M Grills M1 Owners

[Bob K]

Got my Stainless M1 last June. Love it. Agree with the comments on fire management. This thing wants to run. Hot ‘n fast is a piece of cake to manage. But can be tricky keeping temps down, especially trying to do 2-zone from charcoal grate, as Smarks noted above.

Travis at M Grills wants you to use the stack damper to keep temps down but that sort of seems like smothering/smoldering it, like the top vent on a kettle. I’m sure he’s right, but I like to keep the stack open unless all hell’s breaking loose. Here’s what I’ve figured out so far, still learning (best part of course):

1. For 2-zone, if you want to use the charcoal grate, I have found that it’s almost better to skip the chimney and use a firestarter or 2 to light the edge of the charcoal in the sear box. Sort of like a Weber that way, quasi-Minion method to keep the temps from getting away from you. Takes longer though, and you may need to get a half chimney ready for searing time.
2. Most often now, I use the firebox as the indirect heat source. Throw 2/3 chimney in the firebox and I can keep the food grate temps nice and low, then throw a half chimney in the sear box when I’m ready to sear. This is how I cook most steaks, chops, etc. now, it’s easier than using the charcoal grate alone (admittedly uses more fuel). For roasts, birds, etc. I’ll use sticks in the firebox if I know it’s going indirect for an hour plus.
3. For long cooks, I’ve been having fun with an Auber 2615 that seems made for this thing. I split full-length splits to get 2" or so mini splits and use 1 or 2 at a a time with the fan keeping everything a thin blue. Cheating? Maybe, but I enjoy adding some tech to the mix. Auber app is fun too.
4. Yes, starting with 2/3 chimney to get a bed of coals going is perfect for stick burning, as Chad noted above. (I know, probably cheating too...)
5. Have gone as far as splitting the mini-splits (basically tinder/kindling at that point) to go real low-temp with clean smoke for jerky. (Wife thinks I’m nuts with the splitting, loves the product though.)
6. Or, as noted, if you want to run hot ‘n fast - it’s set and forget from the firebox, whether lump or sticks, it will hold 275-300 all day. That’s how I do most brisket, chuck, ribs, etc. anymore, with the high quality meat we’re able to get now.

Agree the foil makes clean up easy but do use a foil pan to catch fat rendering on long cooks or you will have a mess on top of the firebox that can smoke, and that sometimes finds its way out of the unit onto the patio. Have also used a roasting pan as a water pan for turkey, a la Meathead’s T-day gravy method. It sits right on the charcoal grate, which is perfect as you can lower it just right to get that airflow under the bird he preaches (rightly so).

I have read somewhere that the heavy gauge stainless might hold heat a little more than the regular steel, don’t know if true, but seems like temp issues will vary between models. Overall I am thrilled with this cooker, use it twice a week, so probably 30+ cooks. Although now I see Travis has the SS M36 out now and the one thing I would add to mine is a bit more real estate...

Well that’s far more words than I set out to write, sorry. Hope it’s helpful. Here’s a pastrami I did last week.

[rwhfly]

Good info. I totally agree with point 2. I like using the firebox as the low and slow part of 2 zone cooking then go to the freshly loaded hot searing box to finish. Worked great for a ribeye I did last week.

[Butchman]

I cooked some St. Louis cut spare ribs a while back 2 full racks. I used the elevated grill extension add-on for the ribs and then placed a whole packer brisket cut up into 4 or five pieces that I had previously sous vide on the grill beneath the ribs. The entire cook was with the firebox using wood splits I’d bought from wal mart and wood chunks as well. I was shocked how fast the ribs cooked and the flavor was excellent. The ribs were pre rubbed from Costco and brisket was a prime Costco packer. The temp gauge stayed below 300 the whole cook but I think it had to be hotter on the elevated rack as the ribs were done in around 3 hours or less and had a nice char on the ends and great carmelization with a nice kinda sweet finish even though the rub had little to zero sugar in it. Im not sold on sous vide for brisket just yet as I prefer the process and "art" required to cook a brisket the whole time in a smoker. I didn’t use any thermometers other than my instant read thermo works and the M1 lid gauge.

I really liked the way the cooker performed and smoke flavor on the meat. I had 2 aluminum pans underneath the meats to catch drippings and there was still a good bit of grease that leaked out of the firebox door onto the patio. Next time I’ll need to put something under the firebox door to catch excess grease. The brisket had a great smoke ring by the way and turned out pretty good.
I smoked it about 2 hours or less.

[Bob K]

Had the same experience with the elevated extension so I put an extra probe up there and it was about +30F (280 vs 250 on main food grate). Works out ok, just good to know

[Berner9]

https://youtu.be/sA85TDO-aZE

Travis shared some ways he manages the m1 and m36.


I know I found out last night on my second ever cook that small lump falls through the grates after 30-45 mins when I add splits which actually drops the temp a lot. The grates seem to big for small lump and charcoal.

[Bob K]

Sort of along these lines, I’ve been removing the firebox coal grate lately and just burning lump and/or splits right in the ash pan. Something about reduced airflow underneath and more headroom seems to make the fire lower maintenance for me.

[rwhfly]

You can add in a sheet of finer expanded metal mesh (not galvanized!) over the mesh of the firebox grate. I did this for my offset. Right now I can't find where I bought it from but they sold in various dimensions. Grainger sells this but you have to buy 4' by 8'... Here is a link to show what I'm talking about (yo might have to cut and paste): https://tinyurl.com/tnb8eqf

[smarks112]

I was cooking pretty hot out of the firebox with oak splits tonight for the first time (~350-375). I had about 3 splits in the box and found that the far right side (maybe 1/8th) of the grill serves as a nice searing zone when cooking that hot from the box as the fire is licking over the top - plenty to give the chicken I was doing a nice quick sear. Really excited about this as it means can really do most things out of the firebox. I had the firebox cover on but it’s probably even a greater effect without it on.

Also veggies on the elevated grate roasted are just perfect!

[Bob K]

That’s a clever use of that hot zone. All it’s done for me so far is ruin a half batch of jerky when I forgot to rotate, duh. By firebox cover, do you mean that removable 3" or so wide sheet steel baffle cover thing?

[smarks112]

That’s what I meant yeah

[chad.gibbs.3]

I cooked some spare ribs yesterday. Cooked them for 3 hours unwrapped, and then wrapped them for 2 hours. They were excellent and I was really happy with how easy it was to manage the temperature. I cooked at 275F the whole time and it was really easy to manage. Started with a bed of coals made by charcoal, and then added a split of wood once it was real warmed up. Oak wood was used for the whole cook, just charcoal to start a nice coal base.

[chad.gibbs.3]

I also always use a water pan on the lower grate when bbq’n

[Bob K]

@chad.gibbs3 , just curious, what do you like about the water pan? Maintaining temps? This cooker is so well sealed and insulated it’s pretty steamy in there.

[FireMan]

Nice wibs!

[chad.gibbs.3]

Bob K Aaron Franklins Barbecue book opened my eyes to this water pan idea. See picture attached.

[Berner9]

Some cooks from this week. Learning lot’s.



A full chimney is way to hot for grilling with the griddle. I think 1/3 to half a chimney would be perfect. Potatoes cooked way to fast. Had to pull early. Steak was great. Gave it a nice reverse sear.



This was my second cook, first longer cook. Struggled with my temps at first and was worried I ruined them. Ended up being great. Wonderful flavor



cooked from the firebox. Will try the grill setup next time.

[Bob K]

You mentioned struggling with temps — out of curiosity what was your fuel choice?

[70monte]

I recently used my griddle for the first time and asked Travis what the best way to heat it and use it. He said to put it over the direct coals to heat it up and then put it on the indirect side and it will stay hot enough to cook on without burning or warping the griddle. I temporarily warped mine when I left it on the direct side to long but it popped back in place when it cooled down.

[Bob K]

chad.gibbs.3 I will give the water pan a try. Can’t argue with Franklin, at least I have no business doing so. With an offset you get way more airflow and usually less heat efficiency so I get using a water pan there because it’s hot, windy & dry. But with the M1, the heat is directly under the meat, and it’s so well insulated, so it’s less airflow and more heat efficient — translating (for me anyway) into a pretty humid cooking chamber In the <250 range. (I hardly sprtiz at all, seems to impede bark development.) But maybe boosting temps and using a water pan will be the perfect combo, that’ll be my next experiment.

[chad.gibbs.3]

I’ve been really happy with my results cooking at 275F with post oak and using a water pan. Have you got around to trying it out yet?

[Walt Dockery]

I've had my M1 stainless about a month and a half now. Mostly my experiences echo what others have said here but I'll add my $.02 below. Prior to getting the M1 I've lots of experience cooking on Kettles, Eggs, and a Pellet Cooker, but I'm new to stick burning:

- When using the lower firebox with wood, I've found it's imperative to leave the vents all the way open, and often I'll leave the door cracked as well, and use the size of wood to control temps. Two things I've purchased from amazon that help are a log splitter https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/...?ie=UTF8&psc=1 and a hand bow saw https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/...?ie=UTF8&psc=1. You can probably get away with just the splitter but I like the ability to cut shorter pieces as well and the saw was cheap.

- I watched myriad fire management videos among my favorites was this one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9fb9gEQ5804 One thing I took away from that is when burning wood I remove the charcoal grate and burn directly on the ash pan. Two things this does, 1 you don't have coals falling through so you have one coal bed vs. when I would use the coal grate some coal would fall through the bottom and i'd end up with two separate coal beds. 2 it frees up a lot of vertical space so I can put in longer splits leaning against the sides vertically so fire can "climb". Another thing I took from that video is i build my fire close to the door, when i first used the M1 I'd push the fire all the way inside and could see flames licking up.

- You can definitey do a hybrid cook, I did a tri tip a couple weeks ago using the lower firebox for the indirect portion then got some coals screaming hot in a chimney for a sear using the firebox on the coal grate.

- I agree temp management for lower indirect cooks is more difficult using the upper charcoal grate. I really need to experiment more with this but thus far my takeaway is to use a small fire to keep the temps down. I am hoping for longer cooks I can start with lighting a small amount of coals in a chimney then adding more unlit coals similar to how you do long low cooks in a slow n sear. I have a feeling that for any cook longer than a thick steak I will be using the lower firebox for the "indirect" portion, it's much easier to maintain steady temps.

- A half hotel pan (or half steam pan) makes a good sized water + drip pan that fits nicely on half of the charcoal grate. If the charcoal grate was used to hold meat, the water pan could be placed below that on top of the foil on the floor of the upper cooking chamber.

One thing I've had some difficulty with, is that with other charcoal cookers like an egg or even a kettle with slow in sear, when done cooking I could close down the vents and the fire would go out and I could reuse most of the coal later. I have not been able to do that with the M1 - i close off the lower vent and the chimney but the fire will keep going and all the coal gets burned up. I use FOGO charcoal which is expensive so it would be nice to be able to reuse unused lump. I'm wondering if I could find something heat resistant that I could stick on or in the chimney when done cooking (similar to the round cap that big green eggs come with) to cut off all the oxygen.

Right now I've got a chuck roast on with cherry in the lower firebox. I'm not a huge chuck fan but Costco only had one brisket and it was quite a bit bigger than I wanted to cook. This shelter in place has been very timely for playing with a new smoker.

[Bob K]

This is the kit I got, after wasting time with the cheaper foam-type gaskets: Midwest Hearth Wood Stove Replacement Gasket Kit for Woodburning Stoves - Graphite Impregnated Fiberglass Gaskets and Adhesive (3/8" x 84" Rope) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01D0ORRSU..._sk6LEb8XY7T7A

[bfletcher]

I've enjoyed reading this thread. Bob K do you still recommend the Midwest Hearth rope and cement? Has it held-up without maintenance? I'm persistently losing the seal on the stock gasket. Thanks for any feedback you can offer.

[Bob K]

bfletcher it held up well for a year but then I actually had to replace the whole body of the cooker last year so can’t say what would have happened past that. Since then I’ve picked up a larger offset so the M1 I has replaced the kettle as a charcoal grill, don’t really use the firebox anymore. I can say the rope & cement showed no sign of separation which is way better than the stock gasket and the few foam replacements I tried, those would fail in a few months.

[Walt Dockery]

While I haven't tested it with paper, the felt around the base of the lid closes up pretty solid, so I doubt that is how it's getting in. The bottom vent and door close up pretty tight as well.

The chimney vent does not close down all the way (I assume all M1s are like this?), in addition there are some small gaps at the bottom of the chimney. I don't know if this is enough air to keep lit lump going, but it seems to be the only explanation as far as I can tell, it's the one part that does not seal up as tightly as an egg, or a weber kettle for that matter, both of which the top vent can close all the way.

A couple of pics:


First pic is looking down into chimney from above w/ the vent as closed as it can get. Second pic is looking up at the same thing from the inside, as you can see you can see daylight all around - is that normal? Third pic is the base of the chimney, there's a small opening in the corner. None of these gaps are huge mind you, but I can't think what else it can be that's causing the lump to continue burning. I sort of chalked this up to just part of the design til a few others ITT mentioned it closes up tight and cools down.

[smarks112]

Mine also has a slight gap like you show. I’m definitely able to preserve some charcoal but it does burn for quite a while before going out.

[Bob K]

On the issue of the water pan, this is as close to an empirical, non-mythical explanation as I’ve seen: https://youtu.be/umXRJdg18CI
Don’t think it’s definitive, but seems to confirm the hunch that hot and fast + water pan can approximate or maybe improve on low and slow. Heresy, I know.

[smarks112]

One other thing I realized today while smoking some ribs and pork butts that might be helpful to others - it is really helpful to have a thermometer that doesn’t just show the smoker temp but also the curve on a plot. I use a Firebox but others also do that - it allows you to basically predict what is happening based on shape and slope of curve.

[Walt Dockery]

On the coals not going out with vents shut down I think I have solved it. After a cook, I covered the chimney with a damp towel (it was cool enough I was pretty sure it wasn’t a fire risk, and kept an eye on it). That did put the lump out, which to me confirmed the chimney vent was the source of where oxygen was getting in.

I was thinking of something I could put over the chimney after each cook, even a piece of heavy duty aluminum foil should work. Then I realized I have some leftover high temp felt and adhesive (from bbqgaskets.com) from when I added a felt gasket to the lid of my old Weber kettle. I applied this to the chimney vent overlapping enough to close the gaps. Tried it last night and it appears to work - plenty of lump left over this morning after last nights reverse seared flat iron. Not the cleanest/prettiest application job but I think it’ll all turn black in time.

[rwhfly]

Good solution. And very few people look down a chimney so you are safe from an aesthetics pov... Based on your pictures of the gap, mine are somewhat smaller but I might use your idea anyway.