoulders, you absolutely need to wrap around the stall point.  Both of those types of cuts will dry out if you try to roll through without wrapping on the PBC.

When I did steaks and burgers, they took forever, and getting them to sear was simply not happening.  I think the newer ones have different instructions for grilling (no rebar, crack the lid, magnets over one or two holes).  But I just bought a Weber kettle for that sort of thing and don't worry about it these days. 

I'll also mention that throwing  a whole potato or two on the hooks yields some pretty good baked potatoes. 

The thing absolutely excels at split chickens.  I think it does pretty good ribs, too.  But with pork ribs, the issue I sometimes had is hitting that sweet spot between not quite done and overdone.  You really have to watch it on the PBC because when that window closes, into the fire the ribs may go.  I've fished a few racks off of hot coals.  I have the turkey hanger, but only have used it successfully for whole chicken.  The one time I tried a turkey, I stupidly put cut up oranges in the cavity, and they dripped onto the coals and doused the fire.  I haven't tried another one, but may some day. 

 

Thanks for the tip about wrapping.  I will definitely do that when the time comes.  When I cooked a slab of ribs recently, I was also worried that if it got too tender, it would fall into the coals.  Fortunately that didn't happen and they were very good.

When I cooked hamburgers, I let the coals go a little longer and ash over a bit, and also never put the lid on.  That's what their website says to do, and they turned out awesome.  By the way, I bet if you let them know you have a lot of smoke escaping from the lid, they would replace it.  I had a problem with something and they replaced it immediately.

Happy BBQing!

[dcbc 14510]

3 hours ago, Focht Up said:

By the way, I bet if you let them know you have a lot of smoke escaping from the lid, they would replace it.  I had a problem with something and they replaced it immediately.

Thanks, but I've had it for several years.  I'm not worried with the escaping smoke.  It works fine and whatever is leaking isn't enough to cause flare ups. 

Enjoy your cooker!

[Sam Lin 3561]

On 5/31/2019 at 4:17 AM, deft said:

This was an entire bulkhead and door.

 

Edit: found it

 

https://bbqsmokermods.com/lavalockr-quick-coaltm-wsm-door-mod-for-22-5-weber-smokey-mountain-or-55-gallon-uds-smoker.html

Interesting concept, I really don't see the benefit at all over a Cajun Bandit door or even a non-leaky stock door.

[dcbc 14510]

14 hours ago, Sam Lin said:

Interesting concept, I really don't see the benefit at all over a Cajun Bandit door or even a non-leaky stock door.

Looked at that before I ordered a Cajun Bandit Door, which is a very good solution.  That Lavalock door seems like it would make using a cover a pain.

[dcbc 14510]

I lit up the PBC for the first time in over a year.  2 split chickens and two racks of ribs, sausage, corn, and I threw a frozen pizza on there with the rebar removed just to see.

Ribs stayed on a bit long, with this British smile of bones as the result, but they will be delicious.

I'll try to snap a shot of the chicken later.  That really is the party piece for this thing.