Longways Basket Splitter for the 32 KK

[MacKenzie]

Tekobo, everything is looking delicious.  

[tony b]

I 2nd that!

[BOC]

@Tekobo. Please send leftovers to Michigan.


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[C6Bill]

I wish that little piggy came to my house ❤️

[David Chang]

i just roasted a shawarma using the 19 splitter in the horizontal position, but its not wide enough to hold onto the sides properly.

i am bringing the parts to a metalshop tomorrow and see if they can fabricate a horizontal splitter, and maybe one that is width adjustable so i can move it forward and backwards in the basket..

running a rotisserie with the basket split vertically is strange to me…

[C6Bill]

The vertical split is nice for reverse sear or for doing a single chicken on the spit. But i would love to have a horizontal option as well

[Poochie]

I was thinking about this horizontal split and I'm sure the point is to prevent dripping from going into the hot coals. You'd really have to split it at a 55/45 or 60/40 point to avoid drippings getting in the fire. Then you'd have to have a shelf of sorts for a pan to sit on to actually catch the drippings. For maximum heat, you only need a pan under the meat the smallest size possible. But then aren't you defeating the point of a rotisserie cook? It's spinning, but in a non-rotisserie cook, if you're cooking a Boston butt and it's stationary on the grate or turning on an axis, will it cook any different?  I figured a way to split it horizontally for 25 bucks but I'm not sure I want to do it. One piece of expanded metal cut just right will make it work.

 A whole different approach would be to make a custom firebox/coal holder just for rotisserie cooks. A half size (vertically) full size horizontally lump basket. It could sit on the bottom of the KK or raise it slightly with ceramic plant feet. This could made out of the same expanded metal in around 30 minutes. But you'd still need a pan to catch the drippings. 

I remember Dennis spinning a goose or maybe a duck on his and it was billowing smoke, but he said it was good. The neighbors thought he set the place on fire, but all that counts is what's on the table and it being tasty. 

If you wanted to do a single chicken, you could place it all the way left or right and use the vertical splitter. I'm thinking the drippings on the coals is what gives it that rotisserie flavor. But carry on. There's more than one right way in this case. 

[David Chang]

@Poochie looking at this again for the 19, i want to mod the existing charcoal splitter instead of making new ones to fit it horizontally and vertically.

it will somewhat be a 60:40 split.  two u shaped hooks on the splitter to grab onto the charcoal basket on the 40 side. small notches cut to fit the shaped plate to fit horizontally on the 60 side.. there will be a gap between the splitter and the plate, but i probably will use a foil tray anyway and shape the foil to fill that gap.

the 40 side is small for a charcoal basket but this is just for rotisserie cooks and the last two rotisserie cooks used very little charcoal. 

green markings in the attachments show where notches and hooks will be placed. 

what do you guys think?

Edited March 12, 2022 by David Chang

[Poochie]

Curious to see how it will turn out

[tekobo]

From my perspective, the key understanding I gained from this hack is that if you get the "up" part of your rotation above the fire and the "down" part of your rotation above your empty side, you get fewer flames.  So that means you can have a half and half split.  The main thing is to make sure your down swing does not drip fat on your fire.  

@David Chang I would rig something up with foil and deflectors or a tray to see how it works for you before committing to a design.  

[tony b]

2 hours ago, tekobo said:

I would rig something up with foil and deflectors or a tray to see how it works for you before committing to a design.  

Oh, you mean like a prototype??  (Sorry, as one engineer to another, just had to get that dig in! 😆)

[tekobo]

3 hours ago, tony b said:

Oh, you mean like a prototype??  (Sorry, as one engineer to another, just had to get that dig in! 😆)

The thing is Tony, I did my “prototyping” with the splitter lengthways in  the 23 and so did not have to rig anything up.  Dennis had already built a perfectly good solution for that KK but I needed to try it out to believe the up and down swing story.   

Now for something completely different: I bought some PBW as my birthday treat for myself last month.  What concentration do you use when you soak your grates?

[Poochie]

PBW  Peanut Butter and Whiskey 

[David Chang]

@tekobo too late. already took it to the shop for work. but the mod is not destructive. 

i just hope the guy understood what i wanted because i don't really speak cantonese and he doesn't really speak english. 😄

[tony b]

22 hours ago, tekobo said:

Now for something completely different: I bought some PBW as my birthday treat for myself last month.  What concentration do you use when you soak your grates?

I used the "standard" concentration for cleaning brewing equipment of 1 TB per 1 gal of hot water. Works equally well on the rotisserie parts and grates. 

(Almost pulled up an old Monty Python vid for that "And now, for something completely different" reference!)🤣

Edited March 13, 2022 by tony b

[johnnymnemonic]

This setup worked well for the rotisserie last night in the 42. Underneath the aluminum pan is a loaf pan. It was too small and had angled edges so I got out an aluminum pan and bent it where one side was a right angle and would hold up the basket splitter plate. When McJudsten shared his setup I didn’t realize how he did it until I tried to set it up. I took the slider rods out of the basket splitter. The side plates are bumped up all the way onto the ceramic ring and are resting on top of the dividers. Dividers are just resting right behind the deflector mounts tube thingies. Anyway the dividers are spread a few inches wider than normal.


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[David Chang]

On 3/14/2022 at 3:56 AM, johnnymnemonic said:

This setup worked well for the rotisserie last night in the 42. Underneath the aluminum pan is a loaf pan. It was too small and had angled edges so I got out an aluminum pan and bent it where one side was a right angle and would hold up the basket splitter plate. When McJudsten shared his setup I didn’t realize how he did it until I tried to set it up. I took the slider rods out of the basket splitter. The side plates are bumped up all the way onto the ceramic ring and are resting on top of the dividers. Dividers are just resting right behind the deflector mounts tube thingies. Anyway the dividers are spread a few inches wider than normal.


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i'm not familiar with the 42 but it looks like you set it up with very little trouble. what did you cook on this setup?

[johnnymnemonic]

16 hours ago, David Chang said:

i'm not familiar with the 42 but it looks like you set it up with very little trouble. what did you cook on this setup?

2 chickens on the rotisserie.  This setup started b/c people don't like the smell/taste of drippings burning up in the fire.  To combat this, you split the basket.  The drippings mostly go toward the front b/c the rotisserie is spinning in that direction. 

What's not straightforward about the setup is just taking the basket splitter components apart and using them a bit differently.  The divider plates would normally slide on rods.  The rods have been removed.  The divider plates normally fit into the grooves of the steel oval side plates.  With this, the divider plates are moved out a little wider.  The steel oval pieces (instead of resting on the basket) are actually resting on the ceramic firebox above, and on the tops of the divider plates.  Anyway it is pretty easy to do.  You just need something to hold the divider plate up at a right angle in the center.  McJudsten used a deeper oblong pan with sides that were closer to 90 degrees.  I had a rectangle pan, but it was too wide and not deep enough.  So I used a loaf pan and then rested an aluminum pan on top that I bent so that one side would support the divider plate at a right angle.  Anyway if you're willing to fiddle for a few minutes you'll find something that works.