How do you deflect?

[Hogsfan]

So in the next few days, I'm going to do my first KK brisket (probably...it might be pork butt instead). I am wondering what the indirect set up should be? I've got a heat deflector and a drip pan. My inclination would be to put the deflector on the charcoal basket and the drip pan on top of that, but I'm wondering how one would use the lower rack on a big cook with that set up as it doesn't seem like both would fit under the lower rack? I've also seen some threads that lead me to believe some people don't use the heat deflector at all and just use the drip pan as the deflector. 

 

I'm curious. Is there a generally accepted best practice for indirect cooking?

[ckreef]

For a Low-n-slow I put the deflector on the basket, the lower grate on the deflector, then the drip pan (or foil pan usually) on the lower grate. This gives a little air cushion between the deflector and the drip pan.

Just seems like the right way to do it.

[Hogsfan]

I agree for the very reasons you mentioned...but if you were doing a volume cook that required the lower grate, how would you do it? Drip pan only? deflector only with no drip pan?

[wilburpan]

I’m probably an outlier, but for my low and slows I’ll use the heat deflector stone, placed right on the bars of the charcoal basket, and I don’t use a drip pan. All kinds of gunk does accumulate on the stone, but I think that adds to the flavor, and I do clean the deflector afterwards. After the end of the cook, I’ll take out the deflector, open all the vents to get the fire ripping hot and clean off the grates. Then I’ll put the deflector top side down on the main grate, and burn the stuff that collected on it. Then I’ll take the deflector off, let it cool, and use a paint scraper to scrape off the now-burned gunk.

 

The reason I’ve been skipping the drip pan is that when I used to use the drip pan, the stuff that collected in it burned, and it was a pain to clean.

 

The meat goes on the main grate. If I need extra room, I’ll bring the top grate into play. If I ever did a cook that also required the bottom grate, I’ll need a new house, because that’s enough food for more people than my yard can handle.

 

How much food do you plan to make that would require the lower grate for a low and slow?

[Hogsfan]

We have a lot of church and neighborhood activities over here so I could see us filling it up a few times a year... Especially if cooking several different bbq meats which I've never been able to do before. So you think it would be better to go no drip pan than no heat (refractory) deflector?

[tinyfish]

Hogs have you tried to see if the bottom grill fits with the heat deflector and drip pan on the charcoal basket. If by chance it doesn't I would make my own foil drip pan or use a flat pizza pan on the heat deflector if you need all the grill in place for very large cooks.

[Hogsfan]

lol. I just tried it and it totally fits. Not sure why I thought it wouldn't. 

[DennisLinkletter]

I'm sorry to have to disagree here..

Please always use a drip pan.. A myriad of problems can and will occur if you regularly drip copious amounts of oil into your grill.

A little burning fat may add a bit of a desirable flavor profile, in fact I like a tiny bit of burnt chicken fat flavor but not much.

Heated past its smoke point,  fat/oil starts to break down, releasing free radicals and a substance called acrolein, the chemical that gives burnt foods their acrid flavor and smell. 

 

I also don't recommend using high heat to clean your grates after every cook. it's just unnecessary expansion, wear and tear if you are burying the needle to clean your grates.  A stainless ball works well.. if you buy a water heater pan to soak your grates overnight, your grates can be cleaned easily.

 

If I'm cooking something's significant like a brisket, I might put the heat deflector on the charcoal basket.  he drip pan can be set on that or on the lower grill  if you want to collect the drippings. 

 

I usually just put in tin foil from the front to the rear of the lower grill and toss my drip Pan on  it. This gives me a huge indirect area with only the hot air coming up left and right where the handles are.

 

PS I'm guessing scraping the heat deflector with anything metal may damage it or at least remove some material if you are not careful.

[wilburpan]

Thanks for the tips, Dennis. I’ll try using the drip pan more often. And I don’t do the burn off with every cook, even though I see that from the way I wrote my post it seems like I do.

 

As for the scraping, the paint scraper that I use has a fairly thin and flexible piece of steel on it. It’s more like a cheap spatula. I use it to get most of the gunk off, but I don’t get down to the bare surface of the deflector.

[tony b]

I'm probably the poster child for laziness here. I haven't used the ceramic heat deflector in ages. I just put the drip pan on the lower grate for indirect cooking. I only give it a cursory cleaning between cooks (often this is just leaving it out in the rain, then scraping the gunk out with a rubber spatula) and periodically soak it in PBW (Powdered Brewers Wash), which is great for breaking down proteins. Can never get it back to "pristine" condition, but that's never been my goal. 

[kjs]

I use the heat deflector and a drip pan for low and slow. I like the mess in a drip pan, not my grill.

[Lannoos]

Hello all, I'm a newbie, but I have successfully rendered out a few briskets on my KK.  

 

This being my first post, I'm not sure about etiquette, but I used the following setup and the results were awesome and easy to clean.

 

I lit my coals and let the temp stabilize at 180F dome temp (cooker was completely empty) and I heat soaked it for about an hour.  I think this tends to prevent the bottom of the KK from overheating trying to overcome the limitations imposed by the deflector, I find that i can keep a lower intensity fire by heat soaking prior to installing the deflector, then creating my indirect cooking environment.

 

I set my Stainless Steel dual bottom Drip pan directly on the charcoal basket handles, I added about a quart of water to the pan and then set my top grate with my pit temp thermometer attached.

I waited for the Pit temp at the grate to attain 200F.  At 200F I removed everything, added some Applewood chips for smoke, rebuilt the setup and then I placed my 15lb Brisket onto the top grate.  Monitored the "flat temp" to 196F (the Point temp reached 174F).  Pulled the meat and wrapped it, rested for 3 hours and then served.  Total Cook time as about 11 hours.  The bark was excellent, the meat was very moist and the clean up was a breeze because of the water in the drip pan (just used a flexible scraper to remove the fat and such).  I'm guessing that had I used the Heat deflector Stone and rested the pan on the lower grate, I probably would have been able to pour the fat out and just wipe down my drip pan.  I will try that method next time I do a brisket.

 

 

 

[ckreef]

Welcome to the forum.

What size and color KK do you have?

Brisket sounds tasty but if possible post some pictures - we like pictures.

[Lannoos]

KK is Olive Stone 23", received in May this year.  Not sure how to post pictures.  I tried but they did not seem to appear.

[GoFrogs91]

Welcome Lannoos. Nothing formal here in regard to etiquette.

Benton

[Lannoos]

Perhaps I've figured it out.

 

here is the Brisket with Rub:

 

then, when ready to remove from the KK:

 

and finally a close up of the slicing, this is the Flat only, point was removed hence the light top color:

 

 

[MacKenzie]

Lannoos, your brisket certainly looks moist, beauty cook. 

[ckreef]

Great looking brisket.

Tanks for the pictures - you're going to fit in nicely around here.

[Syzygies]

If you buy a water heater pan to soak your grates overnight, your grates can be cleaned easily.

Here, here. After my plastic water heater pan cracked, I sprung for a metal one, with the hole stoppered with an improvised plug from found parts in same store. Even a half hour soak makes a huge difference. Then, my favorite scrubby is the thick plastic scrubby one sees in the paint department, much tougher than kitchen scrubbies. Just squeezes between the grates, naturally applying a good spring of outward pressure to clean, one just has to pull it along the grates.

My drip pan / deflector is always a 16" terra cotta plant saucer, lined with two layers of heavy duty aluminum foil. Clean up after the cooker has cooled, folding both layers toward the middle without allowing a leak, and then cleanup is trivial, literally ten seconds. There's much about the ritual of using a cooker that I love, but I just can't see my love extending to washing a reusable drip pan. I ditched my rotisserie for similar reasons, it wasn't that dramatic a difference, and an absolute nightmare to clean. In Thailand, my favorite roadside barbecue never used rotisseries; they used active hands.

 

I set my deflector on the lower grate; my cast iron Dutch oven smoke pot is generally in the way of setting it on the charcoal basket. I've given up on reclaiming drippings, as there's a tradeoff: The amount of brine and/or rub I generally use is incompatible with cooking with the drippings.

 

Get the plain terra cotta, one never knows if a glaze meant for outdoor plants contains lead. In principle, even plain terra cotta could contain lead; I'm betting that a major Italian supplier to U.S. box stores is not using lead.

[Poochie]

Welcome Lannoos, you seem to have brisket mastered. That's a juicy looking one if I ever saw one. There's so many ways and items to use as a heat deflector that I don't think we'll come to an agreement on the "right way." If it works, it's a good way to do it.