My first cook on the PK

[Big Easy]

I got some nice NY Strip steaks from Costco, along with some beautiful asparagus. Decided to do a 2 zone cook on the new PK.
Charcoal in the charcoal basket, none in the other half of the grill. GrillGrates up top.
The surface temperature of the GrillGrates at the charcoal end of the grill was 681 degrees f. The surface temp at the "cool" end was 328 degrees f.
The steaks were given a light rub of my cherry smoked sea salt 4 hours before hitting the grill. The asparagus was put on the grill 20 minutes before the steaks.
Dinner looked fantastic, and it tasted better than it looked.

[Troutman]

Beautiful !!!

[ComfortablyNumb]

Welcome to the PK family!

[TripleB]

PK all the Way.... and then some! Beautiful steaks. Love my PK's. Got the tailgate stand and took my PK to a UCLA game. Put out some great burgers, but my team got ground up . Enjoy and welcome to the family.

[TNPIGBBQ]

Second this. The tailgate stand is great. The folding stand would be even better if you’re taking it places frequently.

[TripleB]

I bought the folding stand to replace the original stand, which I use now around the yard to carry my gardening supplies and tools. The folding stand is great. Able to wheel the grill, charcoal chimney, tools and a big bag of KBB’s on one load. The folding stand even has a reservoir to catch charcoal dust from the bottom vents. Nice touch.

[tbob4]

Beautiful photo!

[TNPIGBBQ]

Looks fantastic! Welcome to the PK club.

i just did my first cook tonight on the grill grates I picked up on Black Friday tonight (salmon). Grill grates and a PK go together like peas & carrots.

If you grill a lot I’d go ahead and pickup the stainless steel charcoal grate & cooking grid combo, while they’re still on sale. They’re a massive upgrade over the stock metal.

[Big Easy]

I just took your advice and ordered the combo. Pretty easy to justify, since I was able to pick up the PK for $256.54delivered. The price is now back to $364.98

[radshop]

Go, man, go! I've lost count of how many cooks I've done on my PK in the 3 years since I got it, but my favorite one is whatever I cooked last.

[Alphonse]

Congrats, very nice job on the first cook.

That grill is a steak cooking machine.

[Big Easy]

Congrats, very nice job on the first cook.

That grill is a steak cooking machine.

It is indeed.
The day after Thanksgiving, a 3-day sale began at Costco on whole boneless pork loins and on whole prime beef loin (for NY Strip Steaks)/ I just cut up the pork loins and vacuum sealed them for the freezer, as well as getting 12 beautiful USDA Prime New York Strips vacuum sealed.
Looking forward to some memorable steak and chop cooks.

[Big Easy]

Looks fantastic! Welcome to the PK club.

i just did my first cook tonight on the grill grates I picked up on Black Friday tonight (salmon). Grill grates and a PK go together like peas & carrots.

If you grill a lot I’d go ahead and pickup the stainless steel charcoal grate & cooking grid combo, while they’re still on sale. They’re a massive upgrade over the stock metal.

I took your advice and bought the pair in stainless. I am curious, though. Besides the increased longevity I will get from the stainless, what will the stainless cook grate do for me? I am currently using the GrillGrates for cooking, and a pair of charcoal baskets on top of the standard charcoal grates. And don't misinterpret my question. Increased longevity is a terrific reason. I was just wondering if there were additional benefits afforded by the stainless.

[Alphonse]

SS is all about longevity, period. I have a couple of buddies that bought the standard grates with the PK Original and had to replace them fairly quickly. The SS grates simply have life in them like the grill shell and should last you for a very long time. As a matter of reference and you may well know, the PK360 comes standard with SS cooking and charcoal grates.

[TNPIGBBQ]

Like Alphonse said, it's about longevity. The standard grates are crap. My standard cooking grate is nearly completely rusted up already and my standard charcoal grate is now in a U shape. Got hot enough for the middle to sag apparently.

The cooking grid upgrade, also stands up on it's own when opened to make accessing the charcoal easier. I started a thread with a couple pictures on this sub to show the big difference in metal if you're interested.

[randy56]

Nice job, you'll never go back. And you will not be able to order steak out again. Got mine in the spring. Steak on!

[radshop]

Charcoal in the charcoal basket, none in the other half of the grill. GrillGrates up top.

Couple more thoughts...

• You didn't say, so I don't know if your charcoal basket is the PK version. I bought the PK charcoal basket, and found it to be the worst thing about the PK. Now it's a doorstop. The shallow, angled sides reduce the amount of charcoal it holds. And for a long cook, it quickly fills with ash and reduces airflow. I recommend finding a way to re-purpose it and just putting your coals right on the grate.
• I've never splurged, on the other hand, for GrillGrates. Thought about it many times, but never pulled the trigger. What do you think of them?

[grantgallagher]

I have heard that a lot about the PK charcoal basket but i have to say i have never once had that problem.

[radshop]

grantgallagher Maybe it's the basket, maybe it's me

[grantgallagher]

It looks like it should clog up. Maybe i just have been lucky

[fzxdoc]

That's a tasty way to break in a new toy. Continue to enjoy cooking on it. You've got a lot of yummy meals ahead, for sure.

Kathryn

[jfmorris]

Good job and way to break in a new toy.

I see that you broke the connection in the middle of the Grillgrates, to avoid thermal conductivity. Did each set of panels even out, temperature wise? I.e. was the indirect end mostly all in that mid 300's, while the direct end was all in the 600's?

I've done indirect in my gasser using the grill grates, breaking them apart in the center, but not in my kettle with charcoal. Just never thought to, as the kettle only has 3 panels for the entire set. I just use them for direct grilling in the kettle for some reason.

[au4stree]

Couple more thoughts...

• You didn't say, so I don't know if your charcoal basket is the PK version. I bought the PK charcoal basket, and found it to be the worst thing about the PK. Now it's a doorstop. The shallow, angled sides reduce the amount of charcoal it holds. And for a long cook, it quickly fills with ash and reduces airflow. I recommend finding a way to re-purpose it and just putting your coals right on the grate.

I just got the Kick Ash basket for my PK360, and it is the bomb! I have cooked numerous items on it since the purchase and it performs nicely. I think the thing I like the most is just a gentle shake knocks the ash off briqs without them crumbling and the nice divider that comes with it.

I was toying with the notion of building one similar to Polarbear777 , but opted for this instead. https://pitmaster.amazingribs.com/fo...52-pk360/page2

https://www.kickashbasket.com/PK-Grill-_c_40.html

[radshop]

I just clicked the link. Dude! That is freaking awesome. My PK charcoal grate is getting warped and I have to be careful or it slips off the stays. It's still okay for now, but at some point it will need to be replaced. Now I know what to replace it with. Quite a bit more expensive than a PK replacement, but looks worth it.

[Polarbear777]

The kick ash is what I’d also recommend now. If they only made it an inch or so taller it would be perfect. Their adjustable divider works well, but isn’t quite tall enough to stack coals up to the cooking grate.

I sent them pics of mine explaining that they should make it as tall as the distance between the coal and cooking grates.