Masterbuilt MB20041020 Gravity Series 560 Outdoor Digital Charcoal Barbecue Griddle + Grill + Smoker, Portable, Built-in Thermometer Gauge in Black

Product Information

Over to the left is where all the clever stuff occurs. I haven’t a clue what’s inside the controller but all I know is I’m amazed at how well it controls the grill’s internal temperature. Given that the 560 uses simply gravity and no moving mechanical parts aside from a spinning fan, I’ve been super impressed by how accurately it has maintained temperatures. On average, I’d say it is within two or three degrees of the preset temperature and that's a simply phenomenal level of control for a charcoal barbie. The fan is very quiet and nothing like the jet-engine roar of a pellet grill. In fact, you can hardly hear it at all. Also, it draws very little electricity so you could easily use this BBQ with a power station like the BioLite BaseCharge 1500.

Join me from the first slice of the box cutter to the final clean-up and, hopefully, a forkful of delicious food as I put the Masterbuilt Gravity Series 1050 Charcoal Smoker and Grill through its paces. Let’s see if it rises to the occasion or sinks like a stone. In short, they all run the same gravity series technology with onboard digital fan and charcoal hopper/shoot, but there are some small differences. The model numbers refer to the cooking space in square inches. If you are a die-hard, charcoal for life, kind of griller, but admit that you have secretly peeked over the fence and envied some of the features that you saw on a pellet grill, then this grill is very attractive.

Dimensions

DIGITALFAN CONTROL With the push of a button, the digitally controlled fan moves air flow from the hopper to the cooking chamber and maintains desired cooking temperature. Now restart the grill (turn the controller off and on again, and make sure the temp you desire is still set.)

The vertical charcoal hopper is designed to hold over 12 hours of briquettes. The hopper will hold about 10lbs of lump, give or take the size of the lump charcoal that you’re using. You can space your wood chunks evenly throughout the charcoal hopper, placing a single chunk every 2 or 3 inches. First of all, the charcoal burns above a grate and ashes fall down into a bin. Simply opening a door and emptying the ash bin is all you need to do to clean out the ashes. Firstly, this BBQ comes in a huge box on a pallet, but the good news is that the top half of the box lifts off to expose the items – and there are many of them. Thankfully, the main carcass of the grill – i.e. the grilling tub and the hopper – arrives fully assembled though you will definitely require two sets of hands to lift it because it is heavy with a capital H. Light the charcoal from underneath with a Firestarter via a side door. Let the fire starter take for a few minutes.The grill has a range of 225° on the low end and 700° on the high end. It’s selectable in 5° increments from the temperature control panel, and the onboard fan/controller combo do all the work of maintaining the temperature. Portability: This is annoying if you want to do a reverse sear where you will initially aim for say 110°F, and then you want to increase the heat and aim for 135°F.