re: Masterbuilt Charcoal Gravity Smokers l Long time reviews?

My 800 series got delivered early last week and I'm already loving this thing.

I put it together that night (after telling myself I would wait until the next day when it was raining) and seasoned it over the next 2 days (1 day for the grill and the other for the griddle).

My first cook I decided on some wings on the griddle. I was surprised how tender they turned out. First round I cooked then tossed in the sauce. The way to go is cooking the sauce on them with a cover. The sugar didn't burn like I thought it would.

Sunday morning I did bacon, eggs, and hashbrowns on the griddle and it all turned out great. Clean up on the griddle is a lot easier than I thought it would be.

That afternoon I did a bacon wrapped pork loin stuffed with cream cheese and candied jalapenos while I had some sausage cooking on the top rack. Once again, it turned out fantastic and sausage was perfect (I tend to overcook it). I had my first flare up with that bacon grease dripping down towards the end but it was no big deal.

2 things I learned is I'll have to clean out the fire chamber often. Shouldn't be hard though.

Also, I will absolutely be using briquettes going forward. I had 1 1/2 bags of Royal Oak lump that I was using this weekend. In the half bag as I was dumping into the hopper I noticed a huge fluff of cotton, like out of a comforter or something. In the 2nd bag towards the end a massive rock about half the size of my fist came out. I'm glad I saw it and was able to pull it out. I don't think it would have damaged anything if it made its way to the bottom but would have been a pain to get out. I rather not have to worry about it with briquettes though.

Overall I'm very impressed with it. It seems like the hotter side is on the right where the beginning of the fire chamber is. This helps with the griddle having a hotter side and a cooler left side. Thankfully they were smart enough to provide a stowing area for the griddle. I had no problems with lighting it or using the app. I wish the app had a graph of some kind to track your cook temps.

The only issue I have had so far is my switch on the ash door. For whatever reason it doesn't press down enough for the controller to register that it is closed. I'm not sure if it got bent back during putting it together or what. I emailed Masterbuilt and they responded the next day saying they were sending me a new switch. For the time being I put one of those adhesive pads you use on furniture so you don't scratch the floor and stuck it to the door where it hits the switch. Problem solved.

I can't wait to get some longer cooks in. I've got a brisket in the freezer waiting on me.