MAK Grills talk/pics/thoughts/reviews and appreciation thread

[Baychilla]

Beans are ready for dinner tonight.



I'll start assembling the mac & cheese soon. I'm using cheddar & fontina that I cold smoked yesterday plus some gruyere.

Are those all home made?

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[GrantAshton]

Me too! If they taste half as good as they look...

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These beans are always a hit. They’re a standard side when I serve pulled pork sandwiches.

Mike Mills’ 17th Street Tangy Pit Beans.
https://meatwave.com/blog/tangy-pit-beans

 

[GrantAshton]

Are those all home made?

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Nope. See recipe above.

I’ve tried the recipe by going with dried beans and all scratch but it isn’t any better than this and it’s way more work.

 

[4ever3]

Got more meat in the fridge than a whale blows water but had to cook something today...


Habanero Death (toothpick) vs. Secret Weapon...

 

[GrantAshton]

Well, I pushed my luck by not cleaning out my firepot after yesterday’s pastrami.

It’s cold here and the pork shoulder had been on for 15 hours and it was just coming out of its stall. So between yesterday and today, the firepot hadn’t been cleaned for 20 hours of low and slow. An hour later and there’d been a flame out since I last checked. (FWIW, I’m using BBQrs Delight pellets.)

Shoulder is in the oven and all will be good.

I’ll give the grill a deep cleaning tomorrow and verify that the firepot is full.

BTW, Robb, I took your advice and I’ve been using SD-20 after every cook. Great stuff. Tomorrow’s clean will primarily be the inside.

 

[rwalters]

Well, I pushed my luck by not cleaning out my firepot after yesterday’s pastrami.

It’s cold here and the pork shoulder had been on for 15 hours and it was just coming out of its stall. So between yesterday and today, the firepot hadn’t been cleaned for 20 hours of low and slow. An hour later and there’d been a flame out since I last checked. (FWIW, I’m using BBQrs Delight pellets.)

Shoulder is in the oven and all will be good.

I’ll give the grill a deep cleaning tomorrow and verify that the firepot is full.

BTW, Robb, I took your advice and I’ve been using SD-20 after every cook. Great stuff. Tomorrow’s clean will primarily be the inside.

Glad SD-20 is working well for you... I swear by it. As far as the flameout, I always clean the firepot after every single cook. Being it only takes a minute to remove and dump, I really don’t have a good reason not to. A clean firepot tends to make for a stronger/healthier fire vs starting on a bed of ash from the previous cook.

 

[GrantAshton]

Glad SD-20 is working well for you... I swear by it. As far as the flameout, I always clean the firepot after every single cook. Being it only takes a minute to remove and dump, I really don’t have a good reason not to. A clean firepot tends to make for a stronger/healthier fire vs starting on a bed of ash from the previous cook.

I’d been cleaning it out after every cook and there was so little ash that thought I’d be fine. But windchill was in the teens overnight and in the 20s today. So the 15 hours for the shoulder ended up being too much. I started with a full pellet box last night and it was nearly empty 14 hours later. I added some pellets at that point.

My go forward approach is to clean the firepot before every cook and to foil when doing pork shoulder and brisket at these external temperatures. Anything I’m missing?

 

[Baychilla]

How much difference does moving the thermocouple make? My first cook I had it towards the back of the upper rack.

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[Sooner21]

Glad SD-20 is working well for you... I swear by it. As far as the flameout, I always clean the firepot after every single cook. Being it only takes a minute to remove and dump, I really don’t have a good reason not to. A clean firepot tends to make for a stronger/healthier fire vs starting on a bed of ash from the previous cook.

Do local stores carry SD-20 or do you guys order online?


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[GrantAshton]

Do local stores carry SD-20 or do you guys order online?


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I ordered a six pack from Amazon. I looked around other places but shipping was prohibitive. I’m all ears if someone finds better prices. But I’m stocked up for a while! :wink:

 

[rwalters]

Do local stores carry SD-20 or do you guys order online?


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I ordered a six pack from Amazon. I looked around other places but shipping was prohibitive. I’m all ears if someone finds better prices. But I’m stocked up for a while! :wink:

Yep, Amazon for me as well. Last for a good long while

 

[rwalters]

I’d been cleaning it out after every cook and there was so little ash that thought I’d be fine. But windchill was in the teens overnight and in the 20s today. So the 15 hours for the shoulder ended up being too much. I started with a full pellet box last night and it was nearly empty 14 hours later. I added some pellets at that point.



My go forward approach is to clean the firepot before every cook and to foil when doing pork shoulder and brisket at these external temperatures. Anything I’m missing?

Solid approach. Not that flameouts can’t ever happen, but they should be extremely rare. I have not had one in a loooong time.

 

[GrantAshton]

Solid approach. Not that flameouts can’t ever happen, but they should be extremely rare. I have not had one in a loooong time.

Thanks. I figure I burned 20+ pounds of pellets before the flameout. Should a flameout be expected at the point of burning that many pellets?

 

[rwalters]

Thanks. I figure I burned 20+ pounds of pellets before the flameout. Should a flameout be expected at the point of burning that many pellets?

I wouldn’t think so, but that’s also about the max I burn under any type of cook before cleaning. In other words, most of my butt/brisket cooks take about 18 hours as I run them pretty low n slow. On a super cold day, I may tick up to 20 lbs of pellets used, but that’s about the worse I let the firepot get. In theory, you should be able to go quite a bit longer than 20 hours or pounds, I’m just not the best one to ask because that’s not how I roll.

 

[DBBQ]

I had a couple of flameouts before I have the new software upgrade. Since then, none and I clean my burn pot after every cook. I vacuum it all out each cook.

Robb- your cleaning products and advice were superb. Almost should be a sticky.

 

[SMetroHawkeye]

Keeping the MAK lookin’ good

BTW, Robb, I took your advice and I’ve been using SD-20 after every cook. Great stuff. Tomorrow’s clean will primarily be the inside.

Can you or Robb tell us more about any secrets to keeping The MAK clean inside and out? I appreciate the tip on cleaning the fire pot after every cook, regardless of length of cook from Robb...is the SD-20 safe on all outward facing surfaces of the cooker? Any inside cooker cleaning tips - including to foil or not to foil?

Last question is with regard to fish... does cooking fish in the MAK tend to leave any residual smells? If that happens - any tips to eradicate?:fish2:

 

[tom b]

I don't use foil, fish does not leave any smells that I have noticed

 

[tom b]

Mak burgers

I wish this picture could capture the sizzling effect of the grill grates, first time I have used them on this grill, wont be the last. 15 min. in the smoke box and a couple per side in the GG. Daughter and wife approved.

 

[rwalters]

I wish this picture could capture the sizzling effect of the grill grates, first time I have used them on this grill, wont be the last. 15 min. in the smoke box and a couple per side in the GG. Daughter and wife approved.

WOW WOW WOW, Tom!!

 

[GrantAshton]

Dinner tonight. I was lazy so no veggies.