Charcoal basket/holder for the PK360?

[Henrik]

Hi all,

I've been ogling the PK360, and I'm thinking: why isn't there a Slow 'N Sear for the PK? Or something similar? I recall one of our esteemed pit members manufactured a custom one, but I can't remember who it was. It was a nice charcoal 'holder'.

Does anyone know of any 3rd party products to more or less imitate the SnS or a snake in the PK? Minus the water pan, of course. Not into patent infringements.

Yes, I can create one in my shop of course, but I would like to see if there are any commercial options out there first. Or at least good ideas to steal from ;-)

[Larry Grover]

Polarbear777 was the one with the custom basket.

A couple months back PK customer service told me they are looking into developing a taller charcoal basket. Last week I called them for an update and they said there is none in the works.

What I do is stack two 12.5" cast iron grill humidifiers. Together they weigh 5.5 pounds so they keep the charcoal in place. It's not perfect so I'd buy an SNS if they made one.

[Larry Grover]

This was setting up for a pork butt cook with attached Pit Viper fan & Fireboard.

[Cheef]

Do you use chimney to light?

[Larry Grover]

Cheef
No, I just put a couple lighter cubes in the pile and let the fan do its thing.

[Polarbear777]

Post #19

https://pitmaster.amazingribs.com/forum/grills-and-smokers/charcoal/288652-pk360/page2

[Polarbear777]

Post #7 shows it dialed in for a 20.5 hour untouched test run (no reloading or ash management, just walked away and let it record until it was done) at 225F.

https://pitmaster.amazingribs.com/forum/grills-and-smokers/charcoal/448991-need-advice-to-keep-temps-going-longer-pk360

[Polarbear777]

In a typical brisket cook I do reload at the 12-14 hour mark, I still have coals left but that’s usually when I’m wrapping anyway. So I usually open the pk360 3 times a cook (in, wrap-add coals, out).

The controller is sweet that it press-fits in.

Larry Grover also has an instructional thread on how he mounted his fan controller.

[Richard Chrz]

So, none of these links will work for me. I had no idea that a PK could run the long cook, I want one even more now!

[Polarbear777]

Links between threads fail when the reorganize the structure.

[Polarbear777]

There is no commercial add on, which is why I made mine. 2 bolts, 2 nuts,4 washers and some 4” wide steel 0.06” strip steel all stainless.

Im sure there just isn’t enough market for pk360 specific add ons, like there is for kettles.

[Spinaker]

Sounds like another build for Henrik! Get after it brother!

[Polarbear777]

Clearly given what he’s built this is a piece of cake. The pk360 rain shield in my avatar was a lot more challenging to hand-bend to shape.

[Polarbear777]

I actually made a second charcoal container for mine that’s exactly half the pk360 width for straight two zone grilling.

The pk charcoal basket is that wide but it’s not tall enough to stack charcoal all the way to the cooking grate, which was what I wanted.

[Larry Grover]

Here's the link that Polar was talking about.

Mounting a BBQ Guru Pit Viper fan to PK360:

https://pitmaster.amazingribs.com/fo...pk360-tutorial

[Henrik]

Wow, thanks for all the great input Polarbear777 and (larry) Grover! It seems like a simple but good construction that gets the job done.

I was originally thinking I need to shape the holder like a fat ‘U’ (instead of a ‘D’), if that makes sense, so it would create a snake of sorts, and therefore run longer. But now that I’ve seen your solution and run times I think I could simplify.

[Onez]

Henrik I just did a spatchcocked chicken this weekend and found myself wishing for an SnS or some sort of custom ceramic divider.

I also looked into firebricks, but they are typically 4.5" wide, so if turned on their side to create a barrier wall, they'd be too tall to fit between the charcoal grate & the cooking grate.

I did use the PK charcoal basket, so I added unlit charcoal on the side of the basket nearest the meat and poured lit charcoal on the far end...figured the fire would take its time working towards the bird. I also had the end of my aluminum foil (below the meat on the charcoal grate) tapered upwards close to the charcoal to create a flimsy barrier as well.

Larry Grover Polarbear777 I totally dig your creative spirits!

[Larry Grover]

Got a set of Weber 7403 charcoal baskets for $15. Originally I discarded the idea because the measurements said it was 16.9 x 5.1" which wouldn't work. However, I saw them in my hardware store and measured them for the heck of it and it turns out they are 14.25" long which is perfect.

They are made of aluminized steel and you can easily remove the sides from the bottom so you could buy an extra set, tie them together and shape them however you want.

The user manual says they hold 25 briqs each but they are 3" tall so if you spill them over you could probably get 3/4 chimney in there (you have 4" to work with under the food grate.) Amazon reviews vary, one guy said he dumps a whole chimney into a set.

For L&S I'd use my old setup, but this seems good for searing because I'd prefer to keep smoking hot coals off the aluminum surface.

[HawkerXP]

Don't have a PK but use these all the time in my kettle. I believe they make a stainless steel version as well.

[Polarbear777]

I stared my design work with two of these but I wanted it to max and match the shape so I ended up making one from scratch.

I actually do most of my searing on an air blown dragon chimney or similar, since I like to leave the pk set up for low n slow with temp probes in place.

[Larry Grover]

Polarbear777
A Dragon chimney? Great, my wallet gets thinner by the day LOL.

[TNPIGBBQ]

This is an old thread but I recently stumbled upon an aftermarket basket for both the PK original & 360 made by a machine shop out of Texas, The Burn Shop.

They're 4 inch tall baskets that span the length of the grill with a divider. Giving you the option of two zone or single zone. I made one based on Polarbear 777's design but these have my interest.

Link for PK Original

Link for PK 360

[Henrik]

Looks solid!

[Spacecase]

I like it. At 22 lbs for the PK360 version, it certainly looks like they aren’t messing around.

[grillinglousiana]

yes i ordered one from the burn shop..you can move the divider

[TripleB]

Not as elaborate or structural as what others posted, but my simple set up works well for me..... foiled brick and a charcoal separator.

[bbqLuv]

Keep it simple.