I’ve been a long time Traeger user. My wife purchased me a used older Traeger about 6 years ago. It worked pretty well and despite replacing multiple components, I definitely got my $ worth out of it ($250, iirc). This past weekend, it decided not to feed chips. I didn’t have time to troubleshoot and fix it, so I just moved on. I’ll probably end up taking it apart tomorrow and make sure it isn’t something simple like missing a cross pin.


In January, my father passed and I inherited a Pit Barrel Cooker brand ceramic coated pit smoker that he purchased from the widow of one of his good friends.[url=https://pitbarrelcooker.com/products/18-5-classic-pit-barrel%C2%AE-cooker]This one.[/url ] I used it for the first time this past weekend (when the Traeger didn’t cooperate) to cook 2 Tri Tips. I had a little issue keeping temperature down where I wanted it, but despite it being more medium than medium rare, the food turned out to be amazing and the pit fairly pretty easy to use. I used charcoal and chunks of post oak for fuel and flavor.

(Pic of an old Tri Tip cook to follow)
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So, some of these drum cookers have diffuser plates. Mine did not come with one. Anyone know where to find one? Any other aftermarket accessories that I should have? I know these are designed to have food hung in them, but I haven’t tried that technique yet.

I think Subnet has one of those.

Sorry to hear about your father.  I have never used one of those smokers.

Thanks.

It was surprisingly easy to use. Basically a direct heat cooker. Naturally creates convection. I’ll need to learn to bank my coals.  I’m already planning on trying a few other recipes I really enjoy on it.

The hanging rods are nothing more than two pieces of rerod.   If you don’t have them it may explain why you ran hot.  The rods should be installed even if not used to plug the holes a bit.   It’s in the instructions.  

Be careful hanging stuff.  If your rib racks get done early and go to the bone pulling out stage they can fall in the coals.  Ask me how I know.

The pit barrel is great for low tending and pork butt smoking.

Edit and the meat hooks hang from the rerod.  I think they give you 6 or 8 hooks.

I have the rods and some baskets, not sure where the hooks are. Instructions are long gone. I might email the company and see if they’ll send me another book or a link.


ETA: I didn’t have the rods in at first. I ended up putting them in to control airflow, so I’m glad I guessed that correctly.

I never wanted an electric pellet feed thing because I never wanted to give up playing with fire, which to me… …is a lot of the fun.  

I’ve got a Weber Smokey Mtn, two Weber kettles, and a Dutch oven table with windscreen walls.   If I could afford more… I’d put in a wood fired bread/pizza oven and a full Argentine barbecue with a Quincho.

Did some chicken thighs this week. Turned out ok. Not nearly as good as it used to turn out with my Traeger. Not sure what happened. Might be a spice mix thing, might be I didn’t smoke em long enough.

Oh my. I did some HEB pre marinated Fajitas (both beef and chicken) today.

Perrrrfection.

Pork butt is on the smoker now.

i've made barrel smokers for years. i make my own diffuser out of 14-18 ga sheet, held up by 3 bolts placed at the  height i want. they're super easy to use and you can get a lot of meat on them. i like mine best for making chicken. brine chicken [ i only cook thighs and wings], season as needed, cook to 185-190 deg, remove, consume.
look for a buddy with a torch or plasma cutter, any kind of sheet metal, except galvinized, will do, you're just deflecting the heat.

I’ll keep that in mind. Thanks

Pork turned out great.

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Omelet with left over pulled pork.
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One rack of ribs just went on the Pit Barrel Cooker. I’ve got it set up in an indirect heat configuration. Found a half circle basket that sorta fits into the charcoal basket and put my charcoal and wood chunks in it. Hung the ribs (first time using the hooks too) on the opposite side of the barrel. Temp is hanging at 250.

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I've had one for about 5 years now. Ribs, half chickens, pork loin, venison loin - all turn out great hanging from the hooks.

Turkey has been tough - the outside finishes way before the inside. By the time the inside is done, the thinner parts are too dry.

In my experience hanging works better than using the grate.

I recommend getting a couple of these - Grilling Basket. Just make sure to get one with a removable handle - just take  it off, and run the hanging hook through the top loop. I've done chicken wings, skinless chicken breasts, and salmon this way with great success.

I'm considering "moving up" to one of these in the near future: Hasty Bake

I have one that I used to use, been sitting in storage for 2-3 years now. Works decently well, as said, they are mostly self-regulating and a passive convection cooker.

The pros is they don't require a lot of fiddling to get going -- there's an air intake vent that's your only real adjustment method, and they provide a decent guide on how to get it going. There's not much to do with regards to fuel placement or vents to adjust to get it going like there are with a lot of other smokers. Not *quite* set it and forget it, but a lot closer than many others.
Cons: Limited on what you can cook on it. As you found out, you have to hang it. Ribs are the best bet, and you can do some other cuts like pork butt with a little care and caution. As said, the meat can fall off the hooks which is a bad time. The hanging baskets work well, I've done fish and some veggies on them for the wife, and we've used them for other cooking projects. It's also a bit of a pain to clean out due to the shape.

I've moved onto a pellet smoker for main smoke stuff, and continue to use a propane grill for quick stuff.

I made my own with plans from on line.

Look up Ugly Drum Cooker. Pretty fool proof.

Christmas Eve cook



Ribeye roast (3.5 lb) and 3 turkey breast roasts. Pics later. All were delicious even though I overcooked the ribeye roast (live in SETX now and it was a monsoon today. Shoulda checked the temps more often, but it was pouring and I was trying to time running in and out to avoid the heaviest rains).


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Cowboy butter
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Turkey breast roasts hanging in the PBC.
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Now I want to do a 2x heavier ribeye roast.

Have you watched any of the Cowboy Kent Rollins videos on YT? He has done some might-tasty-looking things on one of those.

I have been using a homemade version of that for 10+ years. They work really well with lump charcoal and small chunks of wood.

A couple of turkey breasts I did for x-mas.

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Yes I have! I'm eyeing his model of the Hasty Bake right now, although the Rec Tec is might tempting too...

These two have caught my eye now:

https://www.oklahomajoes.com/bronco-drum-smoker

https://pitboss-grills.com/grills/charcoal/pit-boss-vertical-barrel-charcoal-smoker-mahogany-pbv24cb