Broil King is a known manufacturer of Canadian Grills that offer an amazing selection of gas grills, in different sizes and prize ranges.
Their models contain a lot of features like hood lights, slide out propane thanks, and condiment bins.
A lot of independent hearth and patio stores who carry pricey luxury grills provide Broil King for customers who require something other than the regular big box fare, but are not interested in spending thousands of dollars.
They also prepare the well-known Broil King Keg 5000 that used to be known as the Bubba Keg, which is a kind of insulated Kamado steel grill which can be attached to a trailer hitch to enable easier transport.
You can also get cook books, accessories and tools.
About the Manufacturer
Onward Manufacturing is the owner of Broil King.
Broil-Mate, Huntington, Grill Pro, as well as Barbecue Genius Parts and Accessories, are all owned by Onward Manufacturing.
There are certain Broil King models that are produced in the US while some are produced in Canada.
Regal, Broil King Imperial and Baron are some of the models produced at their Huntington, IN facility in the US, while Monarch, Sovereign, and Signet are all produced in Canada.
The phrase “Made in North America” is used for all of them.
For the last couple of years, Onward has been paying special attention to marketing their line of Broil King products and a lot of models can now be found at Lowe’s in the US.
About the Broil King 911470 Keg 5000
Broil King 911470 Keg 5000 Charcoal Barbecue Grill
It is very good for roasting, smoking, baking, as well as searing thin meats.
Although other brands require extra money for practically everything except the logo, the Keg on the other hand, is built with shelves, stand, extender rack, as well as a “Multi-tool” that controls the gate and dampers, and also serves as an ash rake.
We conducted a test on the older version known as the Broil King Keg.
The colors of the new 5000 models have been changed to metallic gray from bronze, and it has an ash removal system as well as a combo lower damper.
Majority of kamados are like molded ceramic ovens with a unique exterior, a design that has existed for over a thousand years.
A person has to be careful when using these heavy ceramics because it is easy for them to crack and shatter when dropped on the floor or knocked over.
BKK makes use of a lightweight, contemporary fiberglass insulation covered with steel and an exterior that is powder coated, making it cool to touch when cooking.
Rate of fuel consumption is lessened by the fiberglass body and because of its durable lightweight design, it is particularly suitable for movement when competing, tailgating, or cooking at outdoor events.
Broil King also provides the option of trailer hitch for either 1 ¼” or 2” hitch receivers.
The lid can close and the side shelves can also be removed for transport.
According to BK, their keg only requires a small, football sized mound of coal because of how efficient it is.
Though this might be okay for short cooking like fish and chicken, however, you’ll require a full load like other round Kamados, which is about half way through the BKK fire bowl, for long cooking or any high temperature searing.
This particular steel cooker used to be known as The Bubba Keg, followed by The Big Steel Keg, until Onward Manufacturing/Broil King, bought it in 2010 and had it renamed the Broil King, and later the Broil King Keg 5000 in the year 2015.
First Impressions, Design, and Construction Quality
The inside is almost the size of the Large Big Green Egg and a lot of the BGE accessories fit perfectly, though Broil King also produces a lot on their own, including an amazing heavy duty rib rack which can also be used as a roasting rack.
They have a special Diffuser Kit which is a drip pan with porcelain coating, that rests inside a cradle underneath the grate to catch gravy droppings and help produce indirect heat.
It can also be put on the reverse side of the primary grate with a pizza stone atop it to help moderate the heat on crusts of pizza and make pizza toppings browner by drawing it closer to the heat coming from the dome.
It is easy to lift the 2-positon iron gate with heavy coatings, regardless of whether it’s hot or cold, using the multi-tool in other to remove it or bring it closer or father away from the coal bed.
You can get extra cooking capacity with a plated extender rack rod made of steel placed on a steel post.
The post will pop into the mounting holes in the main cast iron grate and can easily be swung away or removed depending on what is required.
We’re not particularly enthused about cast iron grates, because they end up branding the meat with brownish stripes due to the direct contact it has with the iron (i.e. conduction heat), which makes it difficult to achieve a brown crust that is even.
The molded iron was likely chosen because of the round gate’s notched rim, which enhances the 2-position design, including the ability to mount holes for the extender grate.
However, Broil King decided to make the grate rails into sharp points instead of round or flat bars, in other to lessen food contact with the conductive iron.
However, you have to be careful when activating your keg to Mach 10 to prepare streaks, because these sharp edges can easily sear across the surface of your meat like red hot blades, (as shown below).
Though this is not necessarily a bad thing, however, if you want to prevent this, you should flip the meat continuously for the first couple of minutes until you notice crusts appearing.
The top damper is actually a cast iron with heavy coating that comes with numbered settings, which is a very useful feature.
Better yet, it is also the only damper we’ve noticed on a kamado that does not move when the lid is opened.
BBK made use of a single, thick fiberglass strip only on the dome, rather than the regular felt insulation for sealing the lead.
The front plate equipped with damper is clasped snugly against the body using two thumb latches.
Two detachable, black resin shelves equipped with tool hooks, are held together on springs that are loaded with pins, fit for a cooker that used to be known as Bubba.
Two bottle openers are also mounted underneath handle of the hood.
Like a lot of other kamados, you cannot set it for 2-zone cooking, which is an important technique that can easily be achieved on other types of charcoal grills by putting coal on one side to produce a direct and indirect zone at the same time.
The BBQ Dragon is one important device for any kamado.
It is a well-designed, variable speed fan clip on that operates with batteries, which can transform a charcoal bed to red hot from quiet grey in a matter of a few minutes.
It is very efficient for switching from slow and low to blazing hot.
If you have a desire to cook using 2-zones at the same time, get a cheap kettle or hibachi for the direct zone that is hot, and use the keg on the indirect zone.
Final Thoughts and Recommendation
It had wonderful packaging that included instructions on how to unpack, to help you get started.
Immediately we removed the outer box, we saw the Keg nestled securely in molded Styrofoam along with the instruction manual placed right on top.
This is a well-made cooker with a beautiful design, which comes equipped with certain useful features that need to be ordered according to the fixed price from other manufacturers.
It is extremely mobile, effective, durable, and long-lasting, with a lot of other features at an affordable price.
There is a 10 year warranty on the Broil King’s body and stand, but two years for all the other parts.
