John K BBQ
TVWBB Wizard
Happy Thursday everyone! I haven't posted much about my PK360 because we are all mostly Weber people. I decided to give the PK360 a shot because my used 22" Weber Kettle was getting a little beat up and I wanted to get something with a hinged lid. The PK360 has a lot of good reviews and fans, but unlike the kettle and WSM, limited support from the manufacturer, and not a huge fan or forum base like we have here for the kettle and WSM. It took me a while to crack the code on low 225 to 275 temperature control, but I finally got it! Here's what I did;
1 - I used this rub, it's been sitting around in my pantry a while, but I really like it. My only reservation is the MSG content, which I know some folks don't like. Otherwise, this rub is a pretty solid basic rub. It also has some anti-caking ingredients so it shakes out nice and even. Not sure I'll buy it again, but I have enjoyed using it.
Here's a photo of the 5 lb butt (just a cute little thing) on the indirect side of the PK, with some lump charcoal (Rockwood, made right here in MO) on the other side. The key to going low and slow is to fill the indirect side with charcoal, and nestle a lighter cube or tumbleweed down in the charcoal and light it off that way. Everytime I tried lighting anything in a chimney, even if it was only 6 briquettes, the temperature would overshoot and I was at 300F before you could finish your first beer! I have the Maverick temperature probe situated about 1" behind the butt, and just running the cable between the lid and base. Nice big chunk O'hickory sitting on top of the charcoal. PK's low and slow youtube video basically tells you to dump a full load of lit briquettes on the indirect side which NEVER WORKS.
Top vent over the meat about half open (other vent not shown, totally closed).
Not unlike the weber kettle one touch, the bottom vent control on the PK's a bit tricky to figure out/calibrate. I put some color coded zip ties on mine so I could better see where the vent would be wide open, vs just barely cracked. With this lighting method, and vent settings, the PK360 settled in at about 235 or so for a long time. I decided I would not touch the vents unless the temperature got above 265 or below 210, and I barely made any adjustments at all during the 6 hour cook.
Here it is coming up to temperature
After about 5 or 6 hours we hit 160, and I decided to wrap it and finish it inside in the oven. I called this a successful run. Here it is, close to the finish line. The bark on this turned out really nice. It passed the scratch test with flying colors before I wrapped it.
After I pulled the bone out....
After shredding
Being just a cute little butt, I feed this to a group of hungry teenagers and only got one sandwich for myself! The "customers" were all thrilled and I'm feeling better about my PK360. I think the Weber Kettle one-touch is still better in some ways, but now I can say with confidence the PK360 is a great alternative. I'll post a more comparative thread sometime in the future.
1 - I used this rub, it's been sitting around in my pantry a while, but I really like it. My only reservation is the MSG content, which I know some folks don't like. Otherwise, this rub is a pretty solid basic rub. It also has some anti-caking ingredients so it shakes out nice and even. Not sure I'll buy it again, but I have enjoyed using it.
Here's a photo of the 5 lb butt (just a cute little thing) on the indirect side of the PK, with some lump charcoal (Rockwood, made right here in MO) on the other side. The key to going low and slow is to fill the indirect side with charcoal, and nestle a lighter cube or tumbleweed down in the charcoal and light it off that way. Everytime I tried lighting anything in a chimney, even if it was only 6 briquettes, the temperature would overshoot and I was at 300F before you could finish your first beer! I have the Maverick temperature probe situated about 1" behind the butt, and just running the cable between the lid and base. Nice big chunk O'hickory sitting on top of the charcoal. PK's low and slow youtube video basically tells you to dump a full load of lit briquettes on the indirect side which NEVER WORKS.
Top vent over the meat about half open (other vent not shown, totally closed).
Not unlike the weber kettle one touch, the bottom vent control on the PK's a bit tricky to figure out/calibrate. I put some color coded zip ties on mine so I could better see where the vent would be wide open, vs just barely cracked. With this lighting method, and vent settings, the PK360 settled in at about 235 or so for a long time. I decided I would not touch the vents unless the temperature got above 265 or below 210, and I barely made any adjustments at all during the 6 hour cook.
Here it is coming up to temperature
After about 5 or 6 hours we hit 160, and I decided to wrap it and finish it inside in the oven. I called this a successful run. Here it is, close to the finish line. The bark on this turned out really nice. It passed the scratch test with flying colors before I wrapped it.
After I pulled the bone out....
After shredding
Being just a cute little butt, I feed this to a group of hungry teenagers and only got one sandwich for myself! The "customers" were all thrilled and I'm feeling better about my PK360. I think the Weber Kettle one-touch is still better in some ways, but now I can say with confidence the PK360 is a great alternative. I'll post a more comparative thread sometime in the future.
