How does your MAK perform in wind and cold?

[ItsAllGoneToTheDogs]

glitchy I was using Smokehouse comp blend from Sams club, I've been very happy with the price/performance of them. I think off the top of my head they are Oak, Hickory, and Maple.

[glitchy]

Thank you so much for sharing this, great info. Just curious what were the pellets? Sorry if I missed that.

[ItsAllGoneToTheDogs]

glitchy hopefully this helps better... smoke mode with the auger already full from last night, ignited in 1.5 min, to smoke temp in about 9 (today smoke averaged at 175, it was 34 degrees, very cold rain and 10 mph swirling winds when I started).


After 5 hours I moved my jerky to the warming box for a total of 9 hours before I removed everything and went into burn off mode to get you the time to grill temp. At this point, its 41 degrees outside, heavy rain, and 5ish mph wind. Real feel is 31 degrees if that affects grills I dunno, but I was freezing

From 175 to an acceptable grill temp of 450 was a surprising 15 minutes. From there things slowed down and after an hour I can't break 560. These pellets reliably go to 595 if not the max of 600, but I suspect its a combination of an ash filled firepot from the long smoke session and the weather. Recovery time from opening long enough to scrub the grates was about 3 minutes to get back to 560. The spike to 200 was when I removed the flamezone covers after moving stuff to the warming box so I could go straight to grill mode at the end of the cook. Took it a few minutes to level out after a few hours cooking with them in place.

[glitchy]

Thanks for all the great feedback. I’m really not that focused on the searing. I’ve had a SmokeFire, Memphis Pro, CampChef Woodwind, and GMG Daniel Boone with ‘searing’ solutions (listed in the order of sear performance) out of too many pellet grills I’ve owned. I feel like I have a very good guess how it will sear and expect it to fall between the Memphis and CampChef a little closer to Memphis.

What’s really hard to see from specs, pictures, etc. is how sealed a grill is and the details of how steady the temps stay left to right in heavy winds, how quickly it recovers, etc. For recovery I’m more worried about that performance when cooking something like burgers, chops, chicken parts at the 375-450 range in breezy weather. I’m already used to making sure the wind isn’t blowing into the rear vents.

[Old Glory]

When I don't have time for charcoal, Sous Vide and cast iron pan on a gas grill gets me there.

[dirtman]

My Mak 2 star performs well in any weather. I have had it for about 8 years and love it. The pit boss controller is arguably the best in the business. I just upgraded to the new flame zone but have only cooked on it once since adding.

I also have a Mak 3 star general. It wasn’t my best purchase. It doesn’t hold more than two 2 stars and with cart costs significantly more than two 2 stars. It is at a machine shop and we are working to expand capacity to at least double and plan to add a rotisserie.

I’m with Meathead and ItsAllGoneToTheDogs it does ok searing but there are certainly better methods for a good sear.

[ItsAllGoneToTheDogs]

Yeah the current MAKs can grill, even on the factory grates, but for a good sear (like Meathead posted a pic of below) I use a cast iron pan. Usually works fine since I preheat the pan while on smoke mode and doing reverse sear... then move the meat to warming box on the 2 star and the pan heats up a bit faster while going to grill temp.

[Meathead]

Just to be clear, this is what I call a proper sear. More on the subject here https://amazingribs.com/more-techniq...hould-not-flip

[Meathead]

I have it. I is just not enough to get a proper sear to my taste.

[lostclusters]

The newer maks can be set up with what is called the flame zone with direct exposure to the pellet fire. I have not opted in to this because I do all my searing over charcoal.

[Meathead]

Remember: Hot air cannot sear. To sear you need exposure to Infrared energy from flame, glowing coals, embers or conduction from hot metal. Most pellet smokers are like your indoor oven. They can make hot air, but you wouldn't sear a steak in your oven would you? Now you can put a cast iron pan (or other metal pan) or griddle in a pellet smoker and when it gets hot it can sear beautifully by conduction. Or you can get a $30 Hibachi and it will outsear most pellet smokers. The exception is the Weber Smokefire which can sear with flame and one or two others have side burners.

[ItsAllGoneToTheDogs]

glitchy This isn't grill temp, but I figured I'd give you a sorta cold picture for startup... 31 degrees outside, slight 5mph wind random direction... starting with an empty hopper and auger.... 7 min to ignition (it's about 1.5 min when you start with auger full already... 13 minutes to get to and hold set temp of 225. In the summer thats a bit faster, but the MAK has pauses in the startup algorithm so it doesn't overshoot initial set temp. Now it's holding dead steady at 225 for the last 20 minutes (not captured on graph). I think it would take about 20 minutes to get to 500 right now, but more like 40 min to get to 600. I'll do a burnoff at the end of my jerky cook tomorrow to get you an actual measured time. And tomorrows weather is cold as heck with rain and wind all day

[glitchy]

Thanks Meathead. I’ve read that review several times and that’s why I’m looking at the MAK and why I’m keeping expectations in check for searing. Just wanted to hear from others too since lots of factors can play in like even which way your house faces...my old house never had wind issues because it faced 180 the opposite of the current and blocked the wind for grilling 90 percent of the time.

[Meathead]

I think I let it all hang out in my review. I use it in all weather. https://amazingribs.com/ratings-revi...t-grill-review

[Skip]

Blazin' Grills are are great choice in my opinion! And made in USA. I almost bought one when I got my MAK last summer.