Flame Out Procedures

[dmbmay98]

I had a flame out occur on my new Mak 2 star yesterday while doing ribs.  It was the second time using the grill.  It was raining out and seemed to happen after I opened the grill to spray the ribs. 

I restarted the grill and a huge smoke cloud came out and ended up way overheating.

After this occurred, I shut down the grill and brought the ribs in to finish in the oven.  Should I have cleared out the flame pot after the flame out?  The flame pot had a ton of shredded pellets that I threw away. 

[rwalters]

Anytime you have a flame out on a pellet grill, yes, you should absolutely empty the fire pot before restarting. Curious, did you start that rib cook with a freshly cleaned fire pot? I have found that to be hugely important on the MAK‘s.

[dmbmay98]

I did not.  I had only done one previous cook a few days prior (a quick burger cook at 425).  Next time I will make sure to empty the pot before each cook. 

[rwalters]

I did not.  I had only done one previous cook a few days prior (a quick burger cook at 425).  Next time I will make sure to empty the pot before each cook.

The nice thing about the MAK’s is that it takes all of 60 seconds. They’re just happier (like most pellet grills) with a clean fire pot at the start of each cook

[dmbmay98]

I did not.  I had only done one previous cook a few days prior (a quick burger cook at 425).  Next time I will make sure to empty the pot before each cook.

The nice thing about the MAK’s is that it takes all of 60 seconds. They’re just happier (like most pellet grills) with a clean fire pot at the start of each cook

Yes I agree.  I did not realize how easy it would be.

[sparky]

The nice thing about Maks is all you do is pull out a pin, dump fire pot and put back together.  Clean fire pot every time when firing up and you will never have a problem.

[Harriska2]

In 1.5 years I only had 2 flameouts and it was on the one bag of bear mountain alder pellets. I do tend to clean the firepot every time and occasionally skip if it was a short high cook before. Also clean the temperature probe in the back about every 2-3 short cooks with a white 3m scrubby with dawn detergent.