Kick Ash Basket - Product Review
Kick Ash Baskets
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| KickAsh basket after unboxing |
Pre-Order Process
The Kick Ash basket
came highly recommended by a few people I know with a kamado grill, and I
reached out to Chad Romzek (Owner/Creator of the Kick Ash Basket) to gauge his interest and to at least let him know we were wanting to do a
product review of the Kick Ash basket. Chad was more than willing and shipped me a Kick Ash basket the next day and it arrived a few days later.
The basket I'm using is the KAB-VB, which is designed for the Vision B & S, Pitboss K22 & K24 & Kong grill.
Unboxing the Kick Ash Basket
After cutting the
tape on the package, 2 things jumped out to me about the package:
- There was no foam packaging, air pocket protectors or anything else in the box to protect the Kick Ash basket. I found this to be a little odd initially, but honestly, nothing along those lines were needed. The Kick Ash basket fits snug in the box, top to bottom and side to side. After taking the basket out of the box, I noticed a ring where the basket was sitting so there was ZERO movement during shipping. Even if it would've moved, it would take A LOT to damage this product during shipping.
- FREE KOOZIE! Who doesn't need a koozie? A Kick Ash Basket koozie in orange. A bonus add grilling accessory that will house my beer during all my cooks. Always nice to have a dedicated smoking koozie.
Immediate Reaction
After taking the
Kick Ash basket out of the box, the first thing I noticed was the weight.
It resembles a grill grate, but is much heavier and my immediate thought was
this thing is HEAVY DUTY! Gotta love that! Looking at the basket you
can see some weld marks where the metal was fused together, and I hope these
hold up for years to come. I'm guessing after using the basket, visually these will be less
noticeable and since its going to sit in my firebox, who cares right? As long as its a solid weld, that's all that matters.
The only downside to
the basket right off the bat, was upon handling it, my hands were left with
that metal, oily, greasy smell. If you've ever been around steel or
worked with it, you'll know what I'm talking about. I wasn't expecting
this but after looking on the Kick Ash website, it is addressed:
A: The Kick Ash Basket is made from Raw American
Steel. There are no coatings such as zinc, nickel or high temperature paint. A
light oil coating helps prevent rust until installed in your grill.
So there you have
it, safe to cook with right away, and protecting me from rust, again, gotta
love that! Only needed a quick wash of the hands and I was good to go.
Installation & Fit
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| Firebox before |
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| Firebox after install & shake |
The Kick Ash basket
comes in a variety of sizes to fit many different kamado grills. The model for the Pit Boss K22 fits like a glove.
Nice and snug against the firebox.
The only comment on the fit is when taking the basket in and out of the grill for
the shake, be careful when placing the basket back so that you don't drop it in there in the risk
of cracking a firebox. The handles on the side are great, but if you have big fingers, your fingers won't fit along side the basket and firebox. Don't anticipate
this being an issue, but something to at least consider when using the Kick Ash
basket to protect that firebox.
Prepping To Cook
Before having a Kick
Ash basket, I wouldn't get rid of any of the ash from a previous cook. Too messy and too time consuming to remove
all that ash. I'd clean out what made it
to the bottom of my grill, pour in more charcoal and cook. When I removed the fire grate that came with my
grill to replace with the Kick Ash basket, I noticed all the built up ash and
cleaned it out. Then I took the leftover
lump and put it in the Kick Ash basket before adding more lump. I was now ready to start the fire and cook.
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| Firebox after cook |
The Cook
The cook wasn't any
different with a Kick Ash basket.
Honestly, it was like it wasn't even in there. Not a lot to tell here with the Kick Ash
basket, it held the charcoal in place and fire was unaffected.
The Shake
Honestly, the first
shake left me with some questions. Do I
shake in the firebox and clean out the ash from the bottom or do I pull the
basket out and shake it into a bucket. I
chose to shake it in the firebox as to not risk leaving ash all over the deck
and hearing about it from the Mrs. The
shake took all of 20 seconds which you can below. You'll notice the amount of ash that is removed from the basket, leaving clean lump ready for the next cook. After the shake I pulled the basket out and cleaned out the shaken ash with my ash removal tool.
Now I'm ready to cook again with no ash in my grill.
Summary
The Kick Ash basket
makes for a great addition to your kamado grilling accessories. Without it, you're left with a mess at the
bottom of your grill and when it comes time for a good cleaning, you'll have a
lot of ash that didn't fall through the grate to clean out. The basket takes care of that for you,
ensuring that you will have good long lasting burns for your cooks every
time! While this product was donated,
the investment in the product is worth it and we would highly recommend
purchasing.
Note
Will continue to
provide further updates on the Kick Ash Basket and report any issues that may
arise. However, I would not anticipate
any as the product is well manufactured and if I do, I know Chad and the rest
of the gang at Kick Ash basket will be there to provide excellent customer
service.
Contact Us
Something missing in
the review that you would like to know more about, feel free to reach out and
contact us.
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