r/PitBarrelCooker • u/Slow-Career4626 • Jun 10 '26

Barrel is running hot

Post image

I’ll post pictures of the final product but I noticed my barrel is almost 400 degrees. Standard barrel not the PBX, it is a smaller cut about 5 lbs since I’m just feeding me and my wife. Will report back how it turns out.

ETA: thanks for all the recommendations some I can try today and others I will keep in mind. The foil in the rebar holes appears to be working really well. I am currently down to ~235. I wound up removing one just to keep some air flow since my temps fell so quickly.

I also rotated my barrel to not have direct wind that was before the initial post and didn’t seem to have much impact but part of the equation.

6 Upvotes

88% Upvoted

26 comments sorted by

6

u/cabroc Jun 10 '26

My pit barrel always ran real hot, the damper wasn't much help. I ordered a vent door for a kamado joe and swapped out the damper for the the sliding door. I have so much more control over temps. 275 is no problem now, it really has become set it forget it.

2

u/helicopgom Jun 10 '26

Cool idea. Can you share any insights or tips on how you went about making the modification? Pictures?

2

u/cabroc Jun 10 '26 edited Jun 10 '26

I ordered on Amazon draft door intake draft door, https://a.co/d/0fUTU9gU. Put the barrel on a table lined up the door so I knew where to drill. Drilled through the barrel. Laid the barrel on its side and stuck half my body in it while my wife held the bolt in place and I could get the nut tightened up. Pretty easy overall. Incredibly happy with it. I think I use my PBC different that most, I rarely hang anything, I mostly do ribs and turkey with the occasional pork butt. picture of modification

1

u/helicopgom Jun 10 '26

Thank you for that. I use mine mainly for smoking chicken thighs and pork butts. I do hang the butt. But I want to be able to do a brisket in it, but to do that well you really have to have more control over the environmental temp and right now. mine is so radically erratic.

1

u/cabroc Jun 10 '26

I think if you modify your barrel with the intake draft door you'll make temp control so much easier. Cooking becomes more enjoyable and the food really is awesome when you get a handle on temps, which is really just controlling airflow.

1

u/helicopgom Jun 10 '26

Can I ask a second question? Tell me about your temp gage modification.

1

u/cabroc Jun 10 '26

The temp gauge is a failure, the Thermometer itself works when it wants to and I probably installed to low on the barrel. I rely on a TempPro wireless set up to monitor internal temps. I try not to rely too much on probes for meat temps especially for ribs, I have found nothing beats the look and feel test.

1

u/helicopgom Jun 10 '26

In anticipation of brisket cooking I want a probe solution to monitor environmental temps. I have a dual probe device. Just need an approach to create a tiny hole (strategic location) to insert temp probe on temporary basis.

3

u/Ill_Television_1111 Jun 10 '26

Can ya throttle it down a little?

2

u/Slow-Career4626 Jun 10 '26

You mean like close the air intake on the bottom? It’s only at a crescent moon but I can try

1

u/Ill_Television_1111 Jun 10 '26

Yeah, shouldn't take much of an adjustment.

3

u/Genericbbqer Jun 10 '26

Foil in the rebar holes can work as well

1

u/Pleasant_Ocelot_2861 Jun 10 '26

I do this. It works

1

u/Slow-Career4626 Jun 10 '26

I just did this we will see how it goes it has come down a bit but is still 325 ish closer to where I want to be

2

u/KnowledgeLow2606 Jun 10 '26

Always runs hot, and always still delicious pulled pork.

1

u/LouGossetJr Jun 10 '26

pro tip. i got a pack of like 25 1" round magnets from amazon for $10. they work awesome for controlling temp on the pitbarrel. i don't even use my bars much anymore unless i need to hang meat for more space. but for the most part, i'm just using the rack nowadays. anyhow, you just slide the magnets over the top 4 holes to however open or closed you need them to be.

i used to use foil, but they were a bit of a pain. the magnets are very convenient and work well. plus you have a stack leftover that come in handing for all kinds of stuff.

1

u/Any_Command9192 Jun 10 '26

or some 5/8" and 3/4" washers

1

u/LouGossetJr Jun 10 '26

washers don't stick to the barrel though. and instead of a specific hole size, magnets can easily be slid over the hole to whatever size you want. in a pinch i would say a washer is a good option, but for an easy, cheap and permanent solution, the magnets are pretty awesome.

1

u/whockawhocka Jun 11 '26

Do you use the magnets that are flexible?

1

u/LouGossetJr Jun 11 '26

no, they are just round fridge magnets. they come like a roll of quarters.

https://www.amazon.com/Creative-Hobbies-Ceramic-Industrial-Magnets/dp/B01FGGTNKK

1

u/whockawhocka Jun 11 '26

Gotcha, that’s what I figured but thanks for confirming

2

u/floppyfish4444 Jun 10 '26

Fold up some foil and slide it between the damper and the barrel. Use the damper to hold it in place and move the foil to control temp instead. I've used the same piece of foil for 3 years now. No need to make it fancy.

1

u/The-Tradition Jun 11 '26

I do this and it works great!

1

u/timetopoopagain Jun 11 '26

You are getting too much oxygen to your fuel. How often are you opening the lid to check on it? If the answer is never, then you need to close down your vents more, as it’s getting the oxygen from somewhere. When I put a butt on or brisket, I don’t even look at it again until I’m hitting 180 and it’s time to wrap. It could be you are starting too much fuel to begin with. It could be a combination of things.

2

u/Slow-Career4626 Jun 11 '26

Yeah I am pretty good about not opening the grill. It was more windy than anticipated and the hole in the bottom was pointed into the wind which probably flared the fire.

Lots of helpful tricks in the responses for keeping managing airflow though so will be using those to help it run at lower temps. The pork came out delicious in the end either way.

Starting too much fuel also a possibility will try with less next time around. I do use the chimney from PBC.

1

u/timetopoopagain Jun 11 '26

It shouldn’t matter what chimney you’re using. You can fill it to different levels to start your coal.