OT - Streaming

[Fryowa]

If you only do 2 racks, no. I thought you run them on your kettle. I'd stick with that if that's all you do. I've only had it a few weeks, but I've done a brisket, shoulder, several racks and 2 rounds of whole chickens.

IMHO, the Weber smokey mountain is better than the pit barrel for brisket and shoulder because it is far easier to add wood to those and I've had issues imparting enough wood flavor. The pit barrel with the rack installed is really difficult to add wood to. But the nice thing about it is I was able to run the brisket overnight and it went strong for over 8 hours at temp. No way you can trust a smokey mountain to do that.

However, where the pit barrel absolutely excels is with whole chickens. It is amazing. I've gotta stop eating so much red meat because of my cholesterol, so I do a few chickens on it each weekend. I just ordered the turkey hanger and am going to aim for 4 birds on it this weekend and then use that as my meal prep for the week. Subbing out pit barrel chicken in enchiladas, chicken salad, pasta dishes, etc. is a total game changer. And chicken doesn't need smoke or if you want it, just a kiss will suffice, so the pit barrel really delivers there.

So in short, if you just want to do ribs, keep doing what you're doing. But if you want to get into the chicken game, get a pit barrel. Like I said, I ordered the turkey hangers yesterday and I wanted to get an Iowa bottle opener that you can mount on the cooker, but after that turd on Saturday I opted not to get the opener. Now I am kinda regretting it.

Just an update, but I bought a PBC a couple weeks ago and I love it. I still like my kettle and I will keep it for grilling, but this PBC is a ribs and chicken MACHINE.

Had a cookout for my 40th and throughout the course of the day I did 5 racks of St. Louis ribs and 5 whole chickens on one basket. Used apple wood and as far as smoke flavor it puts a pellet grill to shame. I'd have no bones about firing up the pit barrel and letting it run all night, my temps stayed within about 30 degrees the entire time.

I also bought the hinged grate which should be the standard one (they need to hit you with the add-on money). Last night I did 12 Tiefenthaler skinless brats and they were amazing. Charcoal is cheap enough that I'll probably just use this thing even for small cooks. With the kettle to do a shoulder or brisket you have to babysit the hell out of it with charcoal and moving the vents. The PBC you just light and walk away. Totally impressed and happy with the money I spent.

 

[tweeterhawk]

Just an update, but I bought a PBC a couple weeks ago and I love it. I still like my kettle and I will keep it for grilling, but this PBC is a ribs and chicken MACHINE.

Had a cookout for my 40th and throughout the course of the day I did 5 racks of St. Louis ribs and 5 whole chickens on one basket. Used apple wood and as far as smoke flavor it puts a pellet grill to shame. I'd have no bones about firing up the pit barrel and letting it run all night, my temps stayed within about 30 degrees the entire time.

I also bought the hinged grate which should be the standard one (they need to hit you with the add-on money). Last night I did 12 Tiefenthaler skinless brats and they were amazing. Charcoal is cheap enough that I'll probably just use this thing even for small cooks. With the kettle to do a shoulder or brisket you have to babysit the hell out of it with charcoal and moving the vents. The PBC you just light and walk away. Totally impressed and happy with the money I spent.

Very nice! When should we come over? Can I bring anything?

 

[okeefe4prez]

Just an update, but I bought a PBC a couple weeks ago and I love it. I still like my kettle and I will keep it for grilling, but this PBC is a ribs and chicken MACHINE.

Had a cookout for my 40th and throughout the course of the day I did 5 racks of St. Louis ribs and 5 whole chickens on one basket. Used apple wood and as far as smoke flavor it puts a pellet grill to shame. I'd have no bones about firing up the pit barrel and letting it run all night, my temps stayed within about 30 degrees the entire time.

I also bought the hinged grate which should be the standard one (they need to hit you with the add-on money). Last night I did 12 Tiefenthaler skinless brats and they were amazing. Charcoal is cheap enough that I'll probably just use this thing even for small cooks. With the kettle to do a shoulder or brisket you have to babysit the hell out of it with charcoal and moving the vents. The PBC you just light and walk away. Totally impressed and happy with the money I spent.

Yeah, bro the Pit Barrel is the best chicken smoker out there and it crushes those pellet machines on flavor. You just can't beat charcoal and wood for BBQ. My buddy across the street just welcomed a baby into the family and I'm going to do a mega 'que on Saturday to welcome the youngster home. Going ribs and chicken just like you did. Did you get the turkey hanger? Just get a two pack of them so you can do whole birds on there. We fucking live off of those things.

Hell, I've had 3 people at the Thanksgiving party I went to last year text asking if I'm doing a smoked turkey this year and asking if they can come pick some up.

 

[Fryowa]

Very nice! When should we come over? Can I bring anything?

Just an appetite, your favorite side, and whatever you like to drink. Diet Coke is as party as I get but we have fun. Our crew is the best in the land and newcomers will get multiple high fives and probably hugged at some point. You want to eat a whole rack of ribs and half a chicken? Don't be shy. We don't run out of food and we appreciate that kinda shit. Our only rules are no politics, eat till you're full, and come back next time.

Cookouts are my religion substitute. To me there is nothing more sacred or enjoyable than people getting together, bringing food they put a bunch of love into, and breaking bread together. Cannot be beat.

 

[Fryowa]

Yeah, bro the Pit Barrel is the best chicken smoker out there and it crushes those pellet machines on flavor. You just can't beat charcoal and wood for BBQ. My buddy across the street just welcomed a baby into the family and I'm going to do a mega 'que on Saturday to welcome the youngster home. Going ribs and chicken just like you did. Did you get the turkey hanger? Just get a two pack of them so you can do whole birds on there. We fucking live off of those things.

Hell, I've had 3 people at the Thanksgiving party I went to last year text asking if I'm doing a smoked turkey this year and asking if they can come pick some up.

I didn't get the hanger yet, but my B-day party was at my best friend's house where my son and I do Thanksgiving every year. (not married and my parents are gone) My buddy tasted the ribs and told me I'm doing the turkey this year.

 

[Ree4]

Just an appetite, your favorite side, and whatever you like to drink. Diet Coke is as party as I get but we have fun. Our crew is the best in the land and newcomers will get multiple high fives and probably hugged at some point. You want to eat a whole rack of ribs and half a chicken? Don't be shy. We don't run out of food and we appreciate that kinda shit. Our only rules are no politics, eat till you're full, and come back next time.

Cookouts are my religion substitute. To me there is nothing more sacred or enjoyable than people getting together, bringing food they put a bunch of love into, and breaking bread together. Cannot be beat.

For me it used to be tailgating. Now it turned into an all day tailgate/cookout/watch party at home then a night club when it gets dark. Got the fog machine too for shits and giggles. Noise activated LED's are next on the list Fun times, gonna really miss it this year.

 

[Fryowa]

For me it used to be tailgating. Now it turned into an all day tailgate/cookout/watch party at home then a night club when it gets dark. Got the fog machine too for shits and giggles. Noise activated LED's are next on the list Fun times, gonna really miss it this year.

That's hilarious

 

[Ree4]

That's hilarious

It started out as kind of a gag but everyone actually really enjoys it (except for my wife of course, that's kind of her job). Think the adults enjoy it more than the kids

 

[tweeterhawk]

It started out as kind of a gag but everyone actually really enjoys it (except for my wife of course, that's kind of her job). Think the adults enjoy it more than the kids

I break out the fog machine on Halloween. Our neighborhood is sort of a natural bowl so if the temp and weather is right I can fill it with a pretty dense cloud. It enhances the scene with the lawn figures and trick and treaters. The adults and kids seem to enjoy it, my wife not so much. I usually have to shut it off after about 20 minutes.

 

[Ree4]

I break out the fog machine on Halloween. Our neighborhood is sort of a natural bowl so if the temp and weather is right I can fill it with a pretty dense cloud. It enhances the scene with the lawn figures and trick and treaters. The adults and kids seem to enjoy it, my wife not so much. I usually have to shut it off after about 20 minutes.

Haha yep, mine doubles as a fun Halloween novelty for the neighborhood as well

 

[Fryowa]

Haha yep, mine doubles as a fun Halloween novelty for the neighborhood as well

I live on a long dead end street in a spot that isn’t very accessible from the rest of town. I’ve lived here a total of 16 years and never had a trick or treater

 

[Ree4]

I live on a long dead end street in a spot that isn’t very accessible from the rest of town. I’ve lived here a total of 16 years and never had a trick or treater

Wish I could say the same, my house backs up to a school with a sidewalk leading to it on one side People walk by all day every day

 

[Fryowa]

Wish I could say the same, my house backs up to a school with a sidewalk leading to it on one side People walk by all day every day

If I see five vehicles on a weekend day it's a lot. And those are strictly people who live on my street.

What's really cool is I live near a grain elevator, and about once a month we'll get a semi hauling a grain trailer stuck on our street. It's obviously someone not from the area, but there's really no excuse because when you turn down our street there's a DEAD END sign, a NO OUTLET sign, and at the end of the street there's a fence with those huge red reflective diamonds that mean there's no way out.

It never fails that those drivers don't heed the warnings and they drive allllll the way to the end and then they're fucked because they cant turn around. It's pretty rare that there aren't some cars in the street and they immediately jackknife the shit out of their rig and get stuck. Backing a semi is hard enough on it's own; trying to do it the entire length of a block and a half on a narrow street with cars parked is damn near impossible. It's usually a 30-45 minute ordeal for most drivers to get out, I've seen one guy who just kept getting more and more jackknifed say F it and walk off. He was on his cell phone, completely walked away from the truck and about ten minutes later some other guy got dropped off and backed it out. I'm assuming it was his boss or the truck owner maybe.

Had one get all crooked and drove right over my neighbor's lawn tearing it up (neighbor wasn't home), I went out right in front of him taking pictures as it was happening and got a bunch of "F you, asshole." I think my neighbor ended up with $300 or something. It tore his yard up pretty good.

 

[okeefe4prez]

Had one get all crooked and drove right over my neighbor's lawn tearing it up (neighbor wasn't home), I went out right in front of him taking pictures as it was happening and got a bunch of "F you, asshole." I think my neighbor ended up with $300 or something. It tore his yard up pretty good.

If that happened to my house, I would consider a lawsuit against the trucking company if they behaved that way. There is a famous case from Wisconsin about a company that moved a mobile across someone's property without permission and they were hit with $100k in punitive damages. https://caselaw.findlaw.com/wi-supreme-court/1261602.html (also mentions a seminal case, Kink v. Combs)

If most Iowans were in the shoes of that trucker, even with someone taking a picture, they'd be like "OMG, I'm SOOOOO sorry I made a wrong turn. Can you please help me get my truck out of here and let the owners know I'm super sorry I ripped up their lawn and that I'll get someone back out here ASAP to fix it?" What a prick.

We had a viaduct right next to my place in Evanston that shredded trailers like a god damned sardine can. I helped two truckers back the hell out of there down a one way when they made a wrong turn. I helped a few guys navigate back to the freeway as well because it turns out there was some GPS app that had the wrong fucking truck route on it and guys would get stuck in my neighborhood with some regularity and there were only two routes back out of downtown Evanston with truck clearance because the CTA and Metra tracks had super low clearance due to where they built the track bed 100+ years ago.

This video of these people in NYC demonstrates what is wrong with America today. That trucker is having a bad fucking day and these assholes just swarm him and make it worse. No one offering to help. It's unreal.

 

[MelroseHawkins]

Just an update, but I bought a PBC a couple weeks ago and I love it. I still like my kettle and I will keep it for grilling, but this PBC is a ribs and chicken MACHINE.

Had a cookout for my 40th and throughout the course of the day I did 5 racks of St. Louis ribs and 5 whole chickens on one basket. Used apple wood and as far as smoke flavor it puts a pellet grill to shame. I'd have no bones about firing up the pit barrel and letting it run all night, my temps stayed within about 30 degrees the entire time.

I also bought the hinged grate which should be the standard one (they need to hit you with the add-on money). Last night I did 12 Tiefenthaler skinless brats and they were amazing. Charcoal is cheap enough that I'll probably just use this thing even for small cooks. With the kettle to do a shoulder or brisket you have to babysit the hell out of it with charcoal and moving the vents. The PBC you just light and walk away. Totally impressed and happy with the money I spent.

Man - Just looked them up and researched them. It's going to be my next smoker/cooker purchase. I like that you can just load it and go. I wouldn't plan on doing anything overly huge and hate large grills/cookers. Could I get by with the 14.5". Can a turkey be cooked in that size? I kind of like the portability. Again, just want something to throw maybe a couple chickens in or some racks of ribs, not at same time usually.

It sure wouldn't be hard to make one.

 

[Fryowa]

Man - Just looked them up and researched them. It's going to be my next smoker/cooker purchase. I like that you can just load it and go. I wouldn't plan on doing anything overly huge and hate large grills/cookers. Could I get by with the 14.5". Can a turkey be cooked in that size? I kind of like the portability. Again, just want something to throw maybe a couple chickens in or some racks of ribs, not at same time usually.

It sure wouldn't be hard to make one.

The Pit Barrel Jr. would work for you, but when you see them side by side the regular one isn't so huge that it's cumbersome. I'd get the regular one but that's just me. Once you get rolling you'll want to do some entertaining and you can fit an ungodly amount of food in it.
To answer your question though, the Junior will fit a turkey. I follow this guy on YT and he's using the Junior here:


You wouldn't regret having the normal size one, it's pretty light. The hinged grate is also awesome because you can flip down half of it to hang food, and use the other half to grill stuff on the grate like corn, beans, other meats, etc.

I'd stick to briquettes, btw. Lump charcoal is great for grilling but it burns way hotter and faster. With a full basket of briquettes on mine it'll easily run 8-10 hrs at temp never having to touch it. No matter which way you go, this thing blows a pellet smoker out of the water in terms of flavor.

 

[okeefe4prez]

Man - Just looked them up and researched them. It's going to be my next smoker/cooker purchase. I like that you can just load it and go. I wouldn't plan on doing anything overly huge and hate large grills/cookers. Could I get by with the 14.5". Can a turkey be cooked in that size? I kind of like the portability. Again, just want something to throw maybe a couple chickens in or some racks of ribs, not at same time usually.

It sure wouldn't be hard to make one.

I don't know anything about the PBJ. I would guess you could do a moderately sized turkey in it. You don't want to do too big of a turkey in a regular pit barrel because you'll torch the outside before you get the breast to temp. I'm not positive if you could do two chickens in the junior, at least not whole birds. I'm telling you bro, whole birds off the regular PBC are the best thing ever. You rest them for 30 minutes when you pull them and they are so damned juicy when you cut them that you gotta stand back or you'll drench your shirt.

 

[okeefe4prez]

The Pit Barrel Jr. would work for you, but when you see them side by side the regular one isn't so huge that it's cumbersome. I'd get the regular one but that's just me. Once you get rolling you'll want to do some entertaining and you can fit an ungodly amount of food in it.
To answer your question though, the Junior will fit a turkey. I follow this guy on YT and he's using the Junior here:


You wouldn't regret having the normal size one, it's pretty light. The hinged grate is also awesome because you can flip down half of it to hang food, and use the other half to grill stuff on the grate like corn, beans, other meats, etc.

I'd stick to briquettes, btw. Lump charcoal is great for grilling but it burns way hotter and faster. With a full basket of briquettes on mine it'll easily run 8-10 hrs at temp never having to touch it. No matter which way you go, this thing blows a pellet smoker out of the water in terms of flavor.

On these issues, I have to agree with Fryowa. The regular size isn't that big. I travel with mine. It ain't bad as long as you have a truck or SUV. You can get long burn times on coals, but if you are doing a big ass pork shoulder, you will have to lift the lid a few times to let the coals breathe. Basically, if you leave a 10+ pound shoulder on it, at some point you'll lose a fair amount of ambient heat inside the smoker because so much fat will drip on the coals. But the level of attention we're talking here is to pop the lid and maybe leave it cracked for 5 minutes once every 3 or 4 hours to burn off the fat that has dripped into your coals (i.e., you're not down there adding coals or adjusting 6 different vents every 15 minutes and oscillating between 200 and 400 with a small change on one vent). I had to go to work one Sunday while doing a shoulder and I started it around 10 and didn't get home until after 4 and my temp in the barrel had dropped into the 220 range from all the fat drippings, but 5 minutes with the lid cracked and it was back up to 290-ish once I burned the fat off the coals. That significantly delayed supper that night and I had a pissed off wife. Shoulder is the only thing that has given me that issue, though, which is understandable because of the sheer quantity of fat in the meat.

Fryowa seems to like the hinged grate. I personally am not a huge fan and have only used it when doing ribs a few times. I don't think it is a necessary accessory. The two must have accessories are (a) the ash catcher and (b) the poultry hangers.

 

[Fryowa]

Fryowa seems to like the hinged grate. I personally am not a huge fan and have only used it when doing ribs a few times. I don't think it is a necessary accessory. The two must have accessories are (a) the ash catcher and (b) the poultry hangers.

I do like the hinged grate. A lot of times it’s just me and my kid, and it helps me not waste the coals. For example, if we’re just going to do a couple racks of baby backs or say a single chicken halved, I can hang those on one side, and throw a bunch of skinless brats on the other side to take to work during the week. You can also do your whole meal in there and not mess with the stove. Baked beans, sweet corn, baked potatoes, etc.

Personal preference, but I would agree that the full size is the one to get. I saved the box and throw it in there when I take it somewhere so the ashes don’t get in the inside of my vehicle.

I’m not a big spender and I’m prone to buyers remorse, but this fucking thing is quickly becoming one of my favorite and most useful purchases. It’s not strictly a cookout tool, you can fire it up during the week for just you and the wife and do something small, or you could literally feed your whole neighborhood ribs. There’s a video on YT of a guy hanging 12 racks of St Louis ribs in his PBC and he nailed it.

 

[MelroseHawkins]

The Pit Barrel Jr. would work for you, but when you see them side by side the regular one isn't so huge that it's cumbersome. I'd get the regular one but that's just me. Once you get rolling you'll want to do some entertaining and you can fit an ungodly amount of food in it.
To answer your question though, the Junior will fit a turkey. I follow this guy on YT and he's using the Junior here:


You wouldn't regret having the normal size one, it's pretty light. The hinged grate is also awesome because you can flip down half of it to hang food, and use the other half to grill stuff on the grate like corn, beans, other meats, etc.

I'd stick to briquettes, btw. Lump charcoal is great for grilling but it burns way hotter and faster. With a full basket of briquettes on mine it'll easily run 8-10 hrs at temp never having to touch it. No matter which way you go, this thing blows a pellet smoker out of the water in terms of flavor.

Thanks for the insight. So, you are getting enough smoke flavor from just the briquettes and no wood on at all? I also read somewhere where the company didn't recommend lump charcoal but plain briquettes. You wouldn't throw some soaked apple wood on top of the briquettes?