Masterbuilt Gravity Feed

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Porterhouse, about 30 oz worth of steak, reverse seared on the 560

Porterhouse.jpg
 

Looks like they're having a flash sale for 24 hours only. Pretty good deal
 
I recently sold my Rec Tec (err...Teq) RT-700 Bull. Great unit, but for some reason, cooking with pellets just left me underwhelmed.
Either way, I picked up the 1050 yesterday and early impressions are good. Putting it together wasn't without a few frustrations, but overall a not too bad experience. I notice it burns through charcoal like mad, but coming from a pellet grill, that was expected.
My question is - I have about 3 bags of lumberjacks pellets leftover from the Bull. I'm wondering if anyone has thrown pellets in the ash tray to give smoke flavor. That seems like an ideal spot for them as it seems like maybe they will smolder and give smoke for a while. Or will they just burn up right away and I'm essentially wasting them? Thoughts?
 
Congrats on your new purchase and welcome to the club! Love my 1050 and I've had better fuel consumption with lump and char logs. Never added the pellets but sounds like a good experiment.
I gave most of mine away and use chunks in the hopper and ash bin.
 
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Hey, everyone first time here and have been reading through this thread. I picked up a gravity series 800 last week and have been having some issues. I’m having really long heat up times. After getting charcoal lit following instructions and closing up it’s taking over 45 minutes to reach about 400f. Also after reaching temp it has a hard time maintaining it. If I open the lid and close it sometimes will never get back up to temp. Also when using the griddle , the surface temperature of the griddle has been 50-75 degrees lower than the set point. For instance I currently have had the grill at 400f for over an hour and the griddle temperature is 330f. Using an infrared thermometer the temp near the temperature sensor is reading almost 100f lower than the grills display.
I’m also wondering if my fuel consumption is normal. I’ve gone through a 20lb bag of b&b lump and I’ve only done the pre seasoning and 3 1 hour cooks at 350-400f. I’ve only been adding enough charcoal for each cook. About 1/4 full in the hopper.
Thanks in advance
James
 
Hey, everyone first time here and have been reading through this thread. I picked up a gravity series 800 last week and have been having some issues. I’m having really long heat up times. After getting charcoal lit following instructions and closing up it’s taking over 45 minutes to reach about 400f. Also after reaching temp it has a hard time maintaining it. If I open the lid and close it sometimes will never get back up to temp. Also when using the griddle , the surface temperature of the griddle has been 50-75 degrees lower than the set point. For instance I currently have had the grill at 400f for over an hour and the griddle temperature is 330f. Using an infrared thermometer the temp near the temperature sensor is reading almost 100f lower than the grills display.
I’m also wondering if my fuel consumption is normal. I’ve gone through a 20lb bag of b&b lump and I’ve only done the pre seasoning and 3 1 hour cooks at 350-400f. I’ve only been adding enough charcoal for each cook. About 1/4 full in the hopper.
Thanks in advance
James

From what I understand, you should expect to burn through 1lbs of charcoal per hour at 250degree and 4lbs of charcoal per hour at 400 degrees. So your consumption is expected. I've noticed that as well. Get ready to burn money ;-)
 
Hey, everyone first time here and have been reading through this thread. I picked up a gravity series 800 last week and have been having some issues. I’m having really long heat up times. After getting charcoal lit following instructions and closing up it’s taking over 45 minutes to reach about 400f. Also after reaching temp it has a hard time maintaining it. If I open the lid and close it sometimes will never get back up to temp. Also when using the griddle , the surface temperature of the griddle has been 50-75 degrees lower than the set point. For instance I currently have had the grill at 400f for over an hour and the griddle temperature is 330f. Using an infrared thermometer the temp near the temperature sensor is reading almost 100f lower than the grills display.
I’m also wondering if my fuel consumption is normal. I’ve gone through a 20lb bag of b&b lump and I’ve only done the pre seasoning and 3 1 hour cooks at 350-400f. I’ve only been adding enough charcoal for each cook. About 1/4 full in the hopper.
Thanks in advance
James

that doesn’t sound normal. Typically only takes around 10 minutes or less to get up to smoking temp 220-250ish. Don’t use the paper like the manual says to use. Buy your self some fire starters make sure you pull both plates out. If you have some leftover coals in there ive noticed it takes a little longer to start up than fresh stuff.

As far as how much charcoal it uses, she likes to eat especially when cranked up
 
Yep ×2. Get some of the MB fire starters from WallyWorld. They make a difference in start up time. I always shake the ash grate (without removing) to let let the remaining ash fall into bin before lighting with 2 squares of the fire starters
Catches up and cooking in no time!
 
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Hey, everyone first time here and have been reading through this thread. I picked up a gravity series 800 last week and have been having some issues. I’m having really long heat up times. After getting charcoal lit following instructions and closing up it’s taking over 45 minutes to reach about 400f. Also after reaching temp it has a hard time maintaining it. If I open the lid and close it sometimes will never get back up to temp. Also when using the griddle , the surface temperature of the griddle has been 50-75 degrees lower than the set point. For instance I currently have had the grill at 400f for over an hour and the griddle temperature is 330f. Using an infrared thermometer the temp near the temperature sensor is reading almost 100f lower than the grills display.
I’m also wondering if my fuel consumption is normal. I’ve gone through a 20lb bag of b&b lump and I’ve only done the pre seasoning and 3 1 hour cooks at 350-400f. I’ve only been adding enough charcoal for each cook. About 1/4 full in the hopper.
Thanks in advance
James
And welcome from SE Ga.
Is the fan coming back on after opening the lid ?
Could be a switch issue.
 
I have been using the Weber wax starters wrapped in a oil sprayed paper towel. It lights and I have flames within a few minutes. The problem starts once I set the temperature and close up the hopper and ash bin lids.
Is it normal to feel some air blowing around the sides of the fan. It seems the fan isn’t aimed directly at the firebox and there is some air coming out of the sides of the fan
 
Seems very odd he is having issues aafter its warmed up as well. I wouldnt go by the griddle pan tho. I go by internal air temp.
 
From what I understand, you should expect to burn through 1lbs of charcoal per hour at 250degree and 4lbs of charcoal per hour at 400 degrees. So your consumption is expected. I've noticed that as well. Get ready to burn money ;-)

It’s way more than a lb an hour on my 560. I got maybe 10 hours out of 16 lbs. Lump seems to burn slower for me, but it costs a lot more.
 
Last long smoke I did it was about 2 pounds a hour at 275F for 10 hours. That said I can take my temps from 250 - 500 in about 3 or 4 minutes.
 
After getting charcoal lit following instructions and closing up it’s taking over 45 minutes to reach about 400f. Also after reaching temp it has a hard time maintaining it. If I open the lid and close it sometimes will never get back up to temp.
To me this sounds like you don't have enough combustion at the start and the controller is trying to play catch-up. First thing I would try is the starters some others have already mentioned. I picked up 144 starters for like $16 on Amazon. I tried a few times using one, but it still took a long long time to come to temp, especially if you have old charcoal in there. After switching to two starters it comes up to temp quickly and never looks back.
 
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On the FB Masterbuilt GF group, I read about this mod for the ash bin. They take a backpacking grill, and put it in the ash bin and then put wood chunks on top of the grill. This gets the wood up out of the ash and also puts it where it gets more air from the fan.


I had a firebrick that was broken in half and some expanded metal laying around, so I used the brick to support the exanded metal instead of buying a backpack grill. It worked very well. I've used it twice now and I think the chunks burn better and cleaner. They get more air up out of the bottom of the ash bin.

And also, I've been standing behind my 560 when a large chunk of coal dropped out of the firebox into the ash bin. I happen to be looking into the exhaust vent and it only took a few seconds for a big cloud of ash to come out of the exhaust. The coal dropping stirred up the ash which immediately picked up by the fan.

I put the new charcoal grate from MB in my 560 and that helps control the size of the coals that fall into the ash. But I also think this mod I've described helps that also. I lay a couple of " flattish " chunks on that grate and they catch most of the coals falling through.
 
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I have been using the Weber wax starters wrapped in a oil sprayed paper towel. It lights and I have flames within a few minutes. The problem starts once I set the temperature and close up the hopper and ash bin lids.
Is it normal to feel some air blowing around the sides of the fan. It seems the fan isn’t aimed directly at the firebox and there is some air coming out of the sides of the fan
I just use a Folded paper towel with some avacado oil in it, But i also use a Propane torch to get the papertowel started(it also get the charcoal warmed up and ready to take the flame of the paper towel) and it only takes 5 minutes to get to 250. are you sure something isn't partially blocking the airway from the fan to the firebox?
 
J jmancuso Another thing to try to help get even more air at start up ( again use some sort of fire starter so you have a good steady flame to start with) is pop the top of the charcoal hopper open for a few minutes and hold down the switch to keep the fans running. when its rolling smoke pretty good ( for me idk 2-3 minutes) close it and let the grill come up to temp. Are the fans running the whole time when its under temperature? I feel like ive gone through this same learning curve as you so dont get too discouraged.
 
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