First Cook on the Masterbuilt 560

[GusRobin]

Yesterday I did my first cook on the Masterbuilt 560.
Here it is firing up



A while back HighonSmoke showed some pork short ribs he did. Looked good so I ordered some. Here they are rubbed down and in the smoker.



Basically did a 3-2-1 variant. Here they are sauced at the end.



Plated



Overall they were very good. I think I should have left them in a little longer but I was hungry.

Thoughts on the 560:
I like the convenience of self feeding charcoal. My 6 hr cook used about 60% of the bin of coal. So using simple math, a bin should last about 9-10 hrs. This is not exact as I didn't weigh what I put in and it was mix of lump, briquettes, and wood chunks.

The controller ran at 235* but the extra temp probe I put in the middle said about 189*. Not sure which was off. But that is no big deal in that once you are aware you can compensate. At one point the controller shut down for no apparent reason and I had to restart. But it was ok after that. About 2/3 thru I lost WiFi and couldn't reconnect. Others have had issues with the wifi some have not. The overall concensus is that it is a poor unit.

I like the idea of being able to shut it down and save the unused charcoal. That function seems to work well.

Mods I made/will make:

While as with any smoker you will find numerous mods on youtube etc.,some needed, some just because they can. Here are the ones that I did/will do:
1) The stainless firebox insert. There is a debate if needed, but I want this to last a long while so I bought one. ($115).
2)While wifi is not that important, I decided to buy the new fireboard controller with the built in fan drive ($245). Many are ok with the current controller so I am not sure if this falls in the "needed" or "nice to have" category. Either case I can ue it on other smokers if desired.
3) In the ash bin at the bottom of the charcoal bin there were gaps on the sides. This needs to be airtight in order to shut down and save the unused coal when done. Just needed to run a line of high temp silicone along the seam.
In summary, I am happy with this and will be using a lot. I like the charcoal/wood flavor that you can't get with a pellet grill.

[TMB]

Looks good Gus!

[smokeasaurus]

I think the ss firebox insert was a good call 

Ribs sure look good by the way

[HighOnSmoke]

Great looking cook Gus! I did mine just like I would do beef ribs. Probe tender at 200 plus.

[Lines]

Looks awesome Gus, Thanks for the review and pointers.

[Jaxon]

Great looking meal and a nice 1st cook.
The Wi-Fi stops when you open the lid...should restart when you close the lid and quick press the connect button.  I haven't had an issue with Wi-Fi.

[Tailgating is my game]

that food looks amazing....best of luck Gus

[HighOnSmoke]

For anyone curious on the pork short ribs. A member of another forum that works at Snake River Farms stated:

"To clear up a couple of the questions we've seen on this cut: The reason these look a little different than what you're used to is because at SRF we break our shoulders on a "Japanese break" as opposed to an "American Break". The American break is between the second and third ribs, while the Japanese break falls between the third and fourth rib. They are meatier because they come from a muscle group in the shoulder while spare ribs are simply the ribcage on the side of the animal. That's the difference between Spare Ribs and Short Ribs.

tl/dr - these are the front of the spare ribs and include some meat from the shoulder"

I didn't know this and Porter Road and also the Snake River Farms product page on pork short ribs doesn't explain it fully.

[akruckus]

Look pretty good to me!

This is a question for Gus (or Jaxon).  Do you think you can add wood chunks or are they too big?  Just spit balling here...

[GusRobin]

Look pretty good to me!

This is a question for Gus (or Jaxon).  Do you think you can add wood chunks or are they too big?  Just spit balling here...

I add wood chunks in the ash bin. As the hot coals drop they burn up the wood chunks. In the charcoal bin I addeded a layer of coal, a layer of wood chunks and then more coal. So yes you can. It says (if I remember correctly) that you can add up to 11/2 lbs of wood chunks. Some have also added a wood split in the ash hopper.

[Jaxon]

What Gus said...
Today I am doing ribs in the 560 and trying another method for the wood.  I have 3 hickory splits, about 8 inches long, standing vertically in chute surrounded by the charcoal.  My thinking is that they will smolder and smoke for a longer period of time that way than if they are lying horizontally.  I also have 2 big chunks of cherry in the ash drawer.
It is smoking well at this time and has been smoking for quite a while - thin blue smoke.

[teesquare]

This cooker does intrigue me....if y'all keep this up -I am gonna get in trouble. So- whose backyard am I gonna be living' in with my new grill?

[TMB]

This cooker does intrigue me....if y'all keep this up -I am gonna get in trouble. So- whose backyard am I gonna be living' in with my new grill?

Well, if you get one bring it over I got room in my hangover outback for you 

[Jaxon]

I did another couple of racks today and they are excellent!
I cook ribs on the middle shelf and set the controls to 235 to maintain the 225 I want.
For this cook I used3 hickory slats about 2 inches square.  I placed them in the chute vertically and poured the charcoal around them.  The idea was to have them slowly burn and continue to smoke for a longer time.  It worked.  I got steady smoke for a couple of hours.  I also put 2 large chunks of cherry in the ash catcher.  They smoked well, too.
Probably used about 2 chimneys worth of Kingsford.
I am very happy with the results we're getting.
I wish I could post the fine pictures.

[Pappymn]

Amended review by Meathead. Didn't our very own Smoke out that issue a couple of weeks back?  Smoke is da man




In the short time since publishing this review, we have encountered significant and disturbing quality issues with this product. The firebox at the bottom of the charcoal chute has warped badly, and buckled, and appears to have rusted through the inner layer, although as of now, the outer layers remains intact. Additionally, the fan that regulates air to the fire is stone dead despite our best efforts at revival and the unit is now inoperable.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk