3rd Annual MAK Brethren Group Buy deal going live TOMORROW!
- Thread starter rwalters
- Start date
I bought this cover and it is excellent quality.
https://www.amazon.com/ULTCOVER-Bar...7&sprefix=ultcover+gas+grill+52,aps,75&sr=8-2
https://www.amazon.com/ULTCOVER-Bar...7&sprefix=ultcover+gas+grill+52,aps,75&sr=8-2
Last edited:
rwalters
Quintessential Chatty Farker
This is probably is a good time to repost a pic of the mods I did on the MAK 1.
Oh man, I forgot about those mods. So impressive I can’t find the words… [emoji14]
RollTheSmoke
Found some matches.
I got the 2 Star with a cover and cabinet door. May add additional accessories later on. Any that you recommend?
Currently I have an Akorn kamado and a Rec Teq Bullseye. I like them both but have been wanting a Mak for a long time.
rwalters
Quintessential Chatty Farker
Nice! The accessories I use the most would be:
Full upper grate
Sear grates (if you’ll be grilling)
Cover
The rest are nice to haves, and I have and use most of them… but the 3 above are the items that see constant use.
RollTheSmoke
Found some matches.
Nice! I was thinking about sear grates and did go for the full upper grate option. Can’t wait to get my first cook going!
Agree, the full size grate is nice as you can use it to replace the two half grates for the bottom. I think it’s easier to scrape clean than having the two pieces — plus you can use one of the half sizes for a top rack.
The accessory I use the most would be my Pitboss or my Blackstone.
I, for one, haven't managed to find the insane hype around the MAK's. I was going to keep my mouth shut on this thread, as I've posted my rantings on it already. But, then I went out to use it today, and the auger was jammed up due to water that got in. When I talked to the people at MAK and expressed that my biggest concern was that it was weatherproof (since a leak in the hopper was my only issue with the Pitboss) and was assured that it was designed for rain.
Designed and built in America definitely reminds me of all the reasons I own a German car.. It has a ton of features that LOOK like they will be amazing, but all of them seem to fall short. Like it's too much of a swiss army knife and not a specialist in anything.
I've never had any luck with grilling if I try to do more than a single steak. Even if I do 2 of them-it cooks them unevenly. Try to fill the grate with burgers and it's flare-up city. I did 4 pork tenderloins on there last week, and had to switch locations every few minutes so they cooked at the same rate.
I think it comes standard with the wifi controller now, which is good because the one mine has-is the most annoying thing in the world. It's never on the grill or set temps, and always showing a random reading for a temp probe that isn't plugged in. 'Set, adjust temp, and set again' seems uncalled for when everything else I've ever set a temp on is simply 'adjust temp' and good to go.
The height between the grates should have been reason enough for me to never even fire this thing up. I can't even fit a standard Sams club hotel pan between them. Sure you can go online and buy some special rare size that costs 3x as much, but that's absurd. It seems awkwardly deep, for as narrow as it is, especially when the grates are so close together. If you only ever want to cook a crapload of ribs-then I guess this is perfect. If you try to cook anything thicker-good luck to you. Bottom grate has too much radiant heat to be useful, so you're already on the 2nd. If you want to put in another grate you can at most use the 3/4 on the top, but then anything tall is hitting. The grate holders only come halfway out, so it's not like you can slide out a grate to adjust/flip/rotate anything.
If I ever had time to clean this up and deal with posting it, I'd sell it in a heartbeat. I consider this smoker to be the single worst purchase I've ever made. And on top of that, I was bragging it up for so long based on what I heard here-that I'm now relentless harassed for "hows that 3k POS treating you?" whenever I try to talk about smoking with my friends.
I, for one, haven't managed to find the insane hype around the MAK's. I was going to keep my mouth shut on this thread, as I've posted my rantings on it already. But, then I went out to use it today, and the auger was jammed up due to water that got in. When I talked to the people at MAK and expressed that my biggest concern was that it was weatherproof (since a leak in the hopper was my only issue with the Pitboss) and was assured that it was designed for rain.
Designed and built in America definitely reminds me of all the reasons I own a German car.. It has a ton of features that LOOK like they will be amazing, but all of them seem to fall short. Like it's too much of a swiss army knife and not a specialist in anything.
I've never had any luck with grilling if I try to do more than a single steak. Even if I do 2 of them-it cooks them unevenly. Try to fill the grate with burgers and it's flare-up city. I did 4 pork tenderloins on there last week, and had to switch locations every few minutes so they cooked at the same rate.
I think it comes standard with the wifi controller now, which is good because the one mine has-is the most annoying thing in the world. It's never on the grill or set temps, and always showing a random reading for a temp probe that isn't plugged in. 'Set, adjust temp, and set again' seems uncalled for when everything else I've ever set a temp on is simply 'adjust temp' and good to go.
The height between the grates should have been reason enough for me to never even fire this thing up. I can't even fit a standard Sams club hotel pan between them. Sure you can go online and buy some special rare size that costs 3x as much, but that's absurd. It seems awkwardly deep, for as narrow as it is, especially when the grates are so close together. If you only ever want to cook a crapload of ribs-then I guess this is perfect. If you try to cook anything thicker-good luck to you. Bottom grate has too much radiant heat to be useful, so you're already on the 2nd. If you want to put in another grate you can at most use the 3/4 on the top, but then anything tall is hitting. The grate holders only come halfway out, so it's not like you can slide out a grate to adjust/flip/rotate anything.
If I ever had time to clean this up and deal with posting it, I'd sell it in a heartbeat. I consider this smoker to be the single worst purchase I've ever made. And on top of that, I was bragging it up for so long based on what I heard here-that I'm now relentless harassed for "hows that 3k POS treating you?" whenever I try to talk about smoking with my friends.
TravelingJ - it’s interesting that you made the comparison to the German cars as I’ve had the opposite experience, particularly with VW/Audi. Way too much gimmicky stuff that just can break.
My limited experience with smoking has been much better than yours. My son’s 1-star produces fantastic results, even at higher temps. And I didn’t find the size to be limiting either — though I didn’t have a need to do any large cooks either.
On your comments on grease and gilling, I do agree with you on that. One of the ways to have even heat on a grill is to have some vertical space between the heat source and grates and the MAK (and most other pellet grills) don’t have very much. Flare ups are an issue as well.
While pellet grills like the MAK can grill I think you’re better off with something designed for that purpose for anyone that has the $$ and space. They’re fine if you want to put a sear on a single steak or something like that but not if you’re needing to use the whole surface.
My limited experience with smoking has been much better than yours. My son’s 1-star produces fantastic results, even at higher temps. And I didn’t find the size to be limiting either — though I didn’t have a need to do any large cooks either.
On your comments on grease and gilling, I do agree with you on that. One of the ways to have even heat on a grill is to have some vertical space between the heat source and grates and the MAK (and most other pellet grills) don’t have very much. Flare ups are an issue as well.
While pellet grills like the MAK can grill I think you’re better off with something designed for that purpose for anyone that has the $$ and space. They’re fine if you want to put a sear on a single steak or something like that but not if you’re needing to use the whole surface.
tom b
somebody shut me the fark up.
- Joined
- Oct 12, 2015
- Location
- Temecula...
We still love our 2017 2* nothing but good thing from me on MAK. She still cleans up pretty nice too.
I've had my MAK for two years and grill on it more often than not, at least a few times a week. I had wanted something to replace the gasser as a quick and easy grill for weeknights when I was lazy and didn't want to light a fire. For this it's been everything I could want. I dial in the temp and it is perfect every time. Flare ups? I've never had one, and it's been completely consistent grilling. The first time I used it was to grill salmon and my wife immediately commented on how nice the smoke flavor was. I have two other pits and I haven't used either one since I bought the MAK. That ought to say something. My biggest gripe would be related to the shelving. I have no idea why they picked the spacing the way they did so that a standard tray doesn't fit between them. I have no idea what they were thinking there, but there are lots of spaces for shelves and you can easily put standard trays on two shelves and have lots of room to spare, which is as good as 95% of the pits out there.
I believe I bought a bare-bones model, but have added searing grate, super smoker box, front shelf, cabinet door and wifi. I love the smoker box (thanks Robb) as I cold smoke a lot of salmon, but if you only cold smoke a bit, then the built-in box is probably just fine. It also serves as storage for other items, like a griddle. I do not have a cover. I simply bought a tarp and fasten it down with magnets. I do this with all my pits as I find it just as easy and save, in this case, about $80.
I believe I bought a bare-bones model, but have added searing grate, super smoker box, front shelf, cabinet door and wifi. I love the smoker box (thanks Robb) as I cold smoke a lot of salmon, but if you only cold smoke a bit, then the built-in box is probably just fine. It also serves as storage for other items, like a griddle. I do not have a cover. I simply bought a tarp and fasten it down with magnets. I do this with all my pits as I find it just as easy and save, in this case, about $80.
SmokeyMikesd
MemberGot rid of the matchlight.
I’m new here, been lurking for a few weeks. I’ve been researching pellet grills and Mak seems to be one of the best based off discussion here and elsewhere online. I’m def going to pull the trigger on this deal and call Monday. Thank you for setting this up. I’m pumped!
glitchy
Full Fledged Farker
For the shelving, for years the 2 Star was a two shelf grill. The additional slots were added maybe in 2019? Probably from customer requests. It clearly wasn’t designed to make the MAK have the capacity of a vertical smoker, but is helpful if you cook large quantities of low profile foods like ribs. It seems funny a bonus feature is being ragged on to me. One of the best things about the 2 Star is that it’s MAK’s flagship grill and they strive not to make changes that cannot be retrofitted to all existing 2 stars. Not too many companies do that, they want you to keep buying new grills when they make improvements instead of just upgrades.
Robb: my thoughts are with you during these troubling times. I know it will take time for you to heal from these vicious attacks on your dear loved ones, but I also know you will come out the other side stronger than ever.
Best of luck to you my friend!
Last edited:
Thanks! That finally makes sense with the shelf spacing. I wondered why they didn't remove one set of slots and change the spacing, but it seems they wanted to be consistent with the previous models. I did notice what you're saying about the retrofitting when I purchased. They had some parts for retrofitting previous models on their website and I thought that was really nice support and gave me more confidence. One other thing that convinced me was looking at pictures of older models for sale. They didn't look worn and had no rust. When I looked at pics of other used pits I was considering, I noticed rust problems. Mine is two years old and I'm sure if I gave it a good scrub, it would look new.... lazy me.
rwalters
Quintessential Chatty Farker
I’ll be ok my friend :’(
Seriously though, there ain’t no cooker on planet earth that is gonna please 100% of those that purchase it. It’s frustrating when you sink hard earned $ into a cooker, or anything for that matter, that isn’t what you thought or doesn’t satisfactorily meet the need(s) for which it was purchased.
Regarding MAK Grills, I hate seeing dissatisfied owners, but it does happen from time to time. I try very hard to be 100% transparent and forthright with my answers when asked about them. That’s all I can do [emoji2371]
