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.
