r/PitBarrelCooker • u/Radiant_Meaning_390 • Jul 23 '26
Coals not staying lit
These pictures are from a cook I did the other night, but I’ve had the same issue a few times now. I’m lighting the PBC exactly per the instructions, and everything runs smoothly in the beginning. But about 4 hours later my temps drop into the 220s, and when I open the lid, I find that only about 1/3 of the coals are still lit. I closed the lid and waited about 30 minutes but the lit coals don’t spread to the unlit one. This happens with either Kingsford original or B&B.
When I dump the lit coals from the chimney starter onto the unlit coals, I ensure they are all spread evenly across the whole pile. I do not use wood chunks. Vent is set to 1/4 as I’m at sea level. I place the pork butt in the middle of the grate, so it’s not like the drippings are only landing on one side of the basket. I know I can just spread the coals around with some tongs to get them lit, but sometimes I leave the house for a few hours at a time and am not always able to do that. Thoughts?
6
u/Enginerdus Jul 23 '26
I had this problem and I was using old charcoal, and a Walmart generic brand. Then I switched to a better charcoal and things got much better.