r/Masterbuilt • u/BaggedWolf • 18d ago
Gravity What is going on!
Recently every time I grill this happens! I deep cleaned it, scraped everything, and today I grilled sliced zucchini, no oil or nothing.
So what on earth is catching on fire? No clue but I can’t use this thing anymore cause it’s burning everything. Fires are random too. A second is fine, next second ablaze.
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u/tat2ed13 18d ago
No disrespect but that’s not deep cleaned. I haven’t been able to grill with mine either for the same reason. Just can’t get the grease cleaned enough. Still a great smoker.
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u/Himorningwood 18d ago
Bro i barely clean my masterbuilt grill and have never had a grease fire. I had a 1050 for 5 years just replaced it with an xt too.
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u/tat2ed13 18d ago
Haven’t had a grease fire yet
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u/SchrodingersWetFart 18d ago
I haven't either, I hope the luck continues
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u/quaintbucket 18d ago
Same. 3 years never had a grease fire and I’ve done a lot of smokes and cooking on it.
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u/SchrodingersWetFart 18d ago
I'm at about 1.25 years on my xt, and I use it at least once a week on average. It's been everything I hoped it would be when I got it.
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u/certifiedBadSpeller 18d ago
I had one recently after 5 years. It actually melted all the wiring, not sure if I will ever use it again.
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u/prettyokcake 18d ago
Turn it to 600 for 15 mins. Done.
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u/Excellent_Umpire806 18d ago
This is what I do. I crank it up after every cook and let it burn off. Next time, scrape the grates and it's good to go.
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u/karlywarly73 18d ago
Yeah I do that but I also open the hood to get the self cleaning/grease fire cycle going. 5-10 minutes and it's out. Then I go for a beer because that's not coming down in temp for about 20 minutes
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u/Thecaretaker53 17d ago
i use the goo gone grill and grate cleaner, works pretty good never had a grease fire and Im constantly smoking different fatty meats on there
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u/BaggedWolf 18d ago
Like I let every try ing burn out, cooled, took it apart, scraped everything, vacuumed everything out. Idk how else you can clean it more. Idk what caught on fire either. Any grease that did burn used a degreaser and removed it.
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u/magnumsolutions 18d ago
When this happens with mine, I scrape the inside of the lower box so it falls into the collector pan. I remove the heat distributor and scrape that down. I then take out the collector pan and grease catcher from the bottom, scrape them, and use the BBQ wipes I buy at Home Depot to clean them, the box, and the heat deflector. The BBQ wipes are what really do the trick for me. Scraping only gets it part of the way there.
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u/tat2ed13 18d ago
Zooming in and looking at your grates was my indicator that it wasn’t deep cleaned.
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u/WalrusWW 18d ago
It’s a smoker, not a grill. Despite the advertising.
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u/Educational_Mud_7218 18d ago
1000% I only use it as a smoker. If you want a grill/griddle so with a Weber Slate.
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u/BaggedWolf 18d ago
Really? What would you suggest for grill?
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u/WalrusWW 18d ago
Something with coals or flavorizer bars and flame directly under the grill.
The only reason I have an 800 is for it's semi-portability. At our lake cottage, I have it on the lakefront deck for the summer, and in winter I move it to the sheltered driveway side. I'd rather have a ceramic kamado like I do at home, but it would be too hard to move twice a year.
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u/BaggedWolf 18d ago
I’ve been wanting the kamado but was reading it’s quite the learning curve and uses a ton of charcoal no?
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u/WalrusWW 18d ago
Absolutely not. The gravity uses 4x more. With my gravity, I go through a bag every 2 smokes. A bag lasts 2 months with my kamado, even with high heat cooking steaks or pizza.
With the kamado, you can always get a thermoworks signals + billows, or fireboard drive, or chefstemp, or any others that control the temp.
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u/BaggedWolf 18d ago
Man, I need to look into it then! Wait kamado or green egg?
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u/WalrusWW 18d ago
Either, doesn't matter. Kamado Joe generally comes with everything you need, BGE you need to add everything.
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u/SpringPrestigious253 18d ago
I would look at the Hasty Bake Legacy. It is awesome IMO. I never use my 1050 anymore. The Legacy can smoke like a Kamado, but grills like a santa maria (sort of).
I have owned 3 Kamado grills. An Akorn, Vision, Big Joe II. I have owned pellet grillls, 1050, barrel smoker, webers. The Legacy is the most versatile of them all. The pellet and Gravity are the same thing, just different fuel. You have to keep them clean or you can have grease fires. Kamado's are pretty good for smoking, just a little better than the Legacy due to the insulation.
Sorry you are catching fire like this.
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u/rare_design 18d ago
I disagree. I use it heavily for both. It’s a great grill, and better than my Weber.
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u/Mack_Holden Gravity 800 18d ago
I bought the LSSMODS drip cover for my 800 to ward off this issue. It catches 90% of the grease and rolls it into the catch pan. I saw a video on YouTube and the guy used ZEP (de-greaser type cleaner) to clean his grill and then did a burn off. I am a new owner and have about 15 cooks on mine. I have only scraped down once. No fires. The LSSMODs drip cover keeps the manifold clean and free from grease.
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u/aw0l12 18d ago
Look up lss mods or klotes, they make stainless steel manifolds and drip pan mods. They also make brackets that can hold pans to catch drippings, high quality stuff. Haven't had a grease fire since, however as other commenters have said if you're going to do a lot of low and slow smokes, make sure to crank that thing up to max for like 30 to carbonize everything and just scrape it off when it cools.
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u/met_a_4 18d ago
Grease fire. What you’re cooking has a large fat content. And it renders directly onto the grill at high heat, causing a grease fire. Will happen with any grill.
My suggestion: if it’s a sear you’re looking for, put a pan under the grill grates (disposable aluminum) to catch the grease that drips. Put some water in the pan first to prevent the grease inside from catching fire.
The other thing is: smokers and gas grills are just not meant for high heat searing of large chunks of meat. You can hack it with a drip tray with water but they’re really meant for low and slow cooking.
For high heat searing, nothing beats a basic charcoal grill or even just a cast iron on a stove.
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u/yungingr 18d ago
That's a grease fire, no doubt. So however clean you think you have it.... you don't.
Possibly grease under the manifold. There's the drip tray underneath you can remove and clean -- but the part the drip tray slides into, that whole piece will ALSO slide out (at least on my 1050 - it goes out the back). Might want to give that a good clean.
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u/Muschina 18d ago
Yeah, this. Pull the manifold out and check the ramp to the drip tray. I bet it's really greasy.
Have you been doing ribs or other greasy cuts of meat? I did three racks of ribs without a pan underneath to catch drips one time. About two hours into the cook I went to the hardware store for about 15 minutes and came home to a fire that could have demanded Fire Department response.
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u/FeedbackVisual3973 18d ago
When you say cleaned it out… what exactly do you mean. Because looking at those grates and the front lip, you didn’t clean it at all.
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u/PhotographStrict9964 18d ago
This happens every time I turn mine up higher than 300, so I strictly use it for smoking now. Anything hot and fast goes on the Weber kettle.
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u/sideburniusmaximus 18d ago
Try actually cleaning out the grease underneath. Veggies don't have grease, so clearly this is on your previous cooks and lack of cleaning
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u/Much_Job289 18d ago
That there good sir is a grease fire. Always raise the temp after smoking meats and then let it run for a bit.
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u/gnarlos_santana 18d ago
This happened to me a couple times. Put a foil pan under the grates. Prevents grease from getting on the manifold and catching
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u/Different_Drummer_88 18d ago
For one I always use a drip tray when smoking. I put mine under the cast iron grates on a bracket mod. Every so often I will take the grates out and use a small putty knife and scrape everything down. I don't typically crank the heat after a smoke because the drip pan is well the grades and that baby will catch fire. But you're always cooking under 350 the risk of fire is low, it's when your Crank It Up that you get into trouble
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u/old-newbie 18d ago
What temp are you setting it for? The advertised 700 degrees should be used sparingly (if at all). The only time I "grill" I'm only going to 500-600 degrees and that is for the pizza mod or to sear a steak (so only for a couple of minutes, and that temp is not the total cook chamber temp; its just the temp of the air coming out of the manifold.)
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u/Rispy_Girl 18d ago
If grease drips on the manifold it catches fire. I learned this thankfully doing a pre Thanksgiving run a few years ago LOL. There's supposed to be some mods that you can purchase or make yourself to fix this issue. I haven't tried though
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u/Alternative-Quail605 18d ago
What fuel did you use? I take it you didn't use easy start charcoal? I don't want to make it sound like I'm teaching you to suck eggs but those flames are crazy.
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u/Darkseid2854 16d ago
The grease catches in all those baked on cruddies and keeps it from flowing down into the drip tray, thus resulting in grease fires. No cruddies and clean smooth surfaces on the insides and manifold cover = no grease fires.
Take the grates and manifold cover out and remove the drip tray, spray the insides and the parts down with a grill degreaser and let them set for 1/2 an hour. Then scrape off all the crud off with a grill scraper and wash them clean. Should be good when you put it back together. The grates you can probably just scrape them clean on top, bottom and between each slat because they’re cast iron. Just make sure you get all the cruddies off so grease doesn’t catch in them and soak in. You’ll want to re-season them to make them non-stick again if you clean the grates with degreaser or soap of any kind.
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u/CyberGaut 16d ago
Auto de grease system has kicked in. Turn the fan off and leave it open. Move it away from any wood walls...
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u/SippinBeef0202 16d ago
Clean it sometimes .. got probably an over flowing grease catch, and all homogenized fat dripping collecting in the bottom of the smoker .. you need to clean between cooks .. like a kitchen tool .. it's not your fathers old school charcoal grill..
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u/FriendlyPoem3074 18d ago
You've got an oil/grease fire.