First MAK Grill 2 Star General in Australia!
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First MAK Grill 2 Star General in Australia!
Hello Aussie BBQ people,
With my previous Yoder YS640 now gone, it was time to replace it with something new, a bit more special and something with a load more features and versatility.
After doing some online research and wanting to stay with something that was "Made in America", I seemed to find a lot of positive information and owner feedback on MAK Pellet Grills and after visiting their website, owners forum and then talking to the great team at MAK Grills, I decided that a MAK Grill was what I wanted.
After 1 week from placing my order in the US, my Brand New MAK Grills 2 Star General Pellet Grill has landed courtesy of Fed Ex.
I am pleased to announce that I am the 1st Australian to import and own a MAK Grill. (Happy 4th of July to me!)
The MAK 2 Star General is assembled with a Pellet Box on the LHS, Main Grill/Smoking Body in the middle and a Side Cold Smoker/Warmer Box on the LHS.
With indirect smoke vents, the Side Cold Smoker Box comes complete with racks to cold smoke cheeses, nuts, fish, salmon etc. Also it can be used to keep food warm when smoking or grilling to give you full use of your main grill area.
The Side Pellet Box and Pellet Boss Control Panel are on the left and with the additional Mobile WiFi Add on, the unit is now fully WiFi Compatible for full control by any internet controlled device like a Computer, Tablet, Phone etc.
Also included in the Pellet Boss Control Panel are 3 temperature probe inputs, the temperature probes can be inserted in and then through a custom slot straight into the grill for accurate temperature control.
Using the WiFi MAK Mobile application you can create custom programs to automatically control the Pellet Boss Controller to increase temperatures after a period of time or once a certain temperature has been reached from any of the 3 probes. This is a great feature for cooking brisket where you can set up your program to smoke at 180 for 2 hours, then 225 for 10 hours or until the internal temp has reached 180, send you a SMS or email so you can foil and then alert you again once its reached an internal temp of 205 or whatever you desire.
The Pellet Box will take a full bag of pellets with room to spare and it features a convenient trap door, where you can dump a full load of pellets out of the box in less than 30 seconds, so you can swap out different flavoured pellets with ease.
The Pellet Box and Smoker Box are made from Rust resistant powder coat for a beautiful, easy to clean, long life and the main grill body is made from 304 Marine Grade Stainless Steel for easy cleaning and maintenance.
Next up is all the internal components, including Fire Box, Heat Deflector, Flame Zone Fire Grates, Defuser Grates, Grill Grates, Rib Racks.
The great thing about the MAK Grill is it is extremely well engineered and manufactured, with all the internal materials being made from 304 Stainless and being removable, the entire unit has been designed with absolute ease of cleaning in mind.
Even the fire box can be removed for very easy cleaning, even better the fire box is located centrally in the unit delivering a more uniform and even heat throughout the unit, especially when smoking and grilling.
Heat Diffuser
Flame Zone Panel & Separate Diffuser Plates for indirect cooking, can be removed either separately or combined for direct grilling
Standard grill grates & 1/2 Length Second Shelf
Rib Rack
The Rib Rack has room for 8 slabs of Ribs and can be used on the bottom or top shelf
After a full day of setup and seasoning, I finally managed to fire it up to 450F to do some direct bbq grilling, in less than 30 mins it was unto 450F and ready for some bbq lamb chops and some gourmet sausages.
The unit kept its temperature and heat very well, despite the bloody cold winters day, despite 450F grilling, the unit still provided a good lot of smoke and the lamb chops came out with a fantastic Red/Pink colour and had a very distinctive charcoal taste, which my wife has not tasted since we sold our weber.
So after day one, the MAK Grill has exceeded all expectations and has shown why this is such a premium unit and favoured by many BBQ champions including Big Poppa and Industry Experts like Meathead Goldwin of the Amazing Ribs.com.
I have some Costco Pork Ribs in the fridge now, they have been rubbed with Spicy Apple Rub and Cinnamon Sugar and will be cooked tomorrow, so more updates and more feedback tomorrow!
Be forewarned, these MAK Grills do not come cheap and are considerably more expensive than a Yoder. For example in the USA, the standard Yoder YS640 sells for USD$1299 and Comp Cart version sells for USD$1795, the MAK 2 Star General Fully Loaded comes in over $3516.00 USD.
So, if you take current local pricing for a Yoder YS640 in comparison at AUD$3799, then the MAK Grill would sell for over AUD$10,000 (Crazy!) if buying from a local distributor using similar margins etc.
With my previous Yoder YS640 now gone, it was time to replace it with something new, a bit more special and something with a load more features and versatility.
After doing some online research and wanting to stay with something that was "Made in America", I seemed to find a lot of positive information and owner feedback on MAK Pellet Grills and after visiting their website, owners forum and then talking to the great team at MAK Grills, I decided that a MAK Grill was what I wanted.
After 1 week from placing my order in the US, my Brand New MAK Grills 2 Star General Pellet Grill has landed courtesy of Fed Ex.
I am pleased to announce that I am the 1st Australian to import and own a MAK Grill. (Happy 4th of July to me!)
The MAK 2 Star General is assembled with a Pellet Box on the LHS, Main Grill/Smoking Body in the middle and a Side Cold Smoker/Warmer Box on the LHS.
With indirect smoke vents, the Side Cold Smoker Box comes complete with racks to cold smoke cheeses, nuts, fish, salmon etc. Also it can be used to keep food warm when smoking or grilling to give you full use of your main grill area.
The Side Pellet Box and Pellet Boss Control Panel are on the left and with the additional Mobile WiFi Add on, the unit is now fully WiFi Compatible for full control by any internet controlled device like a Computer, Tablet, Phone etc.
Also included in the Pellet Boss Control Panel are 3 temperature probe inputs, the temperature probes can be inserted in and then through a custom slot straight into the grill for accurate temperature control.
Using the WiFi MAK Mobile application you can create custom programs to automatically control the Pellet Boss Controller to increase temperatures after a period of time or once a certain temperature has been reached from any of the 3 probes. This is a great feature for cooking brisket where you can set up your program to smoke at 180 for 2 hours, then 225 for 10 hours or until the internal temp has reached 180, send you a SMS or email so you can foil and then alert you again once its reached an internal temp of 205 or whatever you desire.
The Pellet Box will take a full bag of pellets with room to spare and it features a convenient trap door, where you can dump a full load of pellets out of the box in less than 30 seconds, so you can swap out different flavoured pellets with ease.
The Pellet Box and Smoker Box are made from Rust resistant powder coat for a beautiful, easy to clean, long life and the main grill body is made from 304 Marine Grade Stainless Steel for easy cleaning and maintenance.
Next up is all the internal components, including Fire Box, Heat Deflector, Flame Zone Fire Grates, Defuser Grates, Grill Grates, Rib Racks.
The great thing about the MAK Grill is it is extremely well engineered and manufactured, with all the internal materials being made from 304 Stainless and being removable, the entire unit has been designed with absolute ease of cleaning in mind.
Even the fire box can be removed for very easy cleaning, even better the fire box is located centrally in the unit delivering a more uniform and even heat throughout the unit, especially when smoking and grilling.
Heat Diffuser
Flame Zone Panel & Separate Diffuser Plates for indirect cooking, can be removed either separately or combined for direct grilling
Standard grill grates & 1/2 Length Second Shelf
Rib Rack
The Rib Rack has room for 8 slabs of Ribs and can be used on the bottom or top shelf
After a full day of setup and seasoning, I finally managed to fire it up to 450F to do some direct bbq grilling, in less than 30 mins it was unto 450F and ready for some bbq lamb chops and some gourmet sausages.
The unit kept its temperature and heat very well, despite the bloody cold winters day, despite 450F grilling, the unit still provided a good lot of smoke and the lamb chops came out with a fantastic Red/Pink colour and had a very distinctive charcoal taste, which my wife has not tasted since we sold our weber.
So after day one, the MAK Grill has exceeded all expectations and has shown why this is such a premium unit and favoured by many BBQ champions including Big Poppa and Industry Experts like Meathead Goldwin of the Amazing Ribs.com.
I have some Costco Pork Ribs in the fridge now, they have been rubbed with Spicy Apple Rub and Cinnamon Sugar and will be cooked tomorrow, so more updates and more feedback tomorrow!
Be forewarned, these MAK Grills do not come cheap and are considerably more expensive than a Yoder. For example in the USA, the standard Yoder YS640 sells for USD$1299 and Comp Cart version sells for USD$1795, the MAK 2 Star General Fully Loaded comes in over $3516.00 USD.
So, if you take current local pricing for a Yoder YS640 in comparison at AUD$3799, then the MAK Grill would sell for over AUD$10,000 (Crazy!) if buying from a local distributor using similar margins etc.
MAK GRILLS USA 2 Star General - Smoker Grill Fully Loaded with MAK Mobile WiFi
Polito Donatello Wood Fired Pizza Oven
GMG Pellets, BBQ Delight Pellets, Mad Hunky GP Rubs & Brines, Big Poppa Smokers Rubs & Blue Hogs BBQ Sauces
Polito Donatello Wood Fired Pizza Oven
GMG Pellets, BBQ Delight Pellets, Mad Hunky GP Rubs & Brines, Big Poppa Smokers Rubs & Blue Hogs BBQ Sauces
Re: First MAK Grill 2 Star General in Australia!
Congrats on being the first to bring one of these in MY and what a great looking BBQ! Love the little cold smoke bit on the side. We hope you have lots of fun and can't wait to see your terrific cooks in it.
Cheers, Wayne and Jan
Cheers, Wayne and Jan
Re: First MAK Grill 2 Star General in Australia!
That looks like a seriously good cooker. Thanks for posting such a detailed article.
Re: First MAK Grill 2 Star General in Australia!
Is that a one off or are you importing?
If trees screamed when we cut them down, We wouldn't. If they screamed all the time we would.
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Re: First MAK Grill 2 Star General in Australia!
Nice bit of kit! Like the use of stainless. Who shipped it in for you?
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Re: First MAK Grill 2 Star General in Australia!
Hello Smokey,Smokey Mick wrote:Is that a one off or are you importing?
No, it is a one off, just for myself to enjoy.
MAK GRILLS USA 2 Star General - Smoker Grill Fully Loaded with MAK Mobile WiFi
Polito Donatello Wood Fired Pizza Oven
GMG Pellets, BBQ Delight Pellets, Mad Hunky GP Rubs & Brines, Big Poppa Smokers Rubs & Blue Hogs BBQ Sauces
Polito Donatello Wood Fired Pizza Oven
GMG Pellets, BBQ Delight Pellets, Mad Hunky GP Rubs & Brines, Big Poppa Smokers Rubs & Blue Hogs BBQ Sauces
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Re: First MAK Grill 2 Star General in Australia!
Cheers Gumb, your welcome!Gumb wrote:That looks like a seriously good cooker. Thanks for posting such a detailed article.
I will post further details and comparison to my old Yoder once I have done a few cooks on it.
Looking forward to getting the ribs on today.
MAK GRILLS USA 2 Star General - Smoker Grill Fully Loaded with MAK Mobile WiFi
Polito Donatello Wood Fired Pizza Oven
GMG Pellets, BBQ Delight Pellets, Mad Hunky GP Rubs & Brines, Big Poppa Smokers Rubs & Blue Hogs BBQ Sauces
Polito Donatello Wood Fired Pizza Oven
GMG Pellets, BBQ Delight Pellets, Mad Hunky GP Rubs & Brines, Big Poppa Smokers Rubs & Blue Hogs BBQ Sauces
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Re: First MAK Grill 2 Star General in Australia!
Thanks Card Shark !Card Shark wrote:Nice bit of kit! Like the use of stainless. Who shipped it in for you?
The Stainless does look fantastic, more like surgical equipment or restaurant grade than outdoor grill!
I just purchased it and shipped it myself, with express air freight, customs charges and gst, add at least another $1500 onto the total cost of the unit.
MAK GRILLS USA 2 Star General - Smoker Grill Fully Loaded with MAK Mobile WiFi
Polito Donatello Wood Fired Pizza Oven
GMG Pellets, BBQ Delight Pellets, Mad Hunky GP Rubs & Brines, Big Poppa Smokers Rubs & Blue Hogs BBQ Sauces
Polito Donatello Wood Fired Pizza Oven
GMG Pellets, BBQ Delight Pellets, Mad Hunky GP Rubs & Brines, Big Poppa Smokers Rubs & Blue Hogs BBQ Sauces
Re: First MAK Grill 2 Star General in Australia!
What prompted you to sell the Yoder and buy the MAK?
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Re: First MAK Grill 2 Star General in Australia!
Good question Bentley.....I thought you loved yourYS640 Master Yoder and had ordered the Comp Cart version as well. What on earth happened?Bentley wrote:What prompted you to sell the Yoder and buy the MAK?
I take it that it'll be still on the 110V American power system, so will you run this through a transformer to bring it up to 240V?
It's a nice looking unit.....Interesting to see how it goes in the long run.
Cheers
Davo
Moderator/ Admin
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Re: First MAK Grill 2 Star General in Australia!
In the spirit of not causing WWIII in the Yoder vs. the rest of the world debate, let's just say that the Yoder was good, but not perfect and had it is fair share of shortcomings and in the end for the price you pay for a Yoder in Australia, you would expect and demand something much better.Bentley wrote:What prompted you to sell the Yoder and buy the MAK?
In now only into the 2nd day of ownership of the MAK Grill however, I am noticing more and more things that proves this is just engineered at another level which clearly demonstrates why this costs 3x times the price.
MAK GRILLS USA 2 Star General - Smoker Grill Fully Loaded with MAK Mobile WiFi
Polito Donatello Wood Fired Pizza Oven
GMG Pellets, BBQ Delight Pellets, Mad Hunky GP Rubs & Brines, Big Poppa Smokers Rubs & Blue Hogs BBQ Sauces
Polito Donatello Wood Fired Pizza Oven
GMG Pellets, BBQ Delight Pellets, Mad Hunky GP Rubs & Brines, Big Poppa Smokers Rubs & Blue Hogs BBQ Sauces
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Re: First MAK Grill 2 Star General in Australia!
Well Davo, my name wasn't Master Yoder by birth, so YES a LOT has happened my friend.Davo wrote:Good question Bentley.....I thought you loved yourYS640 Master Yoder and had ordered the Comp Cart version as well. What on earth happened?Bentley wrote:What prompted you to sell the Yoder and buy the MAK?
I take it that it'll be still on the 110V American power system, so will you run this through a transformer to bring it up to 240V?
It's a nice looking unit.....Interesting to see how it goes in the long run.
Cheers
Davo
I believe the comp cart 640 I had on order has now been picked up by Hector and he is very happy to be able to get one so quickly.
The MAK Grill is 110v, but is working perfectly with a step down transformer and I had discussed this at length with the team at MAK.
Thanks for your positive comments and I look forward to sharing more with everyone on the forum.
MAK GRILLS USA 2 Star General - Smoker Grill Fully Loaded with MAK Mobile WiFi
Polito Donatello Wood Fired Pizza Oven
GMG Pellets, BBQ Delight Pellets, Mad Hunky GP Rubs & Brines, Big Poppa Smokers Rubs & Blue Hogs BBQ Sauces
Polito Donatello Wood Fired Pizza Oven
GMG Pellets, BBQ Delight Pellets, Mad Hunky GP Rubs & Brines, Big Poppa Smokers Rubs & Blue Hogs BBQ Sauces
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Re: First MAK Grill 2 Star General in Australia!
Looks fantastic! I love the versatility, you'll love the burn you get from the central contained firepot!
The ability to run a program once the meat hits "X" degrees, is fantastic, that and WiFi will let you cook from your office desk and park it in rest mode till you get home!....Awesome!
Good Score!!!
Congratulations Master Mak!
Chris
The ability to run a program once the meat hits "X" degrees, is fantastic, that and WiFi will let you cook from your office desk and park it in rest mode till you get home!....Awesome!
Good Score!!!
Congratulations Master Mak!
Chris
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Re: First MAK Grill 2 Star General in Australia!
Thank You Chris, really appreciate your positive comments and enthusiasm.urbangriller wrote:Looks fantastic! I love the versatility, you'll love the burn you get from the central contained firepot!
The ability to run a program once the meat hits "X" degrees, is fantastic, that and WiFi will let you cook from your office desk and park it in rest mode till you get home!....Awesome!
Good Score!!!
Congratulations Master Mak!
Chris
The central Fire pot is awesome, delivered a great result last time when grilling and I swear it imparted a beautiful pinkness to my lamb which had a great charcoal flavour, completely different to results from the Yoder.
And yes, I think its time to change my name!
MAK GRILLS USA 2 Star General - Smoker Grill Fully Loaded with MAK Mobile WiFi
Polito Donatello Wood Fired Pizza Oven
GMG Pellets, BBQ Delight Pellets, Mad Hunky GP Rubs & Brines, Big Poppa Smokers Rubs & Blue Hogs BBQ Sauces
Polito Donatello Wood Fired Pizza Oven
GMG Pellets, BBQ Delight Pellets, Mad Hunky GP Rubs & Brines, Big Poppa Smokers Rubs & Blue Hogs BBQ Sauces