Dave's Masterbuilt 1050 Gravity Feed Experiences

[JKalchik]

I'll see if I can put up an album of some of my construction pics next week. Short story is that there is no oxygen at all, no flue, and no airflow in the charcoal column above the firebox. No oxygen, no burn.

 

[Jim C in Denver]

Larry - it is a vertical Minion method. But the gravity keeps the burning portion always at the bottom.

But the top of the hopper is closed. So the airflow goes horizontal. Thus the vertical hopper does not turn into a chimney.

If you leave the top of the hopper open long enough, it will chimney. Pretty ingenious idea. So simple.

Would have been cool if Weber had done this as a charcoal fired Smokefire.

 

[LMichaels]

I get pellet cookers just cannot wrap my head around this

 

[J Grotz]

I get pellet cookers just cannot wrap my head around this

The gravity feed is a very simple process that allows only a small amount of lump charcoal into the burn area and then the constant feeding of lump and wood chunk's via gravity.

It consists of a tapered chute, to a square fire box that has a grating to hold the fire and allow ash to fall out, the heat and smoke exit through what is called a transfer tube into the cooking area.

In the attached picture you will see a crud design showing the burning lump charcoal, the lump waiting to fall into the burn area and the ash.

Its a sealed system that is controlled by a small fan, by keeping the air intake controlled you actually contain the fire simply be restriction of oxygen.

On a old style stick smoker you constantly have to tend the fire box by adding wood, with this system you are able to start a batch of charcoal get it burning, dump it into the chute, top off with lump and or wood chunks and close the lid and let the small temp controller turn the fan on and off.

It is possible to have one burn for 18 hours off a single filling thus allowing you to do something besides tossing wood in a fire box.

Make sense?

Source: https://www.thehulltruth.com/6876707-post43.html

Like JK and JimC said, as long as it is sealed on top it won't just burn up.

 

[Jim C in Denver]

I get pellet cookers just cannot wrap my head around this

This is the basically the same as a pellet cooker. Load the hopper, light it, set it, forget it. When done, turn it off and leave the unburned fuel in the hopper.

But it runs on charcoal and wood chunks. That's better than a pellet grill.

But it heats up faster than a pellet grill -- almost as fast as a gasser heats up.

But with a simpler feeding mechanism (gravity) and fewer moving parts. That's better than a pellet grill.

But it can run up to 700F rather than 400-450F. So it is your grill too. That's better than a pellet grill.

If there was a better executed, better built version of this concept (cough Weber cough cough) my gasser and WSM would be on Craigslist. And I wouldn't be thinking about whether I should get a pellet grill. The elusive one arrow quiver.

 

[Dave - Unixadm]

Great explanations of the gravity feed. I checked it this morning and it choked off the airflow pretty well and kept a good amount of charcoal left in the chute:

I went ahead and partially blocked the first opening on the manifold and then fired it back up at 225. I think with a little experimentation I'll be able to get the temps across the grate a bit more even, but stock it's not bad at all.

Probe placements:

After a while running:

It's still going, so I'll report back when it runs out of fuel. This thing is really a set it and forget it cooker. I'm doing some measurements for insulation and will make that a project down the road. I believe tonight I'll be doing a reversed seared Ribeye with a mayo based rub on it for searing, along with some corn. It's going to be HOTTTT the next week, so being out on the patio isn't going to be all that enjoyable. My portable mister and misting fan cannot arrive soon enough.

 

[Dave - Unixadm]

LETS TALK ABOUT WIFI....

So the WIFI on this thing isn't very good out of the box. I had originally gotten it to pair with my router (TP-Link AX11000) after assembly, but that was when it was a bit closer to my router. Total distance right now is about 30 feet and this is the only device on my patio which I've had connection issues with. When I'm standing next to the 1050 with my iPhone XS Max, it shows full signal strength on my WIFI connection.

I screwed around with the WIFI last night for an hour. Deleting the device, adding it again. Bluetooth always works, but it would never successfully join to my WIFI. During this endeavor, I found two things of interest.

1. If you have a solid WIFI connection showing when you scan for WIFI networks but the Masterbuilt will not connect successfully when pairing with their cloud service, unplug the controller and reboot it.
2. If you have very poor signal strength, you'll see that when you scan for WIFI networks. The app will also let you know the signal strength is low when trying to join, which you can override.

Here's the mod part of the equation. Try as I might, this thing simply had very poor connectivity. Masterbuilt thought ahead allowing for an external antenna. The controller has an industry standard threaded antenna port on the back of it and Masterbuilt includes an antenna. From my testing the stock antenna is JUNK. While experimenting, I went upstairs and grabbed an antenna off of a previously used Netgear Nighthawk router. Using the stock Masterbuilt antenna, I scanned for WIFI networks. My networks (I have two) showed up, both at one bar. I replaced the antenna with the one from the Netgear Nighthawk and rescanned. I now saw a number of new WIFI networks available, while my primary network showed full signal strength. After that I still couldn't get it to join, which is why I referenced #1 above. A hard reboot of the controller fixed that and it connected right up. When I went outside this morning to power it on, I immediately tested WIFI and it works fine.

I do have an antenna on the way from Amazon and when it arrives, I'll make my first video walking people through this issue and demonstrating the problem. Hopefully the antenna (less than $10) works as well as the one from the Nighthawk router.

One other item to note. During my testing, I was able to achieve the best signal strength by moving the antenna to an approximate 8 o'clock position. YMMV depending on the orientation of your router and grill. Position of the antenna did make a big difference though, especially with the stock antenna. In certain positions I couldn't even see my WIFI networks.

Here are the antennas. On the left is the stock Masterbuilt and on the right is the antenna from a Netgear Nighthawk router:

This is a simple mod and seems to work well. I went from basically no connectivity to nearly full signal strength, so I'd call that a win. Once the other antenna arrives from Amazon, I'll post an update. I'm glad Masterbuilt went with this design, but I do think they should have included a better antenna out of the box. Connectivity and app issues was one of the bigger issues I've read about with this controller.

 

[Timothy F. Lewis]

I’m intrigued by this! Don’t think I want to pull the trigger but, I’m popping some popcorn to watch this!
Excellent communication of what you’ve done and how in addition to a seriously intelligent review!
Thanks Dave!

 

[Jason in CA]

LETS TALK ABOUT WIFI....

So the WIFI on this thing isn't very good out of the box. I had originally gotten it to pair with my router (TP-Link AX11000) after assembly, but that was when it was a bit closer to my router. Total distance right now is about 30 feet and this is the only device on my patio which I've had connection issues with. When I'm standing next to the 1050 with my iPhone XS Max, it shows full signal strength on my WIFI connection.

I screwed around with the WIFI last night for an hour. Deleting the device, adding it again. Bluetooth always works, but it would never successfully join to my WIFI. During this endeavor, I found two things of interest.

1. If you have a solid WIFI connection showing when you scan for WIFI networks but the Masterbuilt will not connect successfully when pairing with their cloud service, unplug the controller and reboot it.
2. If you have very poor signal strength, you'll see that when you scan for WIFI networks. The app will also let you know the signal strength is low when trying to join, which you can override.

Here's the mod part of the equation. Try as I might, this thing simply had very poor connectivity. Masterbuilt thought ahead allowing for an external antenna. The controller has an industry standard threaded antenna port on the back of it and Masterbuilt includes an antenna. From my testing the stock antenna is JUNK. While experimenting, I went upstairs and grabbed an antenna off of a previously used Netgear Nighthawk router. Using the stock Masterbuilt antenna, I scanned for WIFI networks. My networks (I have two) showed up, both at one bar. I replaced the antenna with the one from the Netgear Nighthawk and rescanned. I now saw a number of new WIFI networks available, while my primary network showed full signal strength. After that I still couldn't get it to join, which is why I referenced #1 above. A hard reboot of the controller fixed that and it connected right up. When I went outside this morning to power it on, I immediately tested WIFI and it works fine.

I do have an antenna on the way from Amazon and when it arrives, I'll make my first video walking people through this issue and demonstrating the problem. Hopefully the antenna (less than $10) works as well as the one from the Nighthawk router.

One other item to note. During my testing, I was able to achieve the best signal strength by moving the antenna to an approximate 8 o'clock position. YMMV depending on the orientation of your router and grill. Position of the antenna did make a big difference though, especially with the stock antenna. In certain positions I couldn't even see my WIFI networks.

Here are the antennas. On the left is the stock Masterbuilt and on the right is the antenna from a Netgear Nighthawk router:

This is a simple mod and seems to work well. I went from basically no connectivity to nearly full signal strength, so I'd call that a win. Once the other antenna arrives from Amazon, I'll post an update. I'm glad Masterbuilt went with this design, but I do think they should have included a better antenna out of the box. Connectivity and app issues was one of the bigger issues I've read about with this controller.

I could go on a very long rant about a few things and this, but I'll just say that's why Bean counters piss me off.

 

[Dave - Unixadm]

I could go on a very long rant about a few things and this, but I'll just say that's why Bean counters piss me off.

Agree 100%. Why go through the trouble of building a grill with WIFI and then include a junk antenna which just causes more problems? WIFI has been flawless today after the antenna swap.

 

[Dave - Unixadm]

Running another temp test. Same Stubb's briquettes with some pecan chunks mixed into the chute. I did not open the lid or add any fuel during this test. I wanted to see how even the temps were.

I started the grill at 250 degrees, then dropped it to 225, raised it to 300 and then lowered it to 200. It did everything I asked of it. Slower ramp down to 200 but I expected that. Ambient temps are north of 100 here on my patio, so it took a while to drop but it did. This thing runs pretty solid with limited temperature swings. Left to right side seem to however within about 10 degrees of one another.

The thing I notice about this one versus using something like a BBQ stoker on my older charcoal based cookers is that the Masterbuilt is always running its 120MM fan. It never shuts off, so you have better convection and clean combustion. I'm sure this comes with a penalty of more fuel consumption. On my older Stoker (and I had another mainstream brand of BBQ controllers back in the day), it would cycle the fan on and off. This unit controls the fan either with PWM or voltage. It's only a 2-wire DC fan and the controller has no method of monitoring fan speed unlike on the Smokefire. It seems to work extremely well and for the concerns about 40-50 degree temp variations from the set-point, I'm not seeing it in my 1050. Firmware is v002 if I remember correctly but I don't know when that was released. It did perform an upgrade the night I assembled it.

 

[AlfonzoW]

Another alternative is using the fireboard controller with drive cable or the fireboard 2. I already had one for my WSM just needed the cable from the bbq hq to make it work with the masterbuilt.

 

[Dave - Unixadm]

Another alternative is using the fireboard controller with drive cable or the fireboard 2. I already had one for my WSM just needed the cable from the bbq hq to make it work with the masterbuilt.

I like the looks of the Fireboard 2. I almost picked one up in advance, but decided to try the stock controller first. At this point I’m not sure it’s needed. Unless something goes haywire, this thing controls temps quite well out of the box.

 

[AlfonzoW]

Sounds like they finally got the app straightened out. I could never get my 560 to connect to wifi and the app would always disconnect after not using it for a while (only a problem for Android users I think).

You know what your doing here is making me want to impulse buy the 1050 lol. So far I'm happy with the ex6 but when I bought it I already had in my head I most likely would sell it and get the 1050 but it surprised me. The ex6 doesn't quite have the flavor I'm used to but the food has been great.

 

[Dave - Unixadm]

Sounds like they finally got the app straightened out. I could never get my 560 to connect to wifi and the app would always disconnect after not using it for a while (only a problem for Android users I think).

You know what your doing here is making me want to impulse buy the 1050 lol. So far I'm happy with the ex6 but when I bought it I already had in my head I most likely would sell it and get the 1050 but it surprised me. The ex6 doesn't quite have the flavor I'm used to but the food has been great.

Sorry about that. Take a look at my WIFI post above. I believe the issue is mostly related to the junk antenna they include for the controller. I have another one arriving today and I'll post up my results. The connectivity went from broken to working pretty well with a simple antenna replacement. I impulse buy all the damn time. It's a sickness I think. haha

 

[Dave - Unixadm]

ROTISSERIE MOD UPDATE....

Now that I'm fairly confident I'm loving this thing, I decided to get my Rib-o-Lator installed correctly. The issue is that Masterbuilt provided great vertical, frontal and lower spacing, but the spacing to the rear of the cooking chamber is a little over 6". That was causing the Rib-o-Lator baskets to touch the back of the wall. That doesn't work for me.

At first I tried modifying the right side bracket. Opening up the holes so I could reposition it. After screwing with it for longer than I should, I just couldn't get enough clearance that way. The next was machining out the bushings for the Rib-o-Lator. The included one was too small, so I had to remove it. This caused it not to center as well as it could have on the rotisserie shaft. I ordered a 13.5MM drill bit which arrived last night, so I machined those bushings in my milling machine. That fixed the centering issue I was having. The baskets were still just touching the ball wall, so I went all out.

I drilled and installed new self-tapping screws for the right side bracket, and I opened up the left side rotisserie through hole in the cooking chamber pretty significantly. Because of this, I was left with an unsightly large hole and the rotisserie motor would no longer mount correctly. I had an easy solution to that though - plate both sides of the hole which is what I did. I looked around for material to use and then thought of something. I bought some of those plates you put in your phone case for magnetic mounts. They are thin but pretty stout. I used two rectangular plates and after some drilling and riveting, I think it came out very nicely. If you didn't know, I don't think anyone would question if it's factory or not.

Problem solved. Now the Rib-O-Lator has about 1/4" clearance and that's good enough for me. Ribs will be cooked tomorrow. It's going to be so hot here that I may not even need to light the charcoal! lol

Sorry that a few of the pics were on the darker side. The sun was messing with me a bit and I should have turned the flash on. I was working as fast as I could trying to beat the heat.

 

[Jason in CA]

Meet Dave, The modern Renaissance man. It's been too hot for me to motivate myself to do anything with the BBQ's. Or really anything at all out side. Sadly I took most of this week off work with the intention of grilling and taking care of a few things around the yard. But it's not gonna happen. I suppose Arizona could say hold my beer. But this is what the forecast is where Dave and I are located.


I feel like I've waisted almost a week of vacation time because I'm not going to do or accomplish anything.

 

[Lynn Dollar]

That's pretty warm ..... but your night time lows are decent but not anything like your normal low of 58.

 

[Dave - Unixadm]

Meet Dave, The modern Renaissance man. It's been too hot for me to motivate myself to do anything with the BBQ's. Or really anything at all out side. Sadly I took most of this week off work with the intention of grilling and taking care of a few things around the yard. But it's not gonna happen. I suppose Arizona could say hold my beer. But this is what the forecast is where Dave and I are located.

View attachment 11840
I feel like I've waisted almost a week of vacation time because I'm not going to do or accomplish anything.

Same here. I took this week off but it’s so damn hot. I’m gonna have to really motivate myself if I’m gonna make a ribeye tonight.

 

[Jason in CA]

That's pretty warm ..... but your night time lows are decent but not anything like your normal low of 58.

It was still almost 90 at 10:00pm last night. We're only seeing those lows for a couple hours in the early morning before things get hot again.