As some of you know I received my MAK 1 Star yesterday that I purchased during the BBQ Brethren group buy. They said it would take about 4-6 weeks and it took just about 6 weeks so I was anxiously awaiting its arrival.
The MAK is a beast and is very well made. It took a strong neighbor friend to help me carry the cook chamber/pellet hopper assembly to the back yard and it wasn't easy.
Took my time assembling the smoker and then did the burn in. I couldn't wait to try it out so after the burn in I rubbed down an Italian sausage roll (aka fatty) with Oakridge Dominator, smoked it at 225 for a couple of hours, and then turned it up to 275 as it was starting to get late. Took about three hours and the finished product had a nice crust and a good (not overpowering) smoke flavor
I am finding the MAK get's up to temp very quickly, and cools down quickly when you need it to. It's nice to be able to run it in cool down mode for 20 minutes and then put the cover on. Will be handy for late evening cooks.
I put on a 2 lb beef shoulder roast this morning around 10 am and again set it at 225°. Caleb from MAK says he tends to use this setting quite a bit as it provides for plenty of smoke and obviously doesn't take as long as starting out in smoke mode (about 180°).
Around 3 pm I kicked it up to 275° as the internal temp was around 150° and I wanted to eat before 6 pm. When the roast reached 160° I foiled it and it reached probe tender (about 205°) around 5 pm.
Of course I am biased, but I thought the meat had the perfect amount of smoke flavor and a nice smoke ring. Definitely not as strong of flavor as my PBC but I really liked it. The MAK shipped with Bear Mountain Hickory and I have heard that many folks really like those pellets, so that probably helped.
All in all I am super stoked to be a MAK owner. I even found it kind of fun removing the parts to do a clean up after the second cook. The grates, FlameZone funnel pan, firepot, etc. are all 304 stainless steel and they have a lot of heft to them.
So here are a few pics of my first two cooks and of the MAK:
Thanks for looking.
The MAK is a beast and is very well made. It took a strong neighbor friend to help me carry the cook chamber/pellet hopper assembly to the back yard and it wasn't easy.
Took my time assembling the smoker and then did the burn in. I couldn't wait to try it out so after the burn in I rubbed down an Italian sausage roll (aka fatty) with Oakridge Dominator, smoked it at 225 for a couple of hours, and then turned it up to 275 as it was starting to get late. Took about three hours and the finished product had a nice crust and a good (not overpowering) smoke flavor
I am finding the MAK get's up to temp very quickly, and cools down quickly when you need it to. It's nice to be able to run it in cool down mode for 20 minutes and then put the cover on. Will be handy for late evening cooks.
I put on a 2 lb beef shoulder roast this morning around 10 am and again set it at 225°. Caleb from MAK says he tends to use this setting quite a bit as it provides for plenty of smoke and obviously doesn't take as long as starting out in smoke mode (about 180°).
Around 3 pm I kicked it up to 275° as the internal temp was around 150° and I wanted to eat before 6 pm. When the roast reached 160° I foiled it and it reached probe tender (about 205°) around 5 pm.
Of course I am biased, but I thought the meat had the perfect amount of smoke flavor and a nice smoke ring. Definitely not as strong of flavor as my PBC but I really liked it. The MAK shipped with Bear Mountain Hickory and I have heard that many folks really like those pellets, so that probably helped.
All in all I am super stoked to be a MAK owner. I even found it kind of fun removing the parts to do a clean up after the second cook. The grates, FlameZone funnel pan, firepot, etc. are all 304 stainless steel and they have a lot of heft to them.
So here are a few pics of my first two cooks and of the MAK:
Thanks for looking.
