Masterbuilt 1050/560 Hopper Mod - Save $$$

This is a simple mod for the Masterbuilt 1050 or Masterbuilt 560 Gravity Fed Charcoal grills. It's a quick way to save fuel/money and it's so simple that anyone can do it.
you can buy similar skewers like I used in the link below

DISCLAIMER: This video and description may contain affiliate links, which means that if you purchase a product from a link, I’ll receive a small commission.

[frankturi]

I purchased an aftermarket grate. The openings were narrower and had a fan protector. It was a complete fail. The grill wouldn’t get up to temp. The other issue is if you like to throw chunk wood like applewood, cherry etc it wouldn’t allow any small pieces of charcoal to fall through to ignite enough to cause smoke. Switched back to the grate that came with the 1050 and it works flawlessly.

[terrymiller]

Did this yesterday and it sure did the trick! So easy! Thanks!!

[emericanchaos]

Just a couple thoughts.

I think the spacing on the grates could be set wider so that the coals drop before too much ash builds up. If they get too ashed over the fan will pull ash up into the food or at least into the fan.

Second, it seems to be a more common practice to add wood chunks into your ash bin to get a good wood smoke going. Slowing the addition of coal into the ash bin could make that technique less effective.

[jobjosephokello]

The 800 series has an updated grate! Pretty nice

[tonyromano]

Masterbuilt has since changed the design of this grate to catch more fuel.

[tlkmair]

From what I understand the grate originally had smaller gaps. The one like you have is the new version. I can't remember why they changed it but it was for good reason.

[randomjoe]

I say wire snips in the video but meant tin snips. In any event, I hope someone finds this helpful.

[russellhoward]

I used two. Seemed to work fine. But yeah, this is the mod I think is most useful to the charcoal grate

[jroalan]

I use a kitty litter scoop and separate the small chunks out of the ash bin and drop them right back in the hopper.

[gerardbonner]

Oh, you think darkness is your ally. But you merely adopted the dark; I was born in it, moulded by it. I didn't see the light until I was already a man, by then it was nothing to me but BLINDING!

[thedesertpooch]

good info .... now how do you stop the grease leaking down the legs of the 560??!!

[indicagirl]

Hi we just purchased the same grill. When you smoke does smoke come out the lid of the coal hopper when smoking. Smoke is leaking out the seal. Does yours do the same. Thank you. Great video 👍. Going to put the skewers in ours as well 👍

[AndyRock]

This is an old issue now. I hope those who might be interested in this grill but might think otherwise due to this video see this. Masterbuilt revised the charcoal grate. It works amazingly now, and I can get nearly 10 hours of smoking at 225 with a 16 lb bag of briquettes

[gsppuffer]

So a chimney and a finer grate for the burner is the 2 must mods

[MAKExEVIL]

Is the bottom of your chimney already rusting out? 4:05

[eltee]

I've also done this mod. Prior to the mod I would have lots of unburnt briquettes. Afterwards I don't have hardly any at all. Only downside is if u like to put wood chunks in the ash bin, for additional smoke. Not enough lit briquettes will fall through to get the chunk smoking. Because of this I usually just mix chunks with the briquettes in the chute.

[LJfootball]

Tip or Suggestion:

You possibly won’t have a need for this mod if using B&B Charcoal Briquettes IMO. I want to stress too that it’s just my opinion. I’m not saying my opinion is right or will work for you. It just worked out this way for me.

If your charcoal of choice is KINGSFORD then I would consider/recommend this skewer-mod, but also remember Masterbuilt placed those slots there for a reason on that charcoal catch tray.

With this mod in essence what you’re doing is not letting those ashed up briquettes fall down into the hopper which in some instances will hurt your smoke output inside the grill and possibly mess with your grill temperature.

At most I would try 2 of them and see how you like it. In my instance, I tried it with 2 skewers first with B&B (I also add wood chunks) but this prevented a good even smoke throughout my cook. I also noticed that my different installed temp probe on the front, was suddenly way off from the digital display temp reading.

I took the skewers out about midway into the cook and my temp gauge then slowly crept up to very close to my digital temp display.

Note: As indicated above, I changed out (mod) the temp gauge probe on the front of the grill so I could see true temps towards the front middle of the grill instead of the included cheap looking Masterbuilt stock temp gauge. I had been using the new temp probe/gauge many times before this skewer mod and both temp readings (digital display & temp gauge/probe) always seemed within 5 to 15-degrees.

I tried the 2-skewer mod with KINGSFORD as well and the same thing happened to me and it was even worse but I think that’s due to the fact that Kingsford has been proven not to hold temp anywhere near as long as B&B.

** I also have the SS Firebox Mod on my grill **

[TealDobber]

Hey, how did this work out for you in the long run? While this is a great idea, I wonder if those skewers breakdown quickly or start warping and falling out.

[drunkencynic]

Do you still get enough hot coals falling through to get the wood chunks smoking well?

[RossMalagarie]

hears an idea, after a cook save the ashes, and pour them over the new charcoal, that way any ash will fall back down, and any bigger pieces will get caught on the new charcoal and get burned the second time.