Let me start out by saying I've got:

Weber Smokey Mountain (22")
Big Green Egg (Large)
Weber Summit propane grill
Lonestar Grillz Offset 24x42" smoker
The Good One Patio Jr (just for curiosity)
Weber Kettle
Blackstone Griddle (36" and 22")

That said, I've got a few friends that bought in to the Masterbuilt gravity fed charcoal smokers, and they keep telling me how much they enjoy it. Now, Char Grille has gotten in the game with their version of the GF style.

Anyone have either one, and do you recommend it? How is the quality of build?

Essentially, I just like to buy cooking stuff and enjoy listening to my wife complain about having so many smokers....

interested in this as well

you do use lump, not briquettes in that Stump smoker, right?

I have the masterbuilt 1050. I considered the Chargriller but I think the Masterbuilt rack setup gives more usable space.

I love it. It's so easy and you get more natural wood/fire flavor than the pellet food I've tasted. It's also serviceable grill. crank it to 700 degrees and the sear is pretty good.

I usually use a combo. The lump sometimes gets jammed and I have to poke it down.

normalhorn said:

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you do use lump, not briquettes in that Stump smoker, right?

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You can use whatever you want. I do lump if I have it (and if I'm doing a long smoke). But briquettes with some wood chunks tossed in work as well - I'll do that for ribs if that's all I have on hand.

I can't speak for the Masterbuilt type of smoker...but I'll say it seems awfully...flimsy.

Gravity feed smokers historically have been of the heavier duty type - like the Stumps above. Mine is built heavy like a Stump's smoker - weighs around 800 lbs.

Take a look at this cross section of my homebuilt design and you can see what all is involved in this type of smoker:



the chute and ash box is 1/4" steel while the furnace is 1/2" steel lined with fire brick:

Might be flimsy, but my Masterbuilt is hands down the best grill/smoker I've ever owned.

I just turned a non working double oven into a smoker. The electronics were out in it. I cut the bottom out of the top oven and the top out of the bottom and joined them together so they still fit in the original insulated outer shell and wood cabinet. I put the lower 220 V 2585 watt oven element back in and added a control box on the outside with a PID system and a thermocouple assembly to control the heat. Then built an outside smoker box with a 110 V 1400watt element in it powered through the same control box. Added a fan to provide air to the smoker box, plumbed out of the top of it with rigid copper into the bottom side of the lower oven and vented it out the top of the upper. Works great. I can control the oven heat once everything gets warmed up to + or- 2 degrees. So far I've used it at 225 and 275. I only let the smoker go for about an hour because it puts out plenty of smoke and can over do it. Haven't tried a long brisket cook yet .

javajaws said:

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I can't speak for the Masterbuilt type of smoker...but I'll say it seems awfully...flimsy.

Gravity feed smokers historically have been of the heavier duty type - like the Stumps above. Mine is built heavy like a Stump's smoker - weighs around 800 lbs.

Take a look at this cross section of my homebuilt design and you can see what all is involved in this type of smoker:



the chute and ash box is 1/4" steel while the furnace is 1/2" steel lined with fire brick:

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With the price of steel today how much did materials set you back? I priced a 4X8X1/4 steel plate the other day and it was north of $400. 1/2 inch must be close to $800... I would imagine they are proud of that 2 inch square tubing also. Did you use standard fire brick or half size?

Total materials were about $1200....that was a few years ago. Retail for a comparable Stumps smoker back then was around $4k.

Thanks for reminding me that I STILL don't know and haven't taught myself how to weld or fabricate with metal.

I've got more $ invested in woodworking tools than I'm comfortable telling people I know. But, that doesn't seem to get me very far when it comes to making the smoker I've designed

Glad to hear to review on masterbuilt. I don't have power in current area. New area will. Eyed them awhile back but wasn't there yet so put it to bed. Didn't even know chargriller had one.

FYI they take very little power to run. Lots of people run them for hours with cell phone power packs. Or if you have cordless tools there are often adapters for those batteries as well.

Cool thanks.

Keep thinking current setup won't make it to the next season. Also, not sure when I'll get new area built. Good to know battery option