KBQ C-60 BBQ Smoker Pit

I received my KBQ yesterday, put it together and did a batch of chicken. I overcooked it seriously, which was kind of a bummer, but it's my fault. My meat thermometer probe wouldn't fit through the opening for it, so I just winged the cooking time. Not a good idea. I do have to say the chicken skin was fantastic, but the meat was very dry. I'm going to try a piece of beef next, a big slab of short ribs, and yes, I'm going to have a working thermometer stuck in it this time.The smoker performed great. Each chunk of wood lasted about 50 minutes, was easy to keep the fire going. This thing has really beefy stainless steel, no joke. And it's really a precision made device. Cleaning it was not a big deal either. My Weber is a nightmare to clean in comparison. If I were to make any suggestions for improvement it would be to 1) deburr the legs better as mine were really sharp, altho' deburring it myself was no big deal; 2) put a decent sized handle on the rear top to make it easier to move around, and larger diameter wheels, perhaps 4 instead of 2.When using this smoker expect to smell like a campfire before the day is over, at least if you use it in a wind-protected area like I did. Its exhaust fan will blow the smoke out & fill up your porch, so I would recommend being well out in the open.Ok, I fixed my thermometer issue, using a Maverick dual probe food/air with remote receiver, allowing me to go into the house and do my chores & still be able to track both the food & air temps. I cooked a Costco 8lb boneless shortrib slab dry brined for 24 hours and covered in Meathead's Big Bad Beef Rub(do an internet search for the recipe - use the saltless version if you dry-brine). After 4 hours of cooking, the meat was at 153 degrees & I decided to cut off a taste. It was fantastic, but no smoke flavor at all because I had the smoke valve turned all the way down & had removed the firebox cover as I was afraid after my previous week's cook of getting too much smoke flavor. I overcompensated. Too bad, so I turned the valve up to max & cooked for another hour. It was wonderfully aromatic by then, altho' I have to admit that it was a little overcooked @ 163 degrees, but still juicy and unbelievably flavorful. The meat was covered in that deep black bark that's typical of smoked meat, which may sound awful to someone who hasn't had this kind of bbq, but is a fantastic culinary delight exploding with flavor. All my son could manage to say as he stuck the meat in his mouth was "O wow this is good". This cook was on oak I purchased @ Safeway and was quite an improvement over the walnut from my backyard I used the week before. Don't use walnut, believe me... gives the meat a real bitter flavor. I took some of the beef to work for lunch & as soon as I popped the top off the container guys were telling me whatever I had in there smelled exceptionally good. The inventor of this bbq did a fantastic job!A Weber chimney starter is SO helpful to get lump charcoal going as a bed to start the logs... only takes about 7 minutes & one-halfsheet of newspaper. And it helps to have a chainsaw to cut the logs to the proper size for the firebox.Cleanup is pretty easy. All the racks come out & can be thrown in the dishwasher, the goo in the bottom can be wiped up with paper towels. Food doesn't exactly burn on, so that makes things a lot easier. I've seen a variety of suggestions on putting a tray down in front of the kbq to catch the drippings that come out of the drip holes. Personally, a cookie sheet with foil on it was almost perfect & made it so there was one less thing to wash afterwards. I'm thinking of having my machinist son make a tray that slips onto the bottom front to funnel the drippings all to a central point so I can use an empty can or bowl instead of a tray.Word has spread & now my neighbors want to borrow the smoker. Humm. Maybe I can rent this thing out...

This is an amazing cooking machine!First and foremost I would like to thank Bill Karau for designing an absolute beast of a smoker. I've only had my KBQ C-60 pit for about 2 months now but, it doesn't take long to realize how good this pit is. The design is brilliant pulling smoke down through the coal bed to get CLEAN smoke, all stainless steel construction, easily enough space to cook 3-4 packer briskets. As others have mentioned you do have to tend the fire and add small splits every 20 or 30 minutes but, you have to tend any stick burner and on a larger offset you only get around 40-50 min in between adding logs so it's not that big a difference. Ok about the pit... The fans are not loud at all but you can hear them, the temp dial is fairly accurate and it comes with a Tel Tru that is within 2-8 degrees of my I-Grill thermometer inside the cooker. The cable of the I-Grill easily fits in the small gap at the upper corner of the door without being pinched or needing any kind of modification. It has a small temp swing when the draft fan kicks on and off ie: you set temp @ 230 it will rise to approx 240 then when the fan turns off it'll drop to approx 220 and repeat but the cycles are fairly quick so it stays more near your target temp. 10-15 degrees + or - has been my experience so far.About the food...This pit really does produce high quality BBQ. Thanks to the engineering all you need to do is feed the fire, the KBQ does everything else. You do need to keep tabs on the done temp as you would with any other cooker by means of a leave in probe or other type of thermometer (I use a Thermapen). Most people that use stick burners don't use Mesquite due to the meat being bitter or having a creosote taste because "most people" (including me) aren't a true pit master that can burn a perfect fire at the correct temp for hours on end. I have zero issues using Mesquite in the KBQ...that's how clean this pit burns, which is an advantage for me as Mesquite has a wonderful flavor if it's burned clean. I can cook whole meals on the KBQ as you can hold/smoke foods in the smoker while searing/grilling over the fire. Another reason I love this pit is ambience...open flame...I get to enjoy a "campfire" while having some beers and tending the pit. I've cooked all kinds of things on my KBQ, smoked meats, veggies, and the best flame grilled burgers and steaks you will ever have! Unfortunately I can't tell you how good the BBQ is from this pit, it's something you have to experience for yourself....you can take the blue pill - the story ends you go back to your old smoker or take the red pill and.......LOL I'm sure you know where that is going. All joking aside the flavor and consistency that this pit puts out is outstanding. I could go on for days how good this pit is, and sure it has some quirks just as everything does, but you will NOT regret getting this if you're thinking about getting a stick burner, or any type of smoker for that matter. No I am not paid by or affiliated with KBQ, it's just that good! I apologize for the rant but people need to know about this smoker!

Update: If this is a smoker for you, you will receive extraordinary service from the KQB. The owner went out of his way remedy my issues.The smoking technology with electric vacuum draft from pit is good.It uses an open fire pit, with wide side openings. There are no dampers or spark arrestors and sparks do fly around. Your grandmother's old stove had more controls. It goes through wood logs like crazy.The smoker box is made out of stainless steel and lasercut sheet metal, but sharp edges are everywhere, watch your hands and fingers.Stainless steel sheet metals are riveted nicely, however so is the electric fan and control box. No chance to repair anything and the contacts of the plug of the electric control box are already bend. There is no electric on/off switch, your own extension cord is required.The control box can be removed quickly, but then the fan blades are exposed and are easily bend, when stowed away. The fans are noisy. There is no humidity control or drip pan. The fluids are oozing out from the bottom sheet metal corners and the company suggests to place your own pan outside on the floor to catch it.All in all great technology, but considering the shortcomings and the high price tag of almost $1,500.-, not yet ready for prime time.