Great review! I’ve been using a gravity smoker for 7-8 yrs. Does an excellent job, I found that I get the best results on my smoker when it put the flavoring wood chunks in the ash catching tray. The hot ash drops down keeps the dry wood chunks burning and I can easily add more wood if I need more smoke.
I have the 800 series with the griddle. Yes keep it clean, they are susceptible to flare up. Tip #2 : when starting up the grill keep the bottom rack free of ash. The ash can prevent a good start-up. #3: my grill comes with a storage rack for the power cord. I leave the cord wrapped to prevent pulling the cord out of the controller. And finally add wood chunks to the ash bucket for additional smoke. I will be doing my first overnight brisket cook sometime this month. I really enjoy this grill.
Tip from someone who's had one a while. Be very sure to clean the grease often. Whether wiping it out or raising the temp after a cook. Very prone to grease fire otherwise. Another difference from pellet is no auger or mechanism like that to jam and cause problems.
Originally, I loved my gravity series. Then the sensors started malfunctioning, the latches popped open, and a few other things have happened. Its also very difficult to clean the grill properly which has led to grease fires when I try to heat over 400 degrees. I love using this for smoking and grilling but there are a lot of things that frustrate me about this. I love grilling with charcoal and how well it maintains the temp when it works.
I own 2 MB 560s. amazing pits i love all Master built pits.. even at 24 below zero they fire up. there a beast. i had no trouble with the cords at at all. ..
I've had the original 560 since 2021 and absolutely love it. I put a stick of wood in the hopper and fill gaps with charcoal. I honestly just set it at 260 cooking on the middle grate and it holds at like 240.
I have one and I love it. A few flareups though. I use very little charcoal with wood splits and it's fine. I made the same ribs yesterday but didn't glaze it because I was drinking beer with my neighbour lol
Welcome to the Gravity club! I did my first coffee / cocoa rub brisket with your vid ages ago on my Weber Kettle and I was hooked. I still do that rub. I also tried pellets and got rid of it in a hurry as I missed the charcoal and smoke flavor. I got my Masterbuilt 800 almost 2 years ago and love it. The smoke is way cleaner than my kettle or WSM, and so much easier. Tip - build a raised expanded metal platform in the ash bin and put your wood there also, and it will add a lot more smoke if you want. I also burn splits surround by charcoal and works fantastic. I also wire-tied those wires up under the shelf and they are not moving and have had no issues.
LSS-MODS makes a very reasonable insert for the ash tray. It works great and gets the chunks closer to the coals. They also have some great other mods as well.
havnt watch the vid yet , and I will . I absolutely love the masterbuild lineup.. I have a few vids myself.. but let me give you a couple of tips, one , dont let it get wet outside keep it covered.... only do low n slow cooks, once you do some ribs, briskets bacon ect ect, you might wanna crank it up to sear a steak.. well , unless you steam clean it, FIRE! .. also I layer my wood chips in the hopper and throw in a chunk in the ash box.. these are WAY better than any pellet grill and have more flavor or smoke than the chargriller version,, Ive done sidebyside cooks.. Ive done holiday hams, boston butts brisket ribs loins wings and reheated pizza on it... their great.. use a small 12v milwakee battery if you dont have power to plug it in.. ill be getting the 800 version next with griddle or pizza attachment.. i use lump in mine.
My brother loves his 1050, and got one for my father as well. I'm still stuck on my weber Kettles and WSM. The Masterbuilts do a decent job, but definitely lighter on smoke. For people who are smoke sensitive, it is a good option with a bit more versatility than a pellet grill.
So glad you have a Masterbuilt Ry! We’ve sold hundreds of these in the UK and we really thing they are the best all round bbq and smoker. Most importantly the pellet grill killer 🎉
Nice! I have the Char-Griller Gravity 980 charcoal grill/smoker. It’s similar to the Masterbuilt. After two years I replaced the PID controller with the FireBoard 2 Pro. It’s solid as a tank now. I love it.
Good to have you back. Thanks for the honest review!! I'll prolly end up with a gravity fed cooker. I'm in no rush, though. I love my kettles and drum smoker.
I have an MB 800. It works very well. I use B&B charcoal with a stick of hickory (dropped into the firebox), which produces excellent flavor. My only issue is with the lower firebox. It lasted about 9 months before it was burned through. There are a couple different upgrade/mods you can do for this, of course, at an additional cost.
Really nice and honest review of the Master built Ry! Including the lost screw...lol. ribs look delicious and your homemade bbq sauce looks great! Looking forward to seeing a long cook on it. You're looking good after your recent hospital visits. Cheers Ry!
Pretty cool grill. I have the same concept with 2 of my weber kettles. I did the conversion a couple of years before these gravity grills came out. I achieved it by adding a BBQ Guru Pitbull Draft Fan and using my Fireboard temp controller.
I’ve been looking at the 800 series for sometime because it comes with a steel griddle so you can do smash burgers and what not. Master built seems to be the best grill in this genre. I’m jealous ha ha
I've had mine over 3 years now. I find the electronics are a weak point on these, i.e. can be very intermittent and a PIA to debug. I often just go to the weber. I would love to see one without electronics that you manage yourself. But when it works, it makes cooking a breeze. A 24 hour brisket only needs a reload or two of charcoal and wood. Also, a sous vide steak charred at 700 is a great way to finish. With only charcoal, the smoke is a bit weak. So I use about 50% hardwood with it, but it's a bit of a pain to get a good mix of the two in the hopper.
Great to see you back Ry!! I have missed seeing regular content from you and really happy you took MB up on their offer. I bought one of the very first MB 1050's available and if I may tell you what I have learned. #1 Pull the slides and never put them back in, the time it takes to shut down is because you're wasting fuel because they are not airtight. I have had mine burn through a whole hopper of the charcoal after putting slides in after shut down. Which brings me to #2 NEVER fill the hopper full unless doing a long low and slow cook for the reason I just mentioned. Just load the amount of charcoal and wood chunks you need for each cook. I like to either put a wood split or chunks in the center of the hopper surrounded by lump charcoal. The ribs you just cooked would only require about 4 lbs. of fuel so that's all I would put in. This is good for a couple of reasons, you don't put the slides in at the end of the cook (which eliminates having to remember pulling them out when starting, everybody does it so don't feel alone) and you can do a self clean when your cook is done. Instead of turning it off turn it up to 500, it will probably never get that high but it will burn up what little fuel is left in the hopper and burn off any junk on the grates and any residual grease. When you do that the grill is clean so you don't have to worry about a grease fire if you use it for a high heat cook. It makes sense and saves on charcoal since what is lit is going to burn up anyway use that to your advantage for 5-10 minutes at the end to burn up hot then smolder for 2-3 hours. You wouldn't fill a Webber kettle with 18 Lbs of charcoal for a 4 hour cook and close the vents at the end and think it wouldn't burn up a bunch of the unlit charcoal would you? I usually set the temperature to 500 and timer for 15 minutes at the end of every cook and so I have never had a grease fire (something people always comment on) and I always start each cook with fresh charcoal and a clean grill. The other comment people post about is the grill not coming up to temp, the solution 90% of the time they forgot to pull out the slides or because they didn't shake the grate at the bottom of the hopper to get rid of the ash and old charcoal so it won't light. If you take my advice you will never deal with any of those issues. #3 I buy large foil pans at the $1 Store ($1.50 now) and put them over the heat manifold to catch fat drippings when using both of the top and the bottom grate (8 pork butts). I just bend them so they conform to the same shape as the "V" on top and it catches all of the drippings for au ju. #4 Putting chunks of wood in the ash pan works great for adding additional smoke flavor but they work best if they are put on a rack that raises them up off the floor of the pan, I use an inverted rib rack that is perfect for the job. #5 You can buy a cast iron griddle from Amazon that sits on the grates and is an awesome addition, just remember the grill fan shuts off at 500° when the lid is open so give the griddle plenty of time to heat up before using and you can make smash burgers, breakfast, philly cheesesteak sandwiches or anything else you can do on a flattop. #6 Don't rely on the hood temp grill, buy a good replacement with actual temp readings or just go with a good digital probe. Speaking of probes the one that comes with it for internal meat temps that connects to the controller is unreliable so don't depend on it, again use a good aftermarket device to ensure successful cooks. #7 Last but not least is the ability to use a small battery pack with an adapter to eliminate the need to run a cord to an outlet is a great feature and one that eliminates the possibilities you mentioned of pulling the cord out of the connector. I have done 16 hour cooks on a small battery pack and it still had over 50% power remaining. Not only does that make it portable it eliminates the power cord and the possibilities of tripping over it. Hope some of this helps, can't wait for you to do more cooks again in the future.
My brother has a Masterbuilt Gravity Series and says there is an aftermarket steel insert kit that lengthens the life of the firebox. Seems Masterbuilt didn't use the best quality metals on their Gravity Series grills.
i have the 800 model which i bought a little over a year ago at walmart on clearance for $200 it seems like it almost uses a bag of charcoal on ribs but turns out great stuff my only issue is im starting to have problems with the door switches now
I bought the 1050 a few years ago. Great food comes out of it. Love the gravity way. Made about 100+ cooks on it since. HORRIBLE material. It got bad rather fast. Still works and all, but I wouldn't get one again. Still using it, but it looks really bad and doesn't age well at all. Also, love your videos! EDIT: I usually put the wood in the ash bucket. Works out really well.
Thanks for the review of this grill Ry, it's been on my "maybe for the future list" for a good while now. From what I gathered some people put their smoke wood chunks in the ash catcher, so that the smoldering embers start burning the smoke wood from there. I was hoping you would have touched on that with your review. But it may perhaps be a thing you can try? Would be great to know as I think you can control your amount of smoke more that way, rather than hoping that your wood chunks get ignited in the coal chute.
I wondered if you'd measure the actual cooking grate size please. The 600 sq inch includes the shelf and I can't find the cooking surface size anywhere. I'm replacing my 560 and trying to decide which unit to get. Thank you.
Solid review, pointed out some good stuff and also some things that masterbuilt can adjust or improve on… nothing worse than a review where they point nothing bad out..
He is back! Very informative. Thank you, Ry, I have been thinking about purchasing a gravity smoker, mostly for the set it and forget it feature. What do you think?
Very informative video, very honest. Wish everyone would do reviews like this. Please see if you can try a Grilla Grills mammoth? There aren’t any good reviews on that and your channel would be perfect for the review. 👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼
I can understand gravity fed with uniform charcoal briquettes so I think using a nonuniform fuel like lump charcoal would be interesting. Great cook RY. 👍
Great review and one of the first out there on the UA-cam. I think with the new features I’m gonna pull the trigger on this model. I just saw too many issues with the 800/900/560. I don’t need the headaches is there anyway you could throw a tape measure and give me the dimensions of the grates only on the bottom? Looking forward to cooking on this.
The two main things that I noticed on Ry’s video where the replacement of the three plunger switches in the doors they went to magnetic switches. The other thing I noticed was that the fire box had thermal plates. I’ve been researching the gravity series for about a year and a half. I probably watched every UA-cam video and follow along on the Facebook group. It’s always hit or miss. It also looks like the fan placement was relocated? Ry also made a comment about the hopper cover, but I didn’t get a good enough look at it in his video - it looks like it was re-engineered to fit better and not leak smoke. Costco has the 900 markdown to $600 with a pizza oven, however that doesn’t do me any good if I have to drop more hundreds on LSS/Klotes mods. And I surely don’t want to drop $1500 on the XT. I’ve always liked smoking on charcoal/wood chunks, but I sold my Kamado for a pellet grill and just can’t get that smoke flavor!
@@johnmccaffery5186 yep, can't beat that charcoal flavor! Lots of hit or miss on the master built gravity series, just can't pull the trigger on it just yet
@@johnmccaffery5186I have the 900 from Costco I got on clearance for $400 a year ago. I grill, BBQ, or cook pizza on it 3-4 times per week. Zero issues. It's the best home cooker out there, imo (the whole GS series). With the improvements on the new models I think they're more fool proof. If you love in a humid environment it's probably best to get the 600 or XT because of the ceramic coated metal. I live in AZ so rust isn't nearly as much of a concern.
Can you put more wood chunks in the hopper? I think that would make a difference. Trying to make a decision on the masterbuilt or Oklahoma Joe's tahoma 900. 🤔...... Just want solid smoke flavor my pellet grill ain't cutting it
It’s good, especially when putting wood chunks in the ash basket. Several people suggested that though I’m not sure if Masterbuilt does. They say at 225 with briquettes it will go 18 hours on a full load, I believe. Though I think 14-16 is probably more realistic.
Looks like that grill is a keeper. The ribs looked pretty darn tasty as well. I am wondering about the spritz you give them. I've seen you do that in a lot of the videos and I am not sure why. I've heard other guys say it doesn't make the meat any more moist inside because it evaporates right away. They recommend injecting so the added moisture is on the inside of the meat. I'd appreciate it if you could give your take on the matter. Thanks for sharing.
@@CookingWithRy But does it make the meat more juicy? I guess the question is Why do you spritz? Not that I believe one way is better. I just want to know your reasoning as to the advantages of spritzing over not spritzing. Because...I value your opinion. Thanks again.
Great looking ribs! This may be an elementary question, but what keeps all the charcoal in the hopper from igniting? Is there an auger like a pellet grill?
No auger. There’s a fan near the bottom that blows across the lowest bits of charcoal as needed. The entire hopper is sealed so the fire wants to travel through the opening to the cook chamber instead of straight up.
I use a jackery 240 battery to power my MB 800. A 6hr + cook @ 250f uses around 15% of the jackery charge. Compared to my pellet smoker, 35% of the charge.
It's pretty strong. Moving it by lifting with the shelf hasn't been any problem. And it still surprises me how light it feels compared to my pellet grill. Maybe it's the balance on the wheels. Not sure.
I don’t believe it’s double in construction all around, but in the lower section of the charcoal hopper where combustion happens there are ceramic plates surrounding the burn area.
Hmmm. No smoke ring. Those ribs looked like the ones I do in the oven. When I slow smoke ribs on my Weber kettle, they get that pink/red smoke ring that indicates they've been properly smoked...
STRONGLY advise that you do a 15 minute clean hot burn after EVERY low and slow cook to stop the grease from bonding to the interior. It's hell to clean otherwise
I have an AutoKamado that I think uses the same electronics. It's been a bit of a disappointment with regards to reliability and getting warranty repair but when it works, it does a nice job.
I always thought big, heavy and clunky for the tiny cooking area. I'll hang ribs or even 14 tri tips in my 22.5" WSM with a MUCH smaller charcoal ring. Last cook for a smaller crowd (March ~60), 10 tri tips left room for lots of sausage. Worked out great. And I can throw it and a couple of kettles in the bed of my truck to cook offsite no worries. So, this cooker? Sorry, no.
great/honest review but Masterbuilt has always had a horrible history of basic crappy electric smokers/grills. I had 3 over the years and they all quickly crapped out. Perhaps they've improved over the years but I wouldn't take a chance with that company. And before any newbies tries to attack me, I have 40+ years behind the grill.
Use more wood!!! Get a split and put the whole thing in the hopper with charcoal around it. Will burn for hours. At the very least do more chubks mixed in and also throw chunks into the ash bin once there are some embers.
I have a 1050 and I’m pretty sure it’s the same set up. The switches wear out in time. There are videos on how to bypass them, but I prefer to change them out. The concept of the grill is amazing and it produces amazing food, but the quality could be better.
It's almost as if you can store it somewhere for future use. I mean, are you gonna make just enough sauce for a single rack of ribs? Sounds pretty impractical
Yummmmm! That’s my usual thought when viewing these videos. Looking forward to seeing this grill in action on a long smoke.
I've had mine for 3 years now, could not be happier with the results. Temp control is everything
Great review! I’ve been using a gravity smoker for 7-8 yrs. Does an excellent job, I found that I get the best results on my smoker when it put the flavoring wood chunks in the ash catching tray. The hot ash drops down keeps the dry wood chunks burning and I can easily add more wood if I need more smoke.
I have the 800 series with the griddle. Yes keep it clean, they are susceptible to flare up. Tip #2 : when starting up the grill keep the bottom rack free of ash. The ash can prevent a good start-up. #3: my grill comes with a storage rack for the power cord. I leave the cord wrapped to prevent pulling the cord out of the controller. And finally add wood chunks to the ash bucket for additional smoke. I will be doing my first overnight brisket cook sometime this month. I really enjoy this grill.
How did the brisket turn out on this cooker?
Tip from someone who's had one a while. Be very sure to clean the grease often. Whether wiping it out or raising the temp after a cook. Very prone to grease fire otherwise.
Another difference from pellet is no auger or mechanism like that to jam and cause problems.
Thanks David
This is the new 600 series, I believe they have upgraded it a lot from the old 560?
Your one of the first BBQ channels I saw and I still enjoy your videos! Keep them up and keep sharing. Well done Ry!
Originally, I loved my gravity series. Then the sensors started malfunctioning, the latches popped open, and a few other things have happened. Its also very difficult to clean the grill properly which has led to grease fires when I try to heat over 400 degrees. I love using this for smoking and grilling but there are a lot of things that frustrate me about this. I love grilling with charcoal and how well it maintains the temp when it works.
Glad you took them up on the offer. The newer ones seem to be better from what I've heard. Thanks for the sauce recipe!
I own 2 MB 560s. amazing pits i love all Master built pits.. even at 24 below zero they fire up. there a beast. i had no trouble with the cords at at all. ..
I've had the original 560 since 2021 and absolutely love it. I put a stick of wood in the hopper and fill gaps with charcoal. I honestly just set it at 260 cooking on the middle grate and it holds at like 240.
I have one and I love it. A few flareups though. I use very little charcoal with wood splits and it's fine. I made the same ribs yesterday but didn't glaze it because I was drinking beer with my neighbour lol
Welcome to the Gravity club! I did my first coffee / cocoa rub brisket with your vid ages ago on my Weber Kettle and I was hooked. I still do that rub. I also tried pellets and got rid of it in a hurry as I missed the charcoal and smoke flavor. I got my Masterbuilt 800 almost 2 years ago and love it. The smoke is way cleaner than my kettle or WSM, and so much easier. Tip - build a raised expanded metal platform in the ash bin and put your wood there also, and it will add a lot more smoke if you want. I also burn splits surround by charcoal and works fantastic. I also wire-tied those wires up under the shelf and they are not moving and have had no issues.
LSS-MODS makes a very reasonable insert for the ash tray. It works great and gets the chunks closer to the coals. They also have some great other mods as well.
havnt watch the vid yet , and I will . I absolutely love the masterbuild lineup.. I have a few vids myself.. but let me give you a couple of tips, one , dont let it get wet outside keep it covered.... only do low n slow cooks, once you do some ribs, briskets bacon ect ect, you might wanna crank it up to sear a steak.. well , unless you steam clean it, FIRE! .. also I layer my wood chips in the hopper and throw in a chunk in the ash box.. these are WAY better than any pellet grill and have more flavor or smoke than the chargriller version,, Ive done sidebyside cooks.. Ive done holiday hams, boston butts brisket ribs loins wings and reheated pizza on it... their great.. use a small 12v milwakee battery if you dont have power to plug it in.. ill be getting the 800 version next with griddle or pizza attachment.. i use lump in mine.
My brother loves his 1050, and got one for my father as well. I'm still stuck on my weber Kettles and WSM.
The Masterbuilts do a decent job, but definitely lighter on smoke. For people who are smoke sensitive, it is a good option with a bit more versatility than a pellet grill.
So glad you have a Masterbuilt Ry! We’ve sold hundreds of these in the UK and we really thing they are the best all round bbq and smoker.
Most importantly the pellet grill killer 🎉
been using a mastuerbuilt gravity smoker for a couple years now and it's been fantastic. anything is better than pellets.
Nice! I have the Char-Griller Gravity 980 charcoal grill/smoker. It’s similar to the Masterbuilt. After two years I replaced the PID controller with the FireBoard 2 Pro. It’s solid as a tank now. I love it.
How easy is it to replace the PID controller? You got a how to?
@@zbassr2106 My friend made this video on how to do it. Super easy.
ua-cam.com/video/Z1E_sVyvnfs/v-deo.htmlsi=ohmx9gS0AENfKuxq
Good to have you back. Thanks for the honest review!! I'll prolly end up with a gravity fed cooker. I'm in no rush, though. I love my kettles and drum smoker.
I have an MB 800. It works very well. I use B&B charcoal with a stick of hickory (dropped into the firebox), which produces excellent flavor. My only issue is with the lower firebox. It lasted about 9 months before it was burned through. There are a couple different upgrade/mods you can do for this, of course, at an additional cost.
Yes same issue 6 months in and lower interior of hopper melted walls , hazard . Return it right away
My man with the no wrap ribs. Best way to do them IMO.
Thought about purchasing one of the grills but I still love my Weber kettle for everything.
Really nice and honest review of the Master built Ry! Including the lost screw...lol. ribs look delicious and your homemade bbq sauce looks great! Looking forward to seeing a long cook on it. You're looking good after your recent hospital visits. Cheers Ry!
Pretty cool grill. I have the same concept with 2 of my weber kettles. I did the conversion a couple of years before these gravity grills came out. I achieved it by adding a BBQ Guru Pitbull Draft Fan and using my Fireboard temp controller.
I have the Spider Grillz Venom on my Weber, thing is a freaking beast.
I think if I had to have one grill it would be one of these. I'm looking forward to watching you use. Thanks as always for the great video.
I’ve been looking at the 800 series for sometime because it comes with a steel griddle so you can do smash burgers and what not. Master built seems to be the best grill in this genre. I’m jealous ha ha
The Masterbuilt gravity is awesome. Love mine and you did a great job.
I've had mine over 3 years now. I find the electronics are a weak point on these, i.e. can be very intermittent and a PIA to debug. I often just go to the weber. I would love to see one without electronics that you manage yourself. But when it works, it makes cooking a breeze. A 24 hour brisket only needs a reload or two of charcoal and wood. Also, a sous vide steak charred at 700 is a great way to finish. With only charcoal, the smoke is a bit weak. So I use about 50% hardwood with it, but it's a bit of a pain to get a good mix of the two in the hopper.
Awesome pit Ry that I'd bet you'll grow to love!! Nice ribs. Enjoy brother!
Tommy!! Love seeing you comment on Ry’s videos. Yall are both awesome!
@@alecweibel5935 Ry is good people that I hope one day to meet!!
Great to see you back Ry!! I have missed seeing regular content from you and really happy you took MB up on their offer. I bought one of the very first MB 1050's available and if I may tell you what I have learned. #1 Pull the slides and never put them back in, the time it takes to shut down is because you're wasting fuel because they are not airtight. I have had mine burn through a whole hopper of the charcoal after putting slides in after shut down. Which brings me to #2 NEVER fill the hopper full unless doing a long low and slow cook for the reason I just mentioned. Just load the amount of charcoal and wood chunks you need for each cook. I like to either put a wood split or chunks in the center of the hopper surrounded by lump charcoal. The ribs you just cooked would only require about 4 lbs. of fuel so that's all I would put in. This is good for a couple of reasons, you don't put the slides in at the end of the cook (which eliminates having to remember pulling them out when starting, everybody does it so don't feel alone) and you can do a self clean when your cook is done. Instead of turning it off turn it up to 500, it will probably never get that high but it will burn up what little fuel is left in the hopper and burn off any junk on the grates and any residual grease. When you do that the grill is clean so you don't have to worry about a grease fire if you use it for a high heat cook. It makes sense and saves on charcoal since what is lit is going to burn up anyway use that to your advantage for 5-10 minutes at the end to burn up hot then smolder for 2-3 hours. You wouldn't fill a Webber kettle with 18 Lbs of charcoal for a 4 hour cook and close the vents at the end and think it wouldn't burn up a bunch of the unlit charcoal would you? I usually set the temperature to 500 and timer for 15 minutes at the end of every cook and so I have never had a grease fire (something people always comment on) and I always start each cook with fresh charcoal and a clean grill. The other comment people post about is the grill not coming up to temp, the solution 90% of the time they forgot to pull out the slides or because they didn't shake the grate at the bottom of the hopper to get rid of the ash and old charcoal so it won't light. If you take my advice you will never deal with any of those issues. #3 I buy large foil pans at the $1 Store ($1.50 now) and put them over the heat manifold to catch fat drippings when using both of the top and the bottom grate (8 pork butts). I just bend them so they conform to the same shape as the "V" on top and it catches all of the drippings for au ju. #4 Putting chunks of wood in the ash pan works great for adding additional smoke flavor but they work best if they are put on a rack that raises them up off the floor of the pan, I use an inverted rib rack that is perfect for the job. #5 You can buy a cast iron griddle from Amazon that sits on the grates and is an awesome addition, just remember the grill fan shuts off at 500° when the lid is open so give the griddle plenty of time to heat up before using and you can make smash burgers, breakfast, philly cheesesteak sandwiches or anything else you can do on a flattop. #6 Don't rely on the hood temp grill, buy a good replacement with actual temp readings or just go with a good digital probe. Speaking of probes the one that comes with it for internal meat temps that connects to the controller is unreliable so don't depend on it, again use a good aftermarket device to ensure successful cooks. #7 Last but not least is the ability to use a small battery pack with an adapter to eliminate the need to run a cord to an outlet is a great feature and one that eliminates the possibilities you mentioned of pulling the cord out of the connector. I have done 16 hour cooks on a small battery pack and it still had over 50% power remaining. Not only does that make it portable it eliminates the power cord and the possibilities of tripping over it. Hope some of this helps, can't wait for you to do more cooks again in the future.
My brother has a Masterbuilt Gravity Series and says there is an aftermarket steel insert kit that lengthens the life of the firebox. Seems Masterbuilt didn't use the best quality metals on their Gravity Series grills.
Great video, interesting grill/smoker. Thanks for sharing with us!
i have the 800 model which i bought a little over a year ago at walmart on clearance for $200 it seems like it almost uses a bag of charcoal on ribs but turns out great stuff my only issue is im starting to have problems with the door switches now
I bought the 1050 a few years ago. Great food comes out of it. Love the gravity way. Made about 100+ cooks on it since.
HORRIBLE material. It got bad rather fast. Still works and all, but I wouldn't get one again. Still using it, but it looks really bad and doesn't age well at all.
Also, love your videos!
EDIT: I usually put the wood in the ash bucket. Works out really well.
Good looking ribs! That sauce looks incredible 👍🏼👍🏼
A good review. The ribs look great. Cheers, Ry! 👍🏻👍🏻✌️
Great grill. Needs a little TLC, but parts are always readily available. Took me about 1-1.5 hours to put together.
Thanks for the review of this grill Ry, it's been on my "maybe for the future list" for a good while now. From what I gathered some people put their smoke wood chunks in the ash catcher, so that the smoldering embers start burning the smoke wood from there. I was hoping you would have touched on that with your review. But it may perhaps be a thing you can try? Would be great to know as I think you can control your amount of smoke more that way, rather than hoping that your wood chunks get ignited in the coal chute.
I wondered if you'd measure the actual cooking grate size please. The 600 sq inch includes the shelf and I can't find the cooking surface size anywhere. I'm replacing my 560 and trying to decide which unit to get. Thank you.
Looks good to me Ry the the ribs and the Masterbuilt. This would be a good fit for me
Solid review, pointed out some good stuff and also some things that masterbuilt can adjust or improve on… nothing worse than a review where they point nothing bad out..
He is back! Very informative. Thank you, Ry, I have been thinking about purchasing a gravity smoker, mostly for the set it and forget it feature. What do you think?
It worked flawlessly for the 4 hour cook. Next up will be a longer one. So far I’m really liking it.
What a great detailed review!
Thank You sir always so hungry after watching your videos 👍
Very informative video, very honest. Wish everyone would do reviews like this. Please see if you can try a Grilla Grills mammoth? There aren’t any good reviews on that and your channel would be perfect for the review. 👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼
I can understand gravity fed with uniform charcoal briquettes so I think using a nonuniform fuel like lump charcoal would be interesting. Great cook RY. 👍
It bridges worse. Worse temp fluctuations. You get only about half the burn time with a full hopper versus briquettes.
@@theingobeck4772 Thanks Ry for the feedback.
I enjoy watching ry vids. Masterbuilt are great smokers i have one myself.
Been waiting for the master series. Cant to see pulled pork brisket and all!
Ry. I store my smokers inside out of the weather. How long does the Masterbuilt 600 take to go be completely cold, as in safe enough to bring inside?
My experience has been about 4 hours.
I recommend getting LSS mods …saves the manifold from getting mucked up. Nice cook!
Great review and one of the first out there on the UA-cam. I think with the new features I’m gonna pull the trigger on this model. I just saw too many issues with the 800/900/560. I don’t need the headaches is there anyway you could throw a tape measure and give me the dimensions of the grates only on the bottom? Looking forward to cooking on this.
16 inches front to back and 22 inches side to side 😊
I'm in the same boat. Any idea what they improved on with the new 600 ?
The two main things that I noticed on Ry’s video where the replacement of the three plunger switches in the doors they went to magnetic switches. The other thing I noticed was that the fire box had thermal plates. I’ve been researching the gravity series for about a year and a half. I probably watched every UA-cam video and follow along on the Facebook group. It’s always hit or miss. It also looks like the fan placement was relocated? Ry also made a comment about the hopper cover, but I didn’t get a good enough look at it in his video - it looks like it was re-engineered to fit better and not leak smoke. Costco has the 900 markdown to $600 with a pizza oven, however that doesn’t do me any good if I have to drop more hundreds on LSS/Klotes mods. And I surely don’t want to drop $1500 on the XT. I’ve always liked smoking on charcoal/wood chunks, but I sold my Kamado for a pellet grill and just can’t get that smoke flavor!
@@johnmccaffery5186 yep, can't beat that charcoal flavor! Lots of hit or miss on the master built gravity series, just can't pull the trigger on it just yet
@@johnmccaffery5186I have the 900 from Costco I got on clearance for $400 a year ago. I grill, BBQ, or cook pizza on it 3-4 times per week. Zero issues. It's the best home cooker out there, imo (the whole GS series). With the improvements on the new models I think they're more fool proof. If you love in a humid environment it's probably best to get the 600 or XT because of the ceramic coated metal. I live in AZ so rust isn't nearly as much of a concern.
Can you put more wood chunks in the hopper? I think that would make a difference. Trying to make a decision on the masterbuilt or Oklahoma Joe's tahoma 900. 🤔...... Just want solid smoke flavor my pellet grill ain't cutting it
Many people are saying they put wood chunks in the ash bucket. Haven’t tried that yet.
Ry thank you for the review will the upper rack hold a 18lb brisket on the 600? Or a half pan?
I think the upper rack would hold 18 pounds, but the fit would be tight.
Ry, those ribs look great, I doubt you need the sauce. 😋
Question for Ry: can you confirm if the bottom of the firebox has the ceramic plates, thank you.
Yes, there are ceramic plates where the burn takes place.
Ry-how was the smoke quantity/quality? It looked a bit light to me on the vid. How much briquettes did you use compared to a kettle? Thx
It’s good, especially when putting wood chunks in the ash basket. Several people suggested that though I’m not sure if Masterbuilt does. They say at 225 with briquettes it will go 18 hours on a full load, I believe. Though I think 14-16 is probably more realistic.
is there a removable tray to catch the juice that drips from the meat??
There is.
Looks like that grill is a keeper. The ribs looked pretty darn tasty as well. I am wondering about the spritz you give them. I've seen you do that in a lot of the videos and I am not sure why. I've heard other guys say it doesn't make the meat any more moist inside because it evaporates right away. They recommend injecting so the added moisture is on the inside of the meat. I'd appreciate it if you could give your take on the matter. Thanks for sharing.
Everybody has methods they prefer. You have to find what works for you. I like doing it this way 🍂
@@CookingWithRy But does it make the meat more juicy? I guess the question is Why do you spritz? Not that I believe one way is better. I just want to know your reasoning as to the advantages of spritzing over not spritzing. Because...I value your opinion. Thanks again.
@@jerebigler7520 I think it depends on conditions. In especially dry conditions I feel that it helps.
@@CookingWithRy Thanks and happy cookin!
So what about flavor and smoke level? I'd be curious more about flavor compared to other smokers
Tasted great. I rarely comment on smoke flavor unless it's just not there.
PitmasterX put pieces of wood in the ash area for extra smoke effect just an fyi
Good job Ry ✌🏾🙏🏾
Very nice sharing, very interesting, really very interesting video ❤❤❤❤❤❤❤
Great looking ribs! This may be an elementary question, but what keeps all the charcoal in the hopper from igniting? Is there an auger like a pellet grill?
No auger. There’s a fan near the bottom that blows across the lowest bits of charcoal as needed. The entire hopper is sealed so the fire wants to travel through the opening to the cook chamber instead of straight up.
Thank you! It makes sense to me now.
More videos with this smoker please 😊
Coming up soon 👍
Can the slides be used to control burn?
No. The fan does that.
How much power does this use? I have a camp area in the woods with no power, and for anything that uses power, I have to "budget."
I can’t imagine it draws much. The fan looks like one you’d see in a computer and the control unit would be negligible.
I use a jackery 240 battery to power my MB 800. A 6hr + cook @ 250f uses around 15% of the jackery charge. Compared to my pellet smoker, 35% of the charge.
Ry Without wheels, is the grill hard to move around?
It has 2 wheels. Surprisingly easy to move.
Sorry meant, no front wheels, planning on keeping it in my garage, wondering about how strong the side shelf was @@CookingWithRy
It's pretty strong. Moving it by lifting with the shelf hasn't been any problem. And it still surprises me how light it feels compared to my pellet grill. Maybe it's the balance on the wheels. Not sure.
This is just a purely enjoyable video.
Is the 600 single or double walled?
I don’t believe it’s double in construction all around, but in the lower section of the charcoal hopper where combustion happens there are ceramic plates surrounding the burn area.
Do you have to send your finished video to Masterbuilt for review before publishing?
No.
Hmmm. No smoke ring. Those ribs looked like the ones I do in the oven. When I slow smoke ribs on my Weber kettle, they get that pink/red smoke ring that indicates they've been properly smoked...
Sometimes it’s not prominent. That’s life.
You get to keep it?
Yes.
STRONGLY advise that you do a 15 minute clean hot burn after EVERY low and slow cook to stop the grease from bonding to the interior. It's hell to clean otherwise
Have you ever done a ribeye steak sandwich?
I have an AutoKamado that I think uses the same electronics. It's been a bit of a disappointment with regards to reliability and getting warranty repair but when it works, it does a nice job.
I always thought big, heavy and clunky for the tiny cooking area. I'll hang ribs or even 14 tri tips in my 22.5" WSM with a MUCH smaller charcoal ring. Last cook for a smaller crowd (March ~60), 10 tri tips left room for lots of sausage. Worked out great. And I can throw it and a couple of kettles in the bed of my truck to cook offsite no worries. So, this cooker? Sorry, no.
great/honest review but Masterbuilt has always had a horrible history of basic crappy electric smokers/grills. I had 3 over the years and they all quickly crapped out. Perhaps they've improved over the years but I wouldn't take a chance with that company. And before any newbies tries to attack me, I have 40+ years behind the grill.
I'm surprised there is not any smoker ring...
Wanted one of these for a few years but wife wont let me have another grill.
Love this
Use more wood!!! Get a split and put the whole thing in the hopper with charcoal around it. Will burn for hours.
At the very least do more chubks mixed in and also throw chunks into the ash bin once there are some embers.
Have tried a steak on it yet?
The temperature swings are crazy if you have to keep the lid open for any length of time , like turning 4-5 lbs of chicken wings.
8:21 I wish lol
Be ready to change out switches. I’ve already changed them out twice. Otherwise, it produces amazing food
Do you have the 600? I’m wondering if the switches are the same as on previous models. These appear to be magnetic.
I have a 1050 and I’m pretty sure it’s the same set up. The switches wear out in time. There are videos on how to bypass them, but I prefer to change them out. The concept of the grill is amazing and it produces amazing food, but the quality could be better.
Damage over a screw,that is crazy ,go to ace hardware and get one for 50 cents
I didn't see any smoke whatsoever coming off that grill.
I don't see any smoke at all.
Gal of sauce for 2lb of ribs seems very excessive
It's almost as if you can store it somewhere for future use. I mean, are you gonna make just enough sauce for a single rack of ribs? Sounds pretty impractical
I use it for other things.