Pit Barrel Cooker

A friend has had this cooker for a few months and it puts out some really good food. I ordered one and this is my first cook on it, I sure am going to enjoy playing with this.

Nice UDS

Nice! I just picked up these to convert

Be careful YetiDave about using drums that have had industrial lubricants in, would be safer to get a drum that has held food grade oil (ie canola, etc) or better still, a brand new unused drum.

You would need to burn those (North Sea Lubricants) drums out with a really hot fire to ensure the liner and any left over matter has been safely removed, and even then could be a little dicey.

Not soap and a scrubby ? Maybe I'm ignorant.

Alacrity59 said:

Not soap and a scrubby ? Maybe I'm ignorant.

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Apparently can cause issues, much safer with food grade drums.

While I try not to link to offsite forums, this thread is the ultimate UDS guide.

Yep, I'm gonna burn them out, they'll be fine after a few hours of fire and a good wipe down

Cooked up some flank steak and chicken breasts, came out just how I like it

Looks great Mike!

I love the spike and hooks idea, I may just have to do something similar with one of those drums

I did 3 racks of ribs today, it took just under 3 hours

Do you have to flip the ribs?

Wid said:

Do you have to flip the ribs?

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No, they hang in the barrel on hooks. here is a link to the website I got it from so you can see how it works

Today I did a brisket, seasoned with salt and pepper and some butt rub. I hung the meat in the cooker until the temp was about 160, then I foiled it and put it on the grate in the cooker and let it go until it reached 200 deg.

total cook time was 5 hours then 2 hours wrapped in a towel and resting in a cooler

I know this thread is old but I've had my eye on the PBC for a few weeks and was just doing some searches online for reviews and found one here. I think I'm going to order one in the next month. Do any of you guys regret anything about buying it? It seems to have nothing but great reviews.

Is there anything to keep the direct heat from burning the bottom of whatever you are cooking? Or keep the drippings from landing in the coals? Is it just the distance that makes it a smoker?
It's definitely interesting.

Since I got mine its all I use for ribs, chicken, brisket, and roasts. My green egg and kettles just cook steaks, burgers and such.

I checked those out, nice cookers, but for $289 each it's a bit steep for a barrel with welded horseshoes. The latest one I built in total was about $125. Found a barrel for $10, then the grates and other accessories made up the rest of the cost. They work wonderfully, I've never tried mine with hanging the meat like the pictures, seems like it'd cook uneven, and the part nearest the coals would cook at a much hotter temp.

I actually bought 2 barrels, and with the second I'm planning on building a cold smoker so I can smoke cheeses on it. I'll use my existing as the smoke source, then pipe it over to the "cold smoker" barrel with some flexible ducting. Just haven't figured out if I want to make it a horizontal or vertical configuration yet.

Good looking cooks!!

Here are a couple pictures of a recent cook, 6 racks of ribs in one barrel and 2 chickens and a brisket in the other. I didn't get any pictures of the finished food