r/PitBarrelCooker

Pleased with the outcome of this SPG grass fed brisket.

3 hours meat side down, point end facing the inlet/front of the pbc.

3 hours fat side down, rotating the flat and point towards the inlet.

Foil boated for another couple of hours until probe tender.

Wrapped in foil with some tallow in the cooler for 3 hours.

My rib turn in! 12th place out of a field of 44 pro teams!

This is my first post. 💪🏾

A replica of my favorite smoked fish in the country: Brined/cured, slow smoked salmon steaks, on my PBX; a la Calumet Fisheries, Chicago - the site of the Blues Brothers bridge jump, the 95th Street Bridge.

They smoke fish and shrimp in one of two remaining, old school fire smokehouses remaining in the city.

Here's a great video showcasing their salmon process. https://youtu.be/LoZy1DArEDw?si=MmkAjHg2ATHRqPuH

I put 20 coals with a tumbleweed fire starter in the center of the charcoal basket. Let the tumbleweed burn out, then added oak and cherry wood chunks around the smoldering coals.

I mimicked the trussing steps in the video, hung the steaks along the outside of the barrel, and closed the lid; adding wood and charcoal where need for a heavy smoke.

Here's the output.

Enjoy!

8 thighs and 2 large breasts.. marinaded and smoked. Turned out awesome.

Got to smoke my first plate ribs last night in the PBX and honestly I don’t think I’ll go back to brisket after these. Overall cook time was around 4 hours, used B&B char logs with 2 hickory chunks and SPG as the seasoning. Wrapped around 160 in butcher paper with Wagyu tallow and if I could attach the video as proof I would that these slid right off the bone when you picked it up.

This is a follow up to my original post on this device. First run went well. One picture shows where I placed the probe for environment temp. (I put it on the hinged grate; nearly in the middle. This kept it out of the way of my sides.

My cook was

• Start: Two racks of st louis ribs (one with sbr bbq sauce; sauced later) and 4 baked potatoes.
• After 2.5 hours, Added Two half chickens (hung), and replaced potatoes with a bowl of corn and a bowl of baked beans.

I started at 275 degF, but raised it to 325 at some point for the chicken skin and bbq sauce.

The device seems to be pretty intelligent. Is adjusts with a variable speed and it seems to understand the concept of overshooting and it tries to avoid this. Pretty cool.

The app is very easy to work with. The functions are pretty simple.

• Set targets for food, and have it give an early warning by 10, 20, or 30 degrees.
• Set the target temp for the environment and give it a high and low temp to warn you.

The operation is very simple overall, and it worked well. My biggest concern was that it may not be calibrated for a drum. The product page focusses on Kamado style use. The operation exceeded my expectations.

The other thing I liked about this was that it gave me better visibility to what is going on. At some point the temperature dropped to 245. It concerned me but I let it go. The fan slowly ramped up to 100% and it got back on track with minimal overshoot (got to 282 degF).

It also gave me remote visibility. I went to the store (someone else was at home to tend to the PBC if needed) and could see the temperatures and fan operation while I was out.

The wifi connection is really good. I connected to my wifi from outside my garage, which is a dead spot for some of my devices. It never lost connection.

I am very happy so far. Operationally, it's excellent, and the value is amazing. I still question its durability. Seems very light weight for both the device and the probes. The adapters on the other hand are extremely solid. If you have any questions, let me know. I will do a follow up after extended use.