I've had my 980 about 2 weeks now. Here are some of my impressions.
I have an Akorn and Traeger Pro 575. Like them both, use them interchangeably, although the Traeger has had a lot more use lately because its just so easy.
I've wanted one of the Masterbuilt Gravity Series since they came out, held off primarily because I don't really have room for another grill, and partly because of my impression that build quality might not be great and they seemed to need a some mods to improve performance. But I wanted to switch out the Traeger for something as easy, and using the same fuel as my Akorn.
Then the 980 shows up. Seems to have a beefier build, no need for a firebox mod, no need for an add on drip tray, no need for a rear vent mod. Early reviews looked good. I love my Akorn from Char-Griller, I decided to give the 980 a try...
Build quality seems excellent. Heavy, sturdy, good quality paint finish. Someone said in another thread the in store demo unit felt wobbly. I bought a boxed unit because I wanted to assemble it myself, and I think its a very sturdy grill. In particular the double-walled porcelain coated hopper and heat manifold, heavy duty. The body, legs, shelving, paint quality all suggest good durability.
Started off using briquettes (Ridge, then Kingsford Blue) for seasoning, and first few cooks. First cook was pizza at 600. I could cook on two 13" stones at once, and have room for wings etc.! Not bad, flavor was great, but it took as long to cook the pizza as it did in my preheated 425 degree oven. I think although grill reached 600 quickly, it needed more time to heat soak the heavy components.
I did a second pizza cook a few days later, this time gave it 20+ minutes to heat soak at 500 before I kicked it up to 600, that did much better. Pizza on this was a winner.
I've not been as impressed with general grilling performance. So far I've done burgers, beer can chicken, chicken wings, and boneless skinless thighs. All tasty, with great flavor. But none of them as crispy grilled as I can get on the Akorn, or the Traeger. Granted, I've been using temps and times based on those grills, maybe its a temp reading thing, and I've actually been cooking at a much higher temp on the Traeger than I thought. Or maybe the 980 is just more indirect heat or needs more time to heat soak. I cooked wings on the 980 tonight at 425-450, they turn out crispier on the Traeger at 375. The cheese on the burgers didn't melt the way it does on the Traeger. So far things just seemed more baked than grilled on the 980.
Unfortunately I don't have a good separate grill probe to check temps. But I hope to soon.
I have not yet done a low and slow cook. I expect this to excel at those temps. It runs very stable. Hope to do a couple of pork butts soon.
The ash generated with briquettes was so much more than I ever had with lump in the Akorn. I switched to B&B lump the last couple of cooks, ash is greatly reduced. Picked up several more bags from the current Ace Hardware sale.
Smoke from wood chunks in the ash tray seems to work well. I've not added any to the hopper. Been happy with general flavor and smoke, even my daughter commented on a better flavor compared to the smoke profile from the Traeger.
This is a new grill and a new grill style. I know from my Akorn and Traeger there can be a learning curve. Maybe I just need to learn how to work with this grill. It is easy to use. I'll keep using it 3-4 times a week and see what happens.
I have an Akorn and Traeger Pro 575. Like them both, use them interchangeably, although the Traeger has had a lot more use lately because its just so easy.
I've wanted one of the Masterbuilt Gravity Series since they came out, held off primarily because I don't really have room for another grill, and partly because of my impression that build quality might not be great and they seemed to need a some mods to improve performance. But I wanted to switch out the Traeger for something as easy, and using the same fuel as my Akorn.
Then the 980 shows up. Seems to have a beefier build, no need for a firebox mod, no need for an add on drip tray, no need for a rear vent mod. Early reviews looked good. I love my Akorn from Char-Griller, I decided to give the 980 a try...
Build quality seems excellent. Heavy, sturdy, good quality paint finish. Someone said in another thread the in store demo unit felt wobbly. I bought a boxed unit because I wanted to assemble it myself, and I think its a very sturdy grill. In particular the double-walled porcelain coated hopper and heat manifold, heavy duty. The body, legs, shelving, paint quality all suggest good durability.
Started off using briquettes (Ridge, then Kingsford Blue) for seasoning, and first few cooks. First cook was pizza at 600. I could cook on two 13" stones at once, and have room for wings etc.! Not bad, flavor was great, but it took as long to cook the pizza as it did in my preheated 425 degree oven. I think although grill reached 600 quickly, it needed more time to heat soak the heavy components.
I did a second pizza cook a few days later, this time gave it 20+ minutes to heat soak at 500 before I kicked it up to 600, that did much better. Pizza on this was a winner.
I've not been as impressed with general grilling performance. So far I've done burgers, beer can chicken, chicken wings, and boneless skinless thighs. All tasty, with great flavor. But none of them as crispy grilled as I can get on the Akorn, or the Traeger. Granted, I've been using temps and times based on those grills, maybe its a temp reading thing, and I've actually been cooking at a much higher temp on the Traeger than I thought. Or maybe the 980 is just more indirect heat or needs more time to heat soak. I cooked wings on the 980 tonight at 425-450, they turn out crispier on the Traeger at 375. The cheese on the burgers didn't melt the way it does on the Traeger. So far things just seemed more baked than grilled on the 980.
Unfortunately I don't have a good separate grill probe to check temps. But I hope to soon.
I have not yet done a low and slow cook. I expect this to excel at those temps. It runs very stable. Hope to do a couple of pork butts soon.
The ash generated with briquettes was so much more than I ever had with lump in the Akorn. I switched to B&B lump the last couple of cooks, ash is greatly reduced. Picked up several more bags from the current Ace Hardware sale.
Smoke from wood chunks in the ash tray seems to work well. I've not added any to the hopper. Been happy with general flavor and smoke, even my daughter commented on a better flavor compared to the smoke profile from the Traeger.
This is a new grill and a new grill style. I know from my Akorn and Traeger there can be a learning curve. Maybe I just need to learn how to work with this grill. It is easy to use. I'll keep using it 3-4 times a week and see what happens.
