MAK #272 in the house...first smoke!

[JD McGee]

My new toy was delivered of Friday (as promised...thanks Big Poppa!). I read through the owners manual and noticed the Pellet Boss instructions are totally different from the one on my grill...outdated manual? Anyhoo...I seasoned it on high for 30 minutes as recommended. Saturday morning I rubbed up 3 butts with some Simply Marvelous Pecan Rub and let them sweat while I fired up (plugged in...lol) the MAK...

I pushed the "ON" button and set it to smoke for two hours...

The first thing I noticed was the amount of smoke being generated...wow!

Put the butts on and went in the house for breakfast...

After two hours in the smoke I was thinking I might be able to smoke them hot-n-fast...so I kicked up the temp to 300 for two hours...this is the color after four hours...

Thinking the color was not quite what it should be on a HNF smoke I kicked it up to 325 hoping the bark would set before foiling @ 160ish...nope. I foiled @ 150-160 to speed things up because my neighbor was coming over later that evening to pick up the butts and ribs (cooked on my bullets) for his son's grad party...after 9 hours @ 300-325 they hit 200-210 and I tossed them in the cambro to rest before pulling.

While pulling I noticed the bark sucked and there was not much smoke penetration...perhap 1/8 inch. The meat fell apart in my hands and was pretty mushy (great for backyard bbq...not even close to comp quality).

Lesson learned...do not try HNF on a pellet pooper! Lol! I will say this about my new MAK 1 Star General...it is simplicity defined! Next up...a low-n-slow 12lb packer brisket on Monday...

Thoughts and suggestions always welcome...

Cheers!

JD

 

[muebe]

I am just curious why you decided to tray the butts from the start? By doing so I would think that you are inhibiting smoke penetration and bark formation.

I have found that with pellet grills you get great bark formation when the butt reaches the 180F range and foiling before that will lessen the bark.

Here is a boneless butt I just did on my Memphis. It was slathered with molasses and as you can see it had a great bark formation. Should be able to easily replicate the results in your MAK...

JD once you get pellet grill skills dialed in I imagine your cooks will be just phenomenal

 

[JD McGee]

I am just curious why you decided to tray the butts from the start? By doing so I would think that you are inhibiting smoke penetration and bark formation.

I have found that with pellet grills you get great bark formation when the butt reaches the 180F range and foiling before that will lessen the bark.

I have discovered over the years that the smoke will find the meat regardless of what it sits on or in...lol! Cooking HNF the pans allow protection from burning and imparts some moisture...I also like the convenience of clean-up. Now that I have the MAK...my gameplan will change...beginning NOW! Lol!
Thanks for the reply...butt looks great!
JD

 

[squirtthecat]

Yeah, you'll have to try some LNS in these cookers. Anything over 275° and that 1 Star is a wood burning convection oven.

Try the butts on the top racks, but the pans on the bottom to catch the mess.

 

[JD McGee]

yeah, you'll have to try some lns in these cookers. Anything over 275° and that 1 star is a wood burning convection oven.

Try the butts on the top racks, but the pans on the bottom to catch the mess.

***LIKE***

Squirt...do you use your MAK for any of your comp meats?

 

[Big Poppa]

JD we cook our comp butts on the MAK One Star....program it for 2 hours of smoke...no pan...the grease system is great on this. THen it kicks up to 250 and we pull at 193. Let it drop to 185 and cambro...7th yesterday in a big comp.

The trick that I have taught all of these guys is to use the shelf....what it becomes is rotisserie only the meat doesnt move...chicken too but we cook that in a pan.

The shelf is your friend

 

[JD McGee]

Thanks Sterling...congrats on your RGC yesterday! I hope to use the MAK for butts, briskets, and chicken...eventually replacing 3 WSM's. Looks like I can do two butts in pans on the top shelf and one big packer on the bottom no worries...once they are in the cambro I can kick up the temp and do my chicken...easy to do with our PNWBA turn in times...

11:00 Pork
12:00 Brisket
1:00 Chicken
2:00 Ribs

I have an idea for a drip pan for the shelf in case I want to cook butts over briskets without pans...stay tuned!

 

[squirtthecat]

Squirt...do you use your MAK for any of your comp meats?

Never competed. Just against Mother Nature in my back yard.

We're registered with KCBS so we can get into Restaurant Depot.

Stationary Rotisserie! I like it..

 

[JD McGee]

Just checked the smoker with an oven thermometer on the top and bottom grates...I set the temp for 250 degrees...when the actual temp flashed 250 I put the thermometer in the center of the bottom grate and let it adjust for 5 minutes...then moved it to back right...back left...front left and front right in 3 minute intervals. Did the same on the top grate/shelf/rotisserie. The bottom grate was even across the board...the top was 10 degrees higher in the rear corners...very impressive. Am now doing a biscuit test...I need to know how the MAK cooks before I can use it properly! Results to follow...

 

[JD McGee]

Interesting results from the biscuit test...13 minutes @ 375...top grate center was 350...bottom grate center was 350...biscuits on the bottom were golden brown except for the left front which was burnt. Top grate biscuits not done...very little browning...so...I can assume the MAK will cook very evenly @ 250...but over not accurately @ higher temps. I am a little disappointed in the big difference in temp from what the thermacouple was reading and what the oven thermometer was showing.
Thoughts?
JD

 

[Big Poppa]

we have an extended thermocouple on our comp units and run the rig from the center of the rack...I was talking to meathead today about this topic....the most expensive ovens will not do that well with a seven position temp check....try your probe next to the thermocouple and it is right on you have forced air volume and surface....Lets see if I can find my engineers heat plotting of a backwoods party...real scientific...

we can get you the longer thermocouple or you can use a maverick and compensate exactly where you want the temp read....

 

[JD McGee]

Good one Sterling...lol! I don't need an extended probe...I just need to learn my MAK...just like any other machine. Every pit is unique and has it's strenghts and weaknesses...the strength of the MAK (for me) is its even temps @ 225-250 for 12-14 hours and how simple it is to use. I'll get it dialed in...

Here's a pic of the biscuit cook...the setpoint was 375...the top rack temp was 350...the bottom was 360. What I found odd is the burned biscuit on the lower left. Perhaps that is where the heat was coming up around the drip pan...

 

[Smoke Junkie]

JD we cook our comp butts on the MAK One Star....program it for 2 hours of smoke...no pan...the grease system is great on this. THen it kicks up to 250 and we pull at 193. Let it drop to 185 and cambro...7th yesterday in a big comp.

The trick that I have taught all of these guys is to use the shelf....what it becomes is rotisserie only the meat doesnt move...chicken too but we cook that in a pan.

The shelf is your friend

Just curious, why do you use the shelf vs the main cooking area? Is it hotter?

 

[Big Poppa]

it is further away from direct heat no hot side....I explain it already but when you use the shelf the convection fan blows the smoke around the meat think of a rotisserie ...only the air is moving and not the meat