I wanted to get back into charcoal but I am lazy and like the convenience of a pellet grill. I saw some traffic on the Masterbuilt 560 gravity feed so I looked into it. Some folks knocked the quality others liked it. Many said to get the 1050 model as some of the minor quirks were upgraded in this model. The price difference was $799 for the 1050 and $499 for the 560. I was in Home Depot a week ago and saw they had it on clearance for $400. At that price it was worth getting the 560. Added the 3 year warranty to be on the safe side.
When I started to put it together I notice a dent in the side heat shield. Later I went to HD told them about the dent. They didn't have any in stock. I told them that they had them on line and asked if they could have one sent to the store and deliver it to me (they had a free delivery special). They called and bottom line, I would have to pay full price ($499 plus tax), it would arrive at the store on June 16th, they would deliver it a couple days later, pickup the old one, and I would get a refund of the full price about 3 days later. It wasn't worth it to tie up $500 for about a month as it was only cosmetic. Asked for $50 discount instead, but no deal. Next time I will check the box better.
When I started assembly I found it a little more difficult in that there were many more pieces to put together and the instructions could have been more detailed. However there are some good YouTube videos that are very helpful. One by Anderson Smoke Shop and one by our own Tom Horsman. With the videos, the assembly went fairly easy.
All assembled and doing the burn-in:
As with all smokers, many people come up with mods,some to solve perceived weaknesses and others because they can. One of those in that former category is a stainless steel liner for the charcoal bin. After a few cooks, some have noted that the metal lining appears to burn through. Masterbuilt has stated that the metal is only to hold the "firebrick" lining (actually I think it is more some type of a fiberglass lining) in place during shipping. Anyway, some guy came up with a stainless liner that he sells. I bought one just to be on the safe side. The outside thermometer does not have numbers only zones like grill, smoke, sear. I installed one with numbers.
Picture of the SS lining installed:
The pre-seasoning and seasoning went well. I am doing the first cook today. I saw the post by High on Smoke regarding pork short ribs, so I ordered some last week. They will be the first cook. I'll let you know how it goes.
