Masterbuilt Gravity Feed

[Smokin Okie]

I don't use a whole split. For my stick burner, I like splits that are 8" to 10" long and about as large around as a beer can, at the largest. So I take a 14" / 16" split, and split it again with my Kindling Cracker and then cut it in half.

I take one of those 8" splits and prop it up in the middle of the hopper and fill in some coals around it. When I reach the top of the split, I put another one on top of that split.

 

[BiscuitoftheSea]

Last cook, I had my 1050 at 225 degrees with a half full hopper of Kingsford competition briquettes and a few chunks of hickory thrown in. After a short bit (20 min or so), I was getting horrible thick, white smoke. I opened up the top of the hopper to let it escape there instead of getting on my meat and the whole thing was an inferno. I closed it and opened the smoker and there was flames pouring out into the firebox. The temp was uncontrolled and soaring.

Any ideas on what went wrong?

 

[PPG1]

Last cook, I had my 1050 at 225 degrees with a half full hopper of Kingsford competition briquettes and a few chunks of hickory thrown in. After a short bit (20 min or so), I was getting horrible thick, white smoke. I opened up the top of the hopper to let it escape there instead of getting on my meat and the whole thing was an inferno. I closed it and opened the smoker and there was flames pouring out into the firebox. The temp was uncontrolled and soaring.

Any ideas on what went wrong?

Was the temp 225 when you opened the hopper? If so it was running correctly you just had a chunk of wood with high moister content. When you opened the hopper top if it did not cut the fan off "common occurrence" it would be like stocking a charcoal chimney starter. Without being there this would be my guess.

 

[Roman Buffalo]

Last cook, I had my 1050 at 225 degrees with a half full hopper of Kingsford competition briquettes and a few chunks of hickory thrown in. After a short bit (20 min or so), I was getting horrible thick, white smoke. I opened up the top of the hopper to let it escape there instead of getting on my meat and the whole thing was an inferno. I closed it and opened the smoker and there was flames pouring out into the firebox. The temp was uncontrolled and soaring.

Any ideas on what went wrong?

Sounds like too many wood chunks in one spot they all ignited and poof fire gets really hot. I sort of experimented with that yesterday out of necessity only had a little bit of charcoal left and wanted to grill some chicken around 375 degrees. Only had enough to fill a quarter of the hopper up with charcoal so I tossed some big wood chunks ontop and the grill was cruising at 410 the whole time and peeping into the hopper it was all lit up.

 

[BiscuitoftheSea]

Sounds like too many wood chunks in one spot they all ignited and poof fire gets really hot. I sort of experimented with that yesterday out of necessity only had a little bit of charcoal left and wanted to grill some chicken around 375 degrees. Only had enough to fill a quarter of the hopper up with charcoal so I tossed some big wood chunks ontop and the grill was cruising at 410 the whole time and peeping into the hopper it was all lit up.

Interesting. Anyone using only the bottom ash collector for wood and leaving the main chute for briquettes / lump only? I've had decent success by leaving some of the larger chunks of charcoal in the ash bin and then throwing a few chunks of wood. By the time the wood starts smoldering / burning, it is pretty dried and hot so you seem to get clean smoke. That doesn't always seem the case when I put chunks in the main hopper.

I've noticed that with the main hopper, if you don't add the wood high enough up (with a lot of charcoal or lump below), it tends to give pretty white and dirty smoke. That is probably because it doesn't have time to get hot / dry out before the heat reaches it.

 

[BiscuitoftheSea]

Was the temp 225 when you opened the hopper? If so it was running correctly you just had a chunk of wood with high moister content. When you opened the hopper top if it did not cut the fan off "common occurrence" it would be like stocking a charcoal chimney starter. Without being there this would be my guess.

This was likely it. When I opened the hopper, there was so much moisture on the top. These were chunks from Menards in a bag. Seems odd they'd have that much moisture in them.

 

[Terry Bussenger]

So I have been reading a lot about this adding wood to the hopper bin, it seems like it has a potential to go South...I'll stick with adding wood to the ash bin I guess.

 

[912smoker]

So I have been reading a lot about this adding wood to the hopper bin, it seems like it has a potential to go South...I'll stick with adding wood to the ash bin I guess.

I have used chunks in the hopper and smaller pieces in the ash bin with no problems or fires. Layer of coal, a couple of chunks and repeat until full or you desired level is reached.

 

[O C]

I've been just putting the wood in the ash pan of my chargriller 980, so far that seems to be working well for me. I might try some in the hopper at some point but I like just filling the hopper and go.

 

[BBQ Bird]

I have used chunks in the hopper and smaller pieces in the ash bin with no problems or fires. Layer of coal, a couple of chunks and repeat until full or you desired level is reached.

This is what I do also. No problems for me, either.

 

[bill1]

Last cook, I had my 1050 at 225 degrees with a half full hopper of Kingsford competition briquettes and a few chunks of hickory thrown in. After a short bit (20 min or so), I was getting horrible thick, white smoke. I opened up the top of the hopper to let it escape there instead of getting on my meat and the whole thing was an inferno. I closed it and opened the smoker and there was flames pouring out into the firebox. The temp was uncontrolled and soaring.

Any ideas on what went wrong?

Oh my. That's bad. You can't open that lid until the fire is completely out. Fire wants to take the straight path up the chute, not the circuitous path through the cooker. Once you had the whole hopper going, there's just too much fuel, and too much heat to control. I'm happy you didn't warp things to the point of ruination.
You have to keep the top lid closed tight to avoid this. Then the fire that's being directed (by the natural draft established in the cooker and by the angled direction of the induction fan) doesn't just stay out of the hopper, but it sucks the O2 out of the air that's in the hopper so fire is even more "discouraged" from going there.

People tend to forget with these "automatic" cookers, whether pellet-fed or gravity charcoal, that you're storing a whole lot of energy (fuel) intimately close to the cooker. The energy must be regulated to a low enough feed rate (ie control the power of the heat) to just cook the meat at the cook temp you desire, for the time you desire. If those controls go haywire (you get an air leak as you did in your charcoal hopper or if the auger sticks "on" in a pellet pooper) the power that can be delivered in a short time is immense and dangerous. This is the reason one really shouldn't leave these types of cookers unattended. You need to be close enough to respond in an emergency and be forearmed in your response. (Like a garden hose nearby or 911 programmed on your phone). Also a reason not to operate your cooker to close to living quarters, in particular NOT under eaves.

 

[PPG1]

Oh my. That's bad. You can't open that lid until the fire is completely out. Fire wants to take the straight path up the chute, not the circuitous path through the cooker. Once you had the whole hopper going, there's just too much fuel, and too much heat to control. I'm happy you didn't warp things to the point of ruination.
You have to keep the top lid closed tight to avoid this. Then the fire that's being directed (by the natural draft established in the cooker and by the angled direction of the induction fan) doesn't just stay out of the hopper, but it sucks the O2 out of the air that's in the hopper so fire is even more "discouraged" from going there.

People tend to forget with these "automatic" cookers, whether pellet-fed or gravity charcoal, that you're storing a whole lot of energy (fuel) intimately close to the cooker. The energy must be regulated to a low enough feed rate (ie control the power of the heat) to just cook the meat at the cook temp you desire, for the time you desire. If those controls go haywire (you get an air leak as you did in your charcoal hopper or if the auger sticks "on" in a pellet pooper) the power that can be delivered in a short time is immense and dangerous. This is the reason one really shouldn't leave these types of cookers unattended. You need to be close enough to respond in an emergency and be forearmed in your response. (Like a garden hose nearby or 911 programmed on your phone). Also a reason not to operate your cooker to close to living quarters, in particular NOT under eaves.

Sorry Bill but doing long cooks I have to refill the hopper. When you open the hopper it shuts the fan down thus you are not stocking it. This unit is not a ticking time bomb...I would argue that a gas smoker or grill presents more of a hazard. Sure you must use common sense but it's not scary. Anyone who owns a GF has had to top off for long cooks. I'm not trying to be controversial but opening the hopper lid is the only way to do long cooks

 

[Joma]

Sorry Bill but doing long cooks I have to refill the hopper. When you open the hopper it shuts the fan down thus you are not stocking it. This unit is not a ticking time bomb...I would argue that a gas smoker or grill presents more of a hazard. Sure you must use common sense but it's not scary. Anyone who owns a GF has had to top off for long cooks. I'm not trying to be controversial but opening the hopper lid is the only way to do long cooks

I don't know if I read it here or the manual or the MB site, but it said it's fine to open if your temp is below, I don't remember...somewhere between 250 and 350, but that you should avoid it if your grill temp is high. I would think long cooks your temp is going to be set relatively low.

 

[mcokevin]

I don't know if I read it here or the manual or the MB site, but it said it's fine to open if your temp is below, I don't remember...somewhere between 250 and 350, but that you should avoid it if your grill temp is high. I would think long cooks your temp is going to be set relatively low.

This is correct. I think the max temp at which they recommend opening the lid is 225 or 250 .

 

[BiscuitoftheSea]

This is correct. I think the max temp at which they recommend opening the lid is 225 or 250 .

Correct. And mine was at 225...

 

[bill1]

They definitely do not "recommend" opening the lid when hot. The Warnings on the first few pages of the manual specifically say "Never open hopper during use. If it is necessary to refill..." (Wording only a committee of lawyers and sales engineers could come up with.) And the reload instructions UNDERLINE the words "Do not add charcoal if grill exceeds 250F" And they also describe engineered safety control switches on the hopper lid and the ash door that are designed cut power to the fan to permit this not-recommended process to be marginally safe.

So don't open the hopper. But if you must to finish your cook, you have to first ensure you're <250F, then open quickly and fill quickly, wearing gloves as PPE, and get the hopper door closed tight ASAP. If Biscuit of the Sea did all this and still got an inferno, I would suspect the top hopper door switch failed.

There do not appear to be redundant switches in these. Switches like these are considered "3 nines" reliable so they fail once every thousand times. So most will have no problems. But there are enough users posting to this forum for a single failure to be a real possibility.

No, these are not scary. And my comments about the hazards of a large store of energy being in close proximity to a cooker which relies on power being delivered in a slow, deliberate fashion applies to a lot of cookers, not least of which are propane gas grills. But as with many grown-up tools, it's a good idea to understand the hazards, the controls that mitigate them, and a little forethought as to how you'll respond if controls fail, because they sometimes do.

Adding fuel to these is not unlike adding gas to a running engine. You shouldn't do it. And that's a good rule. But yes, there are times when it has to be done and there are deliberate controls to then follow because you are engaging in a non-recommended process.

I suspect the reality here is that we are all in violent agreement.

 

[worldbfreebase]

Dollars to donuts the switch failed or stuck and the fan was going full bore. Not an ideal situation but I have had the hopper open at 500° to add more fuel. I was going for a reverse sear and the temp stalled. That is how I figured out you have to have around 1/3 of a hopper of charcoal to get to 700°.

 

[mcokevin]

They definitely do not "recommend" opening the lid when hot. The Warnings on the first few pages of the manual specifically say "Never open hopper during use. If it is necessary to refill..." (Wording only a committee of lawyers and sales engineers could come up with.) And the reload instructions UNDERLINE the words "Do not add charcoal if grill exceeds 250F" And they also describe engineered safety control switches on the hopper lid and the ash door that are designed cut power to the fan to permit this not-recommended process to be marginally safe.

Yes - you are correct. The warnings on the first couple of pages also tell you not to use the grill as a heater and to keep your hands and face away from burning charcoal.

I would contend though that they do "recommend" opening the lid if you need to add fuel. Their manual saying "never open the hopper" then immediately contradicting itself by saying [paraphrased] "but if you do have to open the hopper to add fuel here's instructions for how to do it and when it's safe to do so" is providing a recommended procedure for opening the hopper lid and invalidates their use of the word "never".

If they truly meant "never open the hopper" the warning would read something like: "Never open the hopper while the smoker is in use. If it is necessary to add fuel then follow the Shutdown Procedure, wait for the smoker to cool to a safe temperature, add fuel to the hopper, and follow the Startup Procedure to resume your cook". Obviously impractical, but if they truly meant never that's more like what it'd say.

Sorry to be pedantic but I have written and reviewed a fair number of operations and maintenance manuals and this is pretty poor wording (...and definitely written by attorneys, as you said!)

Use common sense. Don't open the hopper when you're cooking pizza at 700 degrees, don't pick up a lit briquette and put it in your mouth, and don't roll your smoker inside for heat on a cold winter night.

 

[SGMan]

One thing to take into consideration when opening the hopper to add more charcoal (mid cook) is to INSERT THE SLIDES first. This way you are cutting off some of the draft that will be further introduced when opening the hopper.

 

[Roman Buffalo]

It’s really not that scary opening the hopper over 250. Like the above mentioned example when your temp stalls at 550 and you want 700 it’s telling you it needs more fuel. Open the sucker up, don’t look inside or you’ll lose your mustache, dump your fuel and close it up. For crying out loud guys it not jet engine at the point you need to dump more charcoal in you have less in there the a Weber kettle grill. Common sense wear some fire gloves and don’t roll the smoker into your living room it’s tempting but just don’t it.