Various PK mods for low 'n slow

[Henrik]

So, as some of you may know, I've been prototyping a Snake Charmerâ„¢ for the PK 300. It is now on version 3, and I think I'm done. Just wanted to share that with you, with photos so you can see.

I decided to go with a straight snake, as I still get plenty of burn time, plus I can utilize the full length of the grill. As an added bonus it is more light-weight.


Here it is outside the grill, notice the two tabs






And here it is "mounted"



So, what are the two tabs for? Well, I noticed when using it that if I poke around in the coals/briquettes it slides over quite easily. To prevent that from happening I welded two tabs on it that penetrates the coal grate about 3/8", meaning it stays in place. It is still just as easy to move or pick up, but now I can "lock" it in various positions.

Mod no. 2
I want to do a brisket on the PK. But as you may know it's not a huge grill. There is limited grate area, meaning the snake won't work, as it takes up space. So I figured using a deflector just like in a Kamado would work. I decided I could knock one out real quick so I did. I cut out a 5 mm steel plate and then welded two flat metal bars on top. They serve two purposes:

1. Make sure the plate doesn't warp due to high heat (not a very high risk, but better safe than sorry)

2. Provide a distance/spacer for where to place the drip pan, so the drip pan isn't directly on the (very hot) metal.


The grill, in it's original setup




The custom built deflector plate (won't win design awards, but get's the job done)




And the drip pan in place



The drip pan is just an example, I will use a bigger one, just waiting for that and the elevated 2nd grid to arrive from Amazon.

So, good fun in the shop today!

End result:

1. Snake Charmerâ„¢ v3 is a hit. Locked down design, ready to go to work.

2. Really looking forward to testing out my deflector plate for a long cook where I can fill the entire coal grate with briquettes and still use the entire grate area. It's gonna be either a pork butt or a brisket. But might do a dry run first to see how it behaves with temp et.c. Will use the Pit Viper fan and FireBoard 2 for that.

Enjoy your Saturday folks!

[LA Pork Butt]

Creative thinking! We look forward to hearing a report on effectiveness.

[ILMsmoke]

Thanks for the idea! My PK should be delivered today. My plan is to build a type of deflector also. I ordered the cookmore for mine. Is your plan to run the drip pan on the cooking grate and cook on the top level? I was considering building 4 legs for mine and running it under main grate with the legs locking into the charcoal grate. This wouldn't solve the lack of water pan issue though...

[Henrik]

Nice, you're gonna love it! It's an awesome grill all around. See below for how I stack things on the grill.

[RonB]

Great job Henrik. I love this kind of stuff.

[Henrik]

Thanks RonB, it's fun to experiment! See below.

[rlozinak]

Good job, can't wait to see how it works out

[kjbarth]

Nice designs. What about adding a wedge shaped water reservoir to your snake charmer to create a little barrier from the heat to the indirect side and add some moisture to the cook?? My guess is you already thought about it and decided against but wanted to hear your thoughts.

[Henrik]

Thanks for your suggestions! The metal wall is rather thick and effectively prevents heat radiation. And although it isn't scientific, I have never felt or experienced the need for the water pan in a PK. Can't back that up with evidence though :-)

[Henrik]

I figured: why wait? So I decided to do a dry run with the deflector plate today. It is still running, but here are some photos.

The minion method



As you all can see I didn't stack them OCD style a la Spinaker. I figured this was good enough for a first test, just to see how it behaves. I lit 12 (exactly) briquettes and then dumped them in the middle (no unlit briquettes underneath).

I then placed the deflector plate on the grill grates, followed by a drip pan, and then a wire rack so I could place two temp probes. I figured it would be interesting to see if there are differences.


The test setup



I also rotated the BBQ Guru fan adapter so air is directed straight down, instead of slightly to the left when I was using the snake. Turned out I didn't need/use the fan at all, read on.

I had all four vents fully open, then closed the lid and waited for it to come up to temp.

Observations
1. From the start and althrough the "cook", the right probe (in the photo above) was 24-30 deg hotter than the left. It still is.
2. It pretty soon hit 120° C (250° F), and I turned the vents down already at 100° C. But it just kept climbing, to lock in at 155° C (on the left probe), and 184° C on the right probe. Both bottom vents are fully closed, and the two vents in the lid have a 1/2" gap.


Challenges
1. Why was it running so hot? Should I light fewer briquettes next time? Most likely.
2. Why is there such a relatively big temp difference left to right? Need to add more probes so it wasn't a "one-off" incorrect probe reading.

TODOs
1. Use the factory probe holes to avoid a gap between top and bottom. Noob mistake! Jeez Hank, how long have you been doing this? :-)
2. Try different coal lighting strategy. Try OCD stacking? Dropping lit briquettes at one end (and hope for even temp distribution)?


Here's the temp chart so far. As you can see, steady incline. But it's been pretty consistent in the last 2 hours :-)

[RonB]

My thoughts, (and they are just my thoughts - I'm not a scientist. )

If you get a large difference between probes in the future, switch the probe locations to make sure it's not a bad probe, (or two).

By dropping the lit coals in the middle of the unlit briquettes, too many of the unlit briquettes wound up getting lit.

Try placing 6 lit coals in opposite corners to keep the heat as even as possible while limiting the number of briquettes able to light. If that produces uneven temps, try putting 6 hot coals centered on each end.

[Henrik]

Thanks Ron. I really think your suggestion of scattering the lit coals is the best option, will try that next.

[RonB]

Here's another idea. You could run a snake under the deflector plate. You've already got your Snake Charmer although it may be too long to make the turn back. That would be easily solved though.

Make another SC and you could make your snake an "S" for longer cooks.

[ILMsmoke]

One thing I’ve noticed with my billows fan is that if a cooker drafts well it will draft through the fan without the fan running putting extra air in the chamber. I ended up buying a damper for my fan intake to restrict it from drafting through billows.

[Henrik]

Yeah, I did remove the fan and plug the hole, but not until 3 hours into the cook. Will fix that from the get go next time. Astute observation, appreciated!

[ILMsmoke]

On the temp difference from probe to probe. It looks like one probe is a calibrated air temp sensor and one is a meat probe. That could be your difference in temps.

[Henrik]

Good point, that IS the case. Could very well be the reason. But I have a few extra thermometers lying around, will hook up a few next time.

[Henrik]

At least it’s chugging along nicely! Pretty steady, plus/minus 5 deg. RonB and ILMsmoke have had excellent feedback, this pit rocks! Looking forward to the next dry run, will make the actual brisket cook smooth sailing once I’ve dialed this in.

[RlsRls]

Looks good! Although it's way too much costruction for my abilities! Wondering, have you received the elevated grid yet? If so, does it fit on the lower grate with your customised deflector plate? I might try a similar cheaper modification with some haf size sheet pans, aluminum foil etc.. as I don't anticipate doing many cooks over 6 or 7 hours utilizing fans and such.

[Henrik]

A sheet pan would work just as well. No, haven’t received my order yet, will report back when I get it.

[Jessterr]

I’m thinking that both problems (difference between probe temps, and running hot) may have been due to the probe cables running out of the right side, preventing a tight seal between the top and bottom capsules. I haven’t used my PK300 all that much as yet, but from what I’ve seen temps are pretty sensitive to small changes in the top vent adjustments. The size of the total gap space created by those cables running out the right side is probably a good bit larger than one might expect, and the heat flow would also be in that direction, resulting in the right probe reading higher than the left. Guessing you’ll have much better success in both regards by running the cables through the probe holes.

[radshop]

I did the deflector method on PK original with a brisket back probably 2017, maybe 2018 and posted about it here. (I couldn't find it just now - not sure if it's my search skills or the way the site indexes)

There were 2 problems.

1. Not enough charcoal fits under there and it's hard to reload.
2. I was cooking overnight & fell asleep - didn't notice problem until everything was stone cold. Tried to re-light and salvage the cook when I should have just moved it to the oven

Turned out tough and dry. Oh well, I still like experimenting. Looking forward to seeing more of yours as well.

[Henrik]

Good feedback. I’ll do my experiments daytime 😄