Masterbuilt Gravity Series

[Chasdev]

Problem there is I'm the only one eating them these days as the wife is tired of bbq.

I just did four racks of baby backs which will take me a few weeks to eat (not wanting to over indulge), next will be a smaller cheap brisket just to see how it will go, followed by an expensive brisket as long as the cheap one went well.

I did half a dozen briskets last year very low and very slow in my pellet spitter so this year I'm going to dabble with hot and fast.

[John Setzler]

 

So it did arrive today.  Masterbuilt provided me with this 560 to evaluate and do with as I see fit.  I will try to get it put together sometime in the next week or so and get it fired up......

 

[O C]

Looking forward to your thoughts.
They have these in my local Walmart, would love to go pick one up this weekend. But its a timing issue...my wife's birthday is next week.

 

Happy Birthday Sweetie! Hope you like these. The girl at the store said they have 'hypo allergenic posts'. And don't they look just like real diamonds?!
What's that? Oh, that! That's my new grill. Hey, what do you want for your birthday dinner?

 

I've thought through several scenarios. None of them end well.

[Chasdev]

Here's my thoughts while he's putting his together..

It's a great deal for a gravity cooker, nowhere on earth can you get into this type for anywhere near the dollars.

If it lasts 10 years it will have been the deal of the decade, if it lasts 5 years it was still a good deal.

It hits all my sweet spots and while my first brisket cook is delayed a few weeks I already love how it holds temps and keeps me in my living room chair instead of slaved to a pile of wood or bag of charcoal.

[T Yelta]

 

Thanks for the updates everyone. I am not as concerned about the warranty as some might be because this is a new type of grill / smoker as far as I can tell in terms of how it works and the high heat range and no one really knows how it will stand up over time. If the electronics went bad on this then I would re-wire it and use a Heatermeter to control it. I am more concerned about how the metal will hold up over time and again, no one really knows at this point.

 

I'm most interested in the smoke profile and as someone said want to know how that is for people here on the Guru who I can be sure have used charcoal rather than people on FB who may or may not be new to charcoal.

 

I don't know if I really want cast iron grates as a full time cooking surface as I prefer stainless steel just because it's easier to care for.

 

I feel like this will be a "mod" friendly grill with a large user base and I like that about it as well.

 

I have yet to see one in a local store so maybe they have been just that popular selling out quickly.

 

I'll naturally be looking forward to John's thoughts and videos.

 

Happy cooking Gurus

[John Setzler]

1 minute ago, T Yelta said:

 

 

 

I feel like this will be a "mod" friendly grill with a large user base and I like that about it as well.

 

 

 

THIS would be enough to make me shy away from buying.  If I thought the grill was going to need any kind of modification to make it work properly then I would never ever ever buy it.  Why would I?  I don't buy other things that I think are gonna need end user modifications to perform well.  

 

But you are right.. the facebook group for this grill is already racking up modifications to fix problems that don't exist

[Chasdev]

Don't consider it a mod but I like to use a drip pan and raise the meat above it so the smoke can get to all sides.

I also like to elevate the drip pan off the cast iron grate in the hope of lowering it's temp.

[T Yelta]

14 minutes ago, John Setzler said:

 

THIS would be enough to make me shy away from buying.  If I thought the grill was going to need any kind of modification to make it work properly then I would never ever ever buy it.  Why would I?  I don't buy other things that I think are gonna need end user modifications to perform well.  

 

But you are right.. the facebook group for this grill is already racking up modifications to fix problems that don't exist

 

You know how it is, some of us can't leave well enough alone 

[John Setzler]

The big modification that everyone is doing to this grill is 'fixing' the grill grate where only tiny pieces of charcoal can fall through into the ash pan.  They believe charcoal is somehow getting wasted when it falls through.  Another thing I see that is interesting is that it APPEARS that a majority of folks are using kingsford briquettes instead of lump....

 

[pr0wlunwoof]

2 hours ago, John Setzler said:

Another thing I see that is interesting is that it APPEARS that a majority of folks are using kingsford briquettes instead of lump....

 

I prefer briquettes in my gravity feed. Not necessarily kingsford. Briquettes last longer than lump and is cheaper. I kind of like royal oak bricks, but I've burned every kind of cheap coal I can find. I flavor with pecan chunks and cannot tell a difference in flavor or performance. Mostly my cooks are below 275 so higher temp cooks might have different results.

[Chasdev]

I did the break-in burn with kingsford and have been cooking with KamadoJoe xxl lump and I can state for a fact that the KamadoJoe lump is vastly superior.

Enough of it falls through the grate to ignite the hardwood chunks and they burn to completion emitting lots of great smelling smoke.

So much so that from now on, other then placing one chunk of wood at the bottom of the charcoal chute to get the party started, all my smoke wood will be in the ash bucket.

[pmillen]

17 hours ago, John Setzler said:

Another thing I see that is interesting is that it APPEARS that a majority of folks are using kingsford briquettes instead of lump....

 

Isn't that okay?  It appears that Masterbuilt's introductory video shows briquettes being dumped in.

 

[John Setzler]

1 hour ago, pmillen said:

 

Isn't that okay?  It appears that Masterbuilt's introductory video shows briquettes being dumped in.

 

 

It's definitely ok to use it.  It just causes the 'problems' that make all these guys want to modify the charcoal grate on the grill.

[pmillen]

1 hour ago, John Setzler said:

It's definitely ok to use it.  It just causes the 'problems' that make all these guys want to modify the charcoal grate on the grill.

Oh.  I can't read the discussions now without joining.  I gather that for each size of charcoal piece there’s an ideal size for the grate openings.  It kinda’ makes sense, then, for users to ensure that the grate is optimized for the charcoal piece size they intend to consistently use.  That seems difficult for lump and easy for briquettes.

 

Is that a reasonable assessment of the “problems”?

[O C]

51 minutes ago, pmillen said:

Oh.  I can't read the discussions now without joining.  I gather that for each size of charcoal piece there’s an ideal size for the grate openings.  It kinda’ makes sense, then, for users to ensure that the grate is optimized for the charcoal piece size they intend to consistently use.  That seems difficult for lump and easy for briquettes.

 

Is that a reasonable assessment of the “problems”?

There is a private group with almost the same name, and a public group. The public one should still be open