So new to smokin just purchased a MB Vertical gravity grill and smoker. Saw Kingsford cherry and other Charcoal.. You're saying I should stay away from that and just go standard Royal Oak with some hardwood in the ash area only? Was just gonna grab some hard wood and charcoal from Walmart and maybe a box for some chips...
I had to look up this new smoker/grill and watch several YouTube videos to get an idea how it worked. FIRST: go to Home Depot, Walmart, Lowes, any hardware store and buy a galvanized bucket with a lid for hot ashes. Because the ashes can be changed DURING a long cook, that's a trash fire, or worse, waiting to happen. I once watched a house go up in flames due to the resident putting charcoal ashes he thought were cold in the trashcan.
Second: It looks like ANY charcoal will work. Kingsford is 25% less dense than any Royal Oak Ridge product (HD Embers, Walmart Expert Grill, Winco charcoal, Safeway charcoal...basically any bag that says "Made by Royal Oak Enterprises" on the back), so Kingsford will ash out faster requiring more refills compared to any of the RO Ridge products. All the product reviews appear to be using Kingsford, and it appears you burn through 1.5 lbs per hour. You'd probably burn through 1 lb per hour with a denser charcoal briquette.
Third: The ash catcher is where you put the wood "chunks." Don't use chips. Chips have too little mass. At some point the hot ashes dropping on the chips is probably going to set them on fire. And don't think soaking chips will solve that problem. It will only delay it.
Fourth: I'm guessing this may actually be a smoker where you can use wood infused charcoal. Can't say for sure, but if I owned one of these charcoal gravity feeds, I'd experiment with a bag of wood infused charcoal on something cheap that absorbs a lot of smoke, like skin-on poultry. If the birds tastes ashy, you'll know not to use it.
It is so new it appears there's only one other user here at SMF. Check out this thread.
Sorry if this has been posted already. This looks like a good idea, and inexpensive way to get into gravity feed if it works as well as advertised. https://www.
masterbuilt.com/collections/smokers/products/gravity-series™-560-digital-charcoal-grill-smoker Anyone have one already?
www.smokingmeatforums.com