Pit Barrel Cooker

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Roadie

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I've never smoked any meat in my entire life but SWMBO and I enjoy pulled pork and ribs from a local gas station (Oklahoma Joe's BBQ) so thought of taking a shot at it. I started looking at cheap (,$400) offset cookers and started bookmarking sites with all the mods that I'd have to do. Seemed like a hassle, especially for a noob.

Then I came across an article for the Pit Barrel Cooker and it seems too good to be true. Set it/forget it, no mods, no dampers to screw with, not expensive, etc. According to a Forbes article it appears they sold about $2M worth of them this year and at $300 a shot that's a lot of cookers. I've yet to read anything really negative about this cooker. Is all the hype true?

Does anyone have one of these and is it as much of a hero as they say it is?
 
I've been using my homemade UDS for years. It really does live up to the hype. Not really set and forget, as it does need attention, but compared to other smokers, very little. Mine will hold 220 for 8-10 hours with an adjustment here and there.

I've took second place in ribs, two years running at a local BBQ comp with mine. I highly recommend them if they are built properly. I wouldn't pay 300$ bucks though. I built mine for around 50$ with no specialty tools or welding. The plans are easy to find.
 
Personally, it seems pretty limited to me. No real control of temps. They only recommend using Kingsford charcoal to heat and no way to reload it. I use, and love, a pellet smoker/grill. They have excellent temperature control and offer a wide variety of wood types. They offer digital control that is as easy as setting your oven and simply shut off when you're done cooking. Mine is a MAK Grill, and little pricier than some, but there are others like the Green Mountain Grill that are in the $700 range and work very well. Treager is the oldest in the business, but I owned one and feel it was inferior to the Green Mountain for many reasons (i have a couple friends who have the GM). There are quite a few other manufacturers, that I have no experience with so can't attest to their quality. I use mine year round to cook on (Prime rib yesterday) and people rave about my cooking on it. I'll never go back to a traditional BBQ or smoker. If you're interested in checking them out, a ton of information and reviews can be found on pelletheads.com or pelletsmoking.com. Best of luck with whatever you choose.
 
Personally, it seems pretty limited to me. No real control of temps. They only recommend using Kingsford charcoal to heat and no way to reload it. I use, and love, a pellet smoker/grill. They have excellent temperature control and offer a wide variety of wood types. They offer digital control that is as easy as setting your oven and simply shut off when you're done cooking. Mine is a MAK Grill, and little pricier than some, but there are others like the Green Mountain Grill that are in the $700 range and work very well. Treager is the oldest in the business, but I owned one and feel it was inferior to the Green Mountain for many reasons (i have a couple friends who have the GM). There are quite a few other manufacturers, that I have no experience with so can't attest to their quality. I use mine year round to cook on (Prime rib yesterday) and people rave about my cooking on it. I'll never go back to a traditional BBQ or smoker. If you're interested in checking them out, a ton of information and reviews can be found on pelletheads.com or pelletsmoking.com. Best of luck with whatever you choose.
A well built UDS offers very precise temp control. As simple as opening or closing a ball valve. I don't use Kingsford. I use locally made hardwood lump charcoal and wood chunks. You can use any variety of wood you wish.
True reloading is a bit of a pain if you need to, but I almost never have the need. You can put enough charcoal in there to burn all day. I can open it up and reload in a matter of 2-3 minutes.

If you build it yourself, you won't find a better pit for the money. Here's mine. They dont call em UGLY Drum Smokers for nothing.

IMG_20141228_123826.jpg
 
For $300 you can get a WSM that can cool indirect smoke bacon, snack sticks, Summer Sausage, Kielbasa, etc starting at 100*F-ish and bumping to 160*F slowly, crank it to 225-275*F indirect for pulled pork or ribs, crank it to 350*F indirect for brisket, or get an expandable cooking rack and hang anything like turkey and chicken or anything else direct 300-350*F PBC style. Best of both worlds.
 
I've got one and I love it! It's a rib cookin' machine!
I've done tri tip, brisket and pork butt as well.
I prefer my WSM for butts and brisket, but the Pit Barrel can handle them fine.
I'm used to cooking with Kingsford, and I just buy my yearly supply when Home Dept puts it on sale over Memorial day.
You can cook with it set it and forget it style, but I use a Maverick ET-732 and can control the heat easily.
My first smoker was a cheap offset, and it was a POS even with mods. You had to be constantly dicking with the thing. I was so happy to get rid of it.
I love my WSM and my Pit Barrel cooker.
If you like projects, a UDS is a good way to go.
 
I've got one and I love it! It's a rib cookin' machine!
I've done tri tip, brisket and pork butt as well.
I prefer my WSM for butts and brisket, but the Pit Barrel can handle them fine.
I'm used to cooking with Kingsford, and I just buy my yearly supply when Home Dept puts it on sale over Memorial day.
You can cook with it set it and forget it style, but I use a Maverick ET-732 and can control the heat easily.
My first smoker was a cheap offset, and it was a POS even with mods. You had to be constantly dicking with the thing. I was so happy to get rid of it.
I love my WSM and my Pit Barrel cooker.
If you like projects, a UDS is a good way to go.

The one thing I've noticed is that between the Weber and the PBC, especially on butts, is the time involved. Supposedly you shave hours off the cook time with the PBC. Is that your experience? How do you control the heat on the PBC?
 
You all suck. Now I'm going to have to build me a uds. Just when I'm getting some overtime for kegging, I need to work a few more days for this. Working so much I don't have time to brew. Again, you suck. I love you guys ;-)
 
The one thing I've noticed is that between the Weber and the PBC, especially on butts, is the time involved. Supposedly you shave hours off the cook time with the PBC. Is that your experience? How do you control the heat on the PBC?

If you cook anything in the WSM at the same temp you do in the PBC (300-350*F) it'll cook just as fast. The diff comes in low n slow. If you want to dry some jerky on a PBC like you can in the WSM you'll have a tough time.
 
The one thing I've noticed is that between the Weber and the PBC, especially on butts, is the time involved. Supposedly you shave hours off the cook time with the PBC. Is that your experience? How do you control the heat on the PBC?

The shorter times on the PBC are because you are cooking hotter, generally, especially if you are running it set and forget it according to their instructions.
I like to run the PBC at 275-300 for ribs and the WSM at 225-250 for butts and briskets. I have done high heat briskets(350^ done in 4-5 hours) on my WSM as well.

Heat control on the PBC consists of cracking the lid to raise temps and stuffing foil around the holes the rebar runs through at the top to lower temps.

I can't find a picture of my PBC or food off it, but here's a pic of the rest of the family. I've since added a Jumbo Joe to the Weber clan.
I think I might have a problem!

20130721_061903.jpg
 
Found some PBC pics on my phone.
Can't figure out how to label the pics, but they go like this:
Pic #1 first cook temp settling in
Pic #2 The PBC
Pic #3 First cook- Chicken halves
Pic #4 Lighting it
Pic #5 Loading the basket
Pic #6 Ribs ready to go on
Pic #7 Ribs hangin' and cookin'
Pic#8 Smokers gonna smoke!
Pic #9 Ribs done
Pic #10 The best part of summer!

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The shorter times on the PBC are because you are cooking hotter, generally, especially if you are running it set and forget it according to their instructions.

I like to run the PBC at 275-300 for ribs and the WSM at 225-250 for butts and briskets. I have done high heat briskets(350^ done in 4-5 hours) on my WSM as well.

Heat control on the PBC consists of cracking the lid to raise temps and stuffing foil around the holes the rebar runs through at the top to lower temps.

My favorite BBQ meats are ribs and pulled pork so mild dilemma as you are using 1 smoker for ribs and another for butts. I really like the idea of set/forget though so I guess I'll start with the PBC and then if I want lower heat for a slower cook I can try blocking one or more of the 4 rebar holes with foil and see how that goes. When you block each hole do you notice a standard temp drop of the cooker? Like block 1 and temp drops 25 degrees, block 2 and it drops 50 etc.

I was reading one guys blog last night and he has notes on his first 16 or so cooks with the PBC. Almost every time he is seeing the PBC temps stall where he has to crack the lid for a period of time to get the heat back up. Have you experienced this with your PBC?
 
I was reading one guys blog last night and he has notes on his first 16 or so cooks with the PBC. Almost every time he is seeing the PBC temps stall where he has to crack the lid for a period of time to get the heat back up. Have you experienced this with your PBC?

I had a UDS and also had this issue. Rigged mine with a stoker and the problem went away.

Gave mine up because I just don't smoke enough to justify having to store the thing.
 
+1 on the UDS. I've been using mine for about two years to make brisket, ribs, pork butt, etc. Temperature control is easy using an external controller attached to a fan; I use a BBQ Guro. I'm smoking some salmon tomorrow and will post some pics. If you don't want to build your own, there are some pre-mades available that will work fine for a little extra money.

I don't know if the following vid will load, but it is my UDS with the BBQ Guro (covered in a plastic bag due to a light drizzle) at work a couple of years ago.

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=412010308896126&set=vb.100002614826636&type=3
 
+1 on the UDS. I've been using mine for about two years to make brisket, ribs, pork butt, etc. Temperature control is easy using an external controller attached to a fan; I use a BBQ Guro. I'm smoking some salmon tomorrow and will post some pics. If you don't want to build your own, there are some pre-mades available that will work fine for a little extra money.

I don't know if the following vid will load, but it is my UDS with the BBQ Guro (covered in a plastic bag due to a light drizzle) at work a couple of years ago.

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=412010308896126&set=vb.100002614826636&type=3

I was using the pitmaster with good results. Use it on my weber grill now when appropriate.
 
I like the idea behind the temperature regulators though they aren't exactly cheap. Maybe I should continue to investigate. Hell I'm in a south Kansas City suburb so there has to be some type of BBQ club around town with people who have tried all these things. I'm not exactly OCD but like to research until I'm satisfied then pull the trigger.
 
I was using the pitmaster with good results. Use it on my weber grill now when appropriate.

I like the way that the fan is attached to the device. Yours probably works the way that mine does. As you can (almost) see from my vid, the controller has two leads: one goes to a pit thermometer and the other to food temperature probe. I rarely go by food temperature but by look and feel. There is another connector to an external fan that shunts air down a pipe located on the side of the UDS and that connects near the bottom of the smoker. When the pit temperature falls to a preset temperature, the fan turns on and feeds the charcoal; when the temperature rises above a preset temperature the fan turns off. I can maintain a pre-set temperature for quite a long time, and I'm comfortable enough to set and forget it overnight for BBQ the next day. Hey, that's almost like making beer...
 
I like the way that the fan is attached to the device. As you can (almost) see from my vid, the controller has two leads: one goes to a pit thermometer and the other to food temperature probe. I rarely go by food temperature but by look and feel. There is another connector to an external fan that shunts air down a pipe located on the side of the UDS and that connects near the bottom of the smoker. When the pit temperature falls to a preset temperature, the fan turns on and feeds the charcoal; when the temperature rises above a preset temperature the fan turns off. I can maintain a pre-set temperature for quite a long time, and I'm comfortable enough to set and forget it overnight for BBQ the next day. Hey, that's almost like making beer...

Ayup. Pitmaster works the same way except the pitmaster controller/fan is one piece with a hose to the cooker. Have held 180 in a kettle using snake method for well over 10 hours. Because of this, I found no use for a drum given how infrequently I smoke meats.
 
I like the idea behind the temperature regulators though they aren't exactly cheap. Maybe I should continue to investigate. Hell I'm in a south Kansas City suburb so there has to be some type of BBQ club around town with people who have tried all these things. I'm not exactly OCD but like to research until I'm satisfied then pull the trigger.

See if they use any of these products:

https://www.rocksbarbque.com/Guide.html

https://www.bbqguru.com/

There is also an excellent forum called "The BBQ Brethren" through which you can ask questions and receive expert advice.

I'm putting an old Rock's BBQ kit for sale on eBay. I inherited it from a friend and want to test it out before I sell it. It's the old "white box" model and does not have the capacity to send wireless data to your computer, the way that the newer versions can, unless you hook up a cable to wireless booster, like an Apple Airport, etc. I wouldn't do this, since I've got better things to do than watch smoking data on a screen, but that doesn't mean that other people don't find the experience valuable. Just looking at the box is good enough for me. Ask around and find out what the box, plus fan, plus probes is worth used. My friend produced some excellent BBQ with it. If you're interested, PM me as I can wait a week or so before I list it (i.e. before I need to buy more corny kegs).
 
Ayup. Pitmaster works the same way except the pitmaster controller/fan is one piece with a hose to the cooker. Have held 180 in a kettle using snake method for well over 10 hours. Because of this, I found no use for a drum given how infrequently I smoke meats.

lol - I have a fan adapter for a Weber grill but never use it because I use the UDS so frequently. I do like my Webers for grilling, though when I had a sideways drum I liked it better because there was more surface area to set meat off the fire.
 
lol - I have a fan adapter for a Weber grill but never use it because I use the UDS so frequently. I do like my Webers for grilling, though when I had a sideways drum I liked it better because there was more surface area to set meat off the fire.

At most, I only ever smoke a large brisket or a couple racks of ribs or a chicken.

Thought about smoking a turkey this year but we opted for a pre-smoked ham instead.
 
At most, I only ever smoke a large brisket or a couple racks of ribs or a chicken.

Thought about smoking a turkey this year but we opted for a pre-smoked ham instead.

I could never smoke a turkey because I like the crisp skin too much, lol. This Christmas we cooked a standing rib roast but because my oven thermometer is on the fritz I used my BBQ equipment to maintain temps. Suffice it to say that it is really tedious to open the oven door every 10 minutes to regulate the temperature, but my wife said that it was the best roast she had ever eaten. I said that it was not an argument against getting the damn oven fixed. I have a pre-smoked spiral ham in the fridge for New Year's Eve. The butcher gave me directions for cooking it in the oven with the glaze, but maybe I'll smoke it instead?
 
I could never smoke a turkey because I like the crisp skin too much, lol. This Christmas we cooked a standing rib roast but because my oven thermometer is on the fritz I used my BBQ equipment to maintain temps. Suffice it to say that it is really tedious to open the oven door every 10 minutes to regulate the temperature, but my wife said that it was the best roast she had ever eaten. I said that it was not an argument against getting the damn oven fixed. I have a pre-smoked spiral ham in the fridge for New Year's Eve. The butcher gave me directions for cooking it in the oven with the glaze, but maybe I'll smoke it instead?

I smoke turkey at 350*F and get crisp skin every time.

IMG_1129.jpg


Ham is awesome, too

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My favorite BBQ meats are ribs and pulled pork so mild dilemma as you are using 1 smoker for ribs and another for butts. I really like the idea of set/forget though so I guess I'll start with the PBC and then if I want lower heat for a slower cook I can try blocking one or more of the 4 rebar holes with foil and see how that goes. When you block each hole do you notice a standard temp drop of the cooker? Like block 1 and temp drops 25 degrees, block 2 and it drops 50 etc.

I was reading one guys blog last night and he has notes on his first 16 or so cooks with the PBC. Almost every time he is seeing the PBC temps stall where he has to crack the lid for a period of time to get the heat back up. Have you experienced this with your PBC?

Sorry Roadie, I lost track of this thread for a while.
The main reason I like my WSM for butts is because I'm so dialed in on it, I don't have to think about it. I can throw a couple of butts on it at 11pm or midnight, and go to bed without worrying about it.
Ribs are great on the WSM, my issue is I like cooking the racks whole and with my 18", it's hard to get more than a couple whole racks on there. You can cut them or roll them to increase capacity, but I just like whole racks.
A 22" WSM would solve this problem, but most of the time I don't need the extra capacity.

I haven't really kept track of any correlations between blocked holes and temps. Mostly, it'll be running a little hot at 300-310, and i'll block 1 hole to bring me down to 175ish. i don't get too hung up on precision temps when smoking- within 25 degrees is good enough for me.

I've had a couple of times when the temp has dropped on a longer cook, but cracking the lid for a few minutes has taken care of that.

My biggest reason for buying the PBC in addition to the WSM was for the ability to cook larger amounts of ribs. Plus I like new toys.
I think the PBC could be a good all-around smoker though. You just have to learn your cooker, which is true of any of them. Take good notes for a while.
Also, run a temp probe system.

For my 2nd run at ribs on the PBC, I invited a buddy over. He's been fighting with his cheapy Brinkman WSM-type unit for a number of years. After the eating the ribs off the PBC, he ordered one the next day. He was that impressed.
 
Think i will pick one up with part of my bonus check next month. Thanks for replies!
 
I absolutely love my 18 inch WSM but like you really have trouble with ribs and more importantly my favorite meat brisket.
Just can't bring myself to buy the larger 22 inch though since I don't smoke but maybe once every month or two in the winter and once or twice a month in the warm months.
 
Set it... and forget it....
This this was my first atemp at a brisket ever.
Was delicious- 5 hours on the PBC then let it rest.
I'm doing a flank steak tomorrow.
It's a great barrel!

image.jpg
 
flank steak took less than an hour to get to 135* then pulled it off and let it sit tented under foil while I fried the okra. Oh man between this thing and the Homebrew I'm getting FAT.
BUT I SURE AM HAPPY!

image.jpg
 
I love mine, wouldn't trade it for anything else. btw this comes up in every forum thread about the pbc but this is NOT the same as a uds. obviously a similar concept but some key differences. the size is smaller which affects cooking time and more impotant the food hangs from hooks as it cooks. read meatheads review for specifics at amazingribs.com.
 
Yes, I've made up my mind that I need one but as we're going to list the house to relocate across country I'm waiting until we get to the new place before purchasing. Can't wait though!
 
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