That load of meat would be child’s play for the MAK 2 Star... easy peasy. With all grates in place on the 2 Star, you can fit a TON of low profile meats. You have over 1600 sq” to work with [emoji41]

Only upgrade I chose was wifi. Thought it would be nice to finally try that out. Anything else I might regret not getting? The cover looks like the size they sell everywhere and it's gonna be stored in a garage. Dust is the only worry there. The exterior shelves seem expensive. I'm gonna measure my harbor freight folding shelf to see if it will work. I don't need extra grates. If I need more room I have bigger cookers. I'm not gonna grill in it. Maybe the bottom shelf? How sturdy are the legs without the bracing the bottom shelf provides?

Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk

This was my first MAK... a first gen 1 Star:

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...f2311415e0.jpg

I had most accessories. My most used were the full upper grate and the side shelf. If you’re never going to do a larger cook then perhaps you’ll be fine without the upper grate. As far as the side shelf, it’s obviously useful for setting stuff on, but it also balances the cooker out aesthetically AND seems to give covers (whether MAK or 3rd party) a better fit. As far as the bottom shelf, I didn’t use it, but I did like having it... lol. The 1 Star is stable with or without it, but of course a bottom shelf always adds a bit more rigidity :)

Wow. She's a beauty!

She sure was! I was kinda sad the day I watched her leave. Fortunately she took off w/ a dude that was pretty cool :)

Like you I would not really use it for grilling. I wanted to be able to smoke. From sausage, jerky, fish and everything else. But I want another smoker that is able to smoke at 150*-170*. When required. I am able to do that on my smokers now. But sure would be easier with a pellet smoker.
Mak's site say's 200* is the lowest set temp. Reason I did not call this morning.
Not sure about their smoker box. The site needs updating. Some of the tabs do not link to actual info.
Again I have no actual experience with pellets. Only what I know from Ninja Steve and reading here.

On the smoke setting mine runs about 180 Tom

Yep, it should bounce between 170-190° on Smoke. Of course the 2 Star has the cold smoke box which will provide you with significantly cooler temps than that.

I have the bottom shelf, full upper grate and Flame Zone, even though I really don't do much grilling on the MAK, the FZ helps the the grill come up to temp quicker and is more efficient using less pellets, it literally funnels the heat from the fire pot into the cook chamber. If you want to add something later the price for accessories includes free shipping.

As far as the legs, they're plenty sturdy the bottom shelf actually just lays on inserts, its not bolted or screwed in and it's a heavy duty shelf. There is no wobble or flex at all in the legs, after I put it together I had to drag it around the side yard to the back patio, the wheels don't like grass so when I say drag that's what I mean, they roll nice and smooth on the patio though.

Has anyone measured the temps in the cold smoke box when the grill is set to smoke?

Depending out outdoor ambient temps, it’s typically 70-100° cooler than the cook chamber. I always say that cold smoking is a winter sport though... have never tried cold smoking in warm weather.

Makes me wonder what would happen to the temps in the box if the main chamber had a tray of ice.

Though I guess with a pellet grill smoking in the middle of the night is easy as you're not constantly feeding it.

Not sure, have never tried. Seems to complicated to me... lol.

If that is the case. Setting the Mak to 250* should be around 150* in the smoke box depending.
That could possibly work. To bad there isn't more detailed info on their site.
While were at it. How do the Mak's work in the teens and colder outside temps?
Even in single digit's I"m out there smoking/grilling.
Burning pure wood in the teen's is a PIA to me anymore. Retired old fart.
And no I won't do the throw a blanket over it anymore. Never found that worth the effort.
Thanks.

MAK Group Buy
 

MAK’s make for an amazing “old fart” smoker! Heck, they do well for middle aged and young farts as well [emoji12]

As far as smoking/grilling in cold temps... the MAK’s don’t really flinch. There’s an active MAK family member over at the MAK FB fans page... Bryan... who lives in Fairbanks Alaska. He’s been cooking (grilling and smoking) on a first gen 2 Star for years now. Some of the pics of him making pizza in the snow are pretty darn cool. Lots of freezing cold weather MAK owners out there. Don’t think I have ever seen a MAK owner using a blanket in cold weather.

As far as cold smoking temps and your statement about 250° equals 150°, I don’t want to lead you astray and tell you that is a definite. Because the cold smoke box is influenced by outside temps (it’s not monitored and controlled like the main cooking chamber), you’ll definitely need to spend a bit of time learning the cold smoking behavior of the cooker. I haven’t done a ton of cold smoking, but I do know that it works quite well in cold weather.