I hear you, but have successfully avoid gas grills for a couple of decades and just have little interest in them. Will have to check how much time I'd lose practically because of bans.
Looking a little more closely now at the MAK built-in, but definitely still checking everything out. Anyone ever used a Coyote grill?
I would definitely stay away from Memphis with all the changes. They did get sold and are moving back to being a USA product, but I’d wait on that to play out a while. I honestly wasn’t a big fan of my USA made Memphis Pro when I had it. It was grease fire city, had a weird layout for upper shelves, and the searing worked well but was an extremely small cooking zone.
I love my MAK. I haven’t seen a built in model in person, but looking at the pics, I don’t see a reason to believe that it would not perform identical to the freestanding model. They just moved the hopper to the front it appears. All the airflow is through the fan under the hopper and out the louvered exhaust, so it should work great as a built in. It actually grills pretty well for a pellet grill. I wouldn’t be afraid to serve steaks to a guest from it. However, I generally choose charcoal or gas for steaks, sometimes I smoke on the MAK on sear on the gasser. My Genesis just gets hotter and faster.
I was down to MAK and Yoder for my decision. Speaking to MAK and a couple owners swayed me, plus not wanting to potentially have to maintain the paint was my sway. The LSG wasn’t quite out yet or it would have been strongly considered too.
Hope that helps. Tag or PM me if you have any specific questions about MAK or Memphis.
I have a suspicion that the built in MAK may perform even better than the standard versions due to the fan/firepot direction change. Probably not significant since it's already a pretty even cooker compared to others I've used/owned.
ItsAllGoneToTheDogs The front to back actually has a chance to go straight from the firepot right out the louvres. However, I’d bet my money if we had an internal camera, you’d find after all the bounces off walls that smoke path looks very similar between stand alone and built in.
glitchy I was thinking the housing for the auger being shorter and in the front center would allow for more even air flow under the flamezone since airflow shouldn't be affected above the flame zone?
Any recs from MAK owners on size of additional grate to get? Guy from MAK said get the full size, because the two halves included fit in the upper slots, so you use the full size at bottom. My only hesitation is thinking I might want to cover/uncover the direct flame setup, which would likely be more difficult with a full grate.
Any thoughts appreciated. Not only because I’m moving on from a wood burner w/a 30” wide grate you could raise/lower, increasingly realizing with the MAK (and its ilk) which has a smaller main 2D grate area, I’ll be learning how to manage space/cooking on different vertical levels partially to compensate for smaller main grate
Became ‘one’ with my Englebrecht, plan to do so with the MAK. Thanks again for all the good info.
I have 2 full and a 3/4 along with the two halves. That’s the combo to get max space, but I’ve never used them all at once yet. I’d probably recommend getting the full for your choice and buying a 3/4 as well. I cook a lot on the first upper with a drip pan below on the main. Hope that helps. I’ve made a semi 2 zone by opening only the front flame zone many times and using a half shelf on first upper.
Glitchy — that’s good info on the grates, thanks. And as someone who very often cooked with the wood off to one side for two zones, though it’s a different beast, your front/back gives me a direction to play with.
rblnr I have skimmed through the replies here so far and I have not seeing anything so far as to something I think will affect you greatly. As you are used to the best of what bbq can be operating a stick burner, you have a big disappointment looming on your horizon with cooking on a pellet cooker. I have a MAK 1 star and love it because it can be very convenient. But I have to jump through hoops to get a good smoke profile flavor with it, similar to what can be achieved on a stick burner. Lots of folks use smoke tubes but I find that method still lacking flavor.
The smoke flavor on all pellet cookers is very light compared to stick burners. And with the restrictions you will be under i am not sure if there is anything you can do to change that.
Thanks for the info/experience. For better or worse, I have somewhat lower expectations on the MAK given how I’m used to grilling. That said, I am excited to learn a new tool and make the most of it.
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