As the recent, lengthy summer season days method, you may be tempted to mud off your ageing BBQ and grill your self just a few burgers – I do know I’ve.

However, relatively than sticking with the identical fundamental BBQ I’ve used for the previous few years, I’ve had my eyes opened to the world of sensible BBQs – and the Masterbuilt Gravity Sequence 560 specifically. Providing the flexibility to manage temperatures through a fan system, a gravity-fed hopper for simple fuelling and a companion app on your smartphone, it’s definitely extra succesful than your run-of-the-mill drum BBQ.

The issue is it has a premium price ticket to match. Is it price forking out on a premium BBQ when you will get a disposable one from the grocery store for lower than £10/$10? Nicely…

Design & construct

Attractive premium design that’ll stand out in your backyard
Massive cooking rack with reversible cast-iron grates
Gravity-fed hopper makes refuelling straightforward

The Masterbuilt Gravity Sequence 560 is a powerful little bit of equipment with a premium design that’ll stand out in your outside area, with a mix of black metallic and chrome steel that merely seems beautiful.

It sports activities a useful aspect desk for sauces and utensils, with a digital management panel embedded inside, and there’s area beneath to retailer coal and cleansing equipment too.

The big black grill lid is surprisingly light-weight, exposing the big grill inside that Masterbuilt claims is sufficiently big to suit both Four racks of ribs, eight chickens, 21 burgers or a whopping 37 sausages. After a good few BBQs up to now couple of months, that’s an announcement I agree with.

The 2 major cast-iron grates are reversible, with a thicker aspect suited to grilling and a thinner, tapered aspect designed for smoking – a pleasant contact, in case you ask me. That’s flanked by two porcelain-coated warming racks for extra cooking area, which may be moved across the grill relying on what you want.

The actual star of the present is the gravity-fed hopper hooked up to the proper of the grill. Accessible through a lid, the hopper is the place you retailer all of your gas, be it lump charcoal, briquettes or wooden for smoking.

The hopper can maintain between 4.5 and 7kg of gas at anybody time, which needs to be lengthy sufficient for round 12-15 hours use. For reference, after a seven-hour prepare dinner, I nonetheless had round half the gas left within the hopper.

What’s nice concerning the hopper is that you may merely fill it and never have to fret about including extra gas to the BBQ – one of many huge issues with standard BBQ setups. Because the title implies, it lets gravity do the work, with extra gas falling onto the hearth as wanted.

It additionally implies that, not like its easier counterparts, you don’t must empty the hopper after each prepare dinner and discard half-burnt coal. As an alternative, you’ll be able to merely fireplace up the place you left off the subsequent time and never waste any gas.

Beneath the hopper you’ll discover a grate, the place you fit your firelighter, and an ashbin to gather the ash and different particles from the hopper because it burns up. You’ve additionally received the choice of placing wooden chunks within the ashbin for a much less highly effective smokey flavour, however these should be pretty small to keep away from massive fires.

One other distinction between the Masterbuilt Gravity Sequence 560 and entry-level BBQs is that the recent charcoal doesn’t sit instantly beneath the grill. As an alternative, the hearth is throughout the hopper itself, with a sensible fan system (that I’ll clarify intimately beneath) directing the warmth into the grill. The top result’s a much more even cooking expertise, with only a few cold and hot spots.

When you’re achieved cooking, it’s simply as straightforward to place out as it’s to start out; utilizing offered sliders, merely block the airway between the tightly-sealed hopper and the grill to smother the flame and funky itself down inside 30 minutes, prepared for clean-up.

If you happen to’re in search of a grill that’ll impress pals, household and neighbours at your subsequent BBQ, the Masterbuilt Gravity Sequence 560 is the way in which to go.

Good options

DigitalFan system controls inner temperatures
Appropriate with inner probes
Smartphone connectivity through Masterbuilt app

The standout characteristic of the Masterbuilt 560, except for its intuitive design, is its skill to manage the temperature of the BBQ utilizing a digital fan system discovered on its underside.

Formally, the Masterbuilt 560 can produce temps starting from 110 to 370°C (or 225 to 700°F for these within the US), rapidly heating as much as a set temperature by blowing air into the hopper to provide extra warmth and smoke, then coming to a cease as soon as the specified temperature has been reached.

In actual fact, the Masterbuilt 560 can go from stone chilly to a smoking temperature of 110°C in round eight minutes, making the method of beginning a BBQ a lot simpler.

As soon as the hearth’s lit and roaring throughout the gravity-fed hopper, it’s straightforward to extend temperature; merely use the management panel mounted on the left of the BBQ to pick out your required temperature and wait.

Going from the smoke-ready 110°C to BBQ-ready 200°C took little greater than a few minutes in my expertise, making for a flexible cooking expertise near that of a standard oven – however with all of the enjoyable of a BBQ.

It’ll maintain the chosen temperature till the accessible gas has been used too, making it significantly properly suited to gradual cooks, permitting you to maintain the temperature at a steady degree for your complete prepare dinner.

The management panel additionally gives the present temperature throughout the BBQ, together with timers (each count-up and count-down) and the controls that energy the system.

For thicker cuts of meat, you’ve received the choice of connecting a probe – there’s one included within the field – and displaying inner meals temps on the built-in show. You may have as much as 4 for extra complicated cooks, however you’ll have to purchase these individually.

It’s finest for thick cuts of meat the place the probe is totally submerged for lengthy durations, because it’s gradual to get an correct temp studying. You’d be higher off with a handheld temperature probe for faster (and extra correct) inner temp reads whereas cooking, but it surely’s useful to have nonetheless.

In addition to controls on the BBQ itself, there’s the Masterbuilt app for iOS and Android. From the app, you’ll be capable to join your BBQ to your private home Wi-Fi community and keep watch over your BBQs temps (each the inner temperature and the probe, in case you’ve received one related) and the remaining time in case you’ve set a timer – a priceless useful resource for longer smoke periods.

You’ll additionally get notifications when your BBQ is as much as temperature, when the timer is about to finish and also you’ll additionally get a reminder post-cook to place your slides again in and clear up. What’s most useful is that, whereas errors will show as ER001 on the BBQ itself, the app will let you know what the issue is with out having to dig out the guide.

The one actual situation with the app is its hit-and-miss connectivity. It’s nice more often than not, connecting to the BBQ when opening the app, however there have been a number of events the place I’ve needed to go exterior to the BBQ to re-activate its sign, defeating the aim of the app.

It’s not an enormous situation in case you’re throwing some burgers on the grill for 10 minutes, but it surely turned somewhat annoying when attempting to keep watch over temps throughout a latest 7-hour pork rib smoke session.

Total although, the smarts on provide from the Masterbuilt 560 are spectacular, offering all of the instruments {that a} BBQ-er (even comparatively inexperienced ones like myself) must smoke, BBQ and grill to perfection.

The one catch is that the smarts imply the BBQ wants energy to work, so it may be price investing in an outdoor-ready plug in case you haven’t received one useful!

The BBQ expertise

Straightforward to rise up to temperature
Steady temperatures are perfect for gradual cooks
Rather more relaxed BBQ expertise than common

So, what’s it like to make use of? In a phrase; thrilling.

I’ve by no means been a lot of a BBQ man, however over the previous couple of months with the Masterbuilt 560, I’ve remodeled right into a self-proclaimed BBQ king. Transfer over burgers and sausages as a result of I’m now capable of smoke a rack of pork ribs, gradual prepare dinner a beef brisket and prepare dinner a rooster on the rotisserie with little or no effort – and it’s all right down to the Masterbuilt 560.

I’ve slow-cooked pork ribs for 7 hours, and utilizing the offered temperature probe, I used to be capable of pull it on the actual inner temperature I needed. The meat actually fell off the bone because it was pulled, and I might actually style the smokey flavour.

For somebody as inexperienced as I, it was a very thrilling second, however one which has grow to be more and more frequent within the months I’ve been utilizing the Masterbuilt 560 as a result of the tech makes it a a lot simpler activity. It’s nonetheless time-consuming on longer cooks, however with out the stress of getting to keep up the temps and consistently feed new gas your self.

It’s undoubtedly a premium tech-infused BBQing expertise that received’t be to everyone’s tastes, however in case you’ve received the cash and area, it’ll really rework your view on outside cooking.

Pricing

As I’ve hinted, the Masterbuilt Gravity Sequence 560 is a premium little bit of equipment, coming in at a cool £749/$499, making it rather more costly than normal grills accessible in most shops.

Nonetheless, contemplating its repertoire of options and performance, it’s primarily an outside oven, which makes the worth somewhat extra palatable. It’s additionally accessible at lower than RRP from third-party retailers, which makes it a extra tempting purchase.

If you’re tempted, you’ll be able to choose up the Masterbuilt Gravity Sequence 560 from Masterbuilt alongside retailers like Amazon within the UK and Amazon and Walmart within the US.

Verdict

The Masterbuilt Gravity Sequence 560 presents the last word outside cooking expertise, boasting the flexibility to not solely BBQ your favorite meat however smoke it, grill it and even bake it thanks to close degree-perfect fan-controlled temperatures.

The big selection of temperatures, and the pace at which it reaches them, is spectacular, matching standard house ovens by way of comfort – however with all of the enjoyable of an outside grill.

Throw in different useful options, like app connectivity, a sensible probe, a gravity-fed hopper with sufficient area for 12-15 hours of gas and loads of area to prepare dinner your meals and also you’ve received a tempting possibility superb for summer season events within the backyard.  

There’s no disputing that the Masterbuilt Gravity Sequence 560 is a premium BBQ, but it surely’s price each penny in case you can afford it.

Specs
Masterbuilt Gravity Sequence 560: Specs

Temperature vary: 110-370 levels Celcius
Fires up inside 7 minutes
Gravity-fed hopper
Shops between 4.5-7kg of gas
2x reversible smoke and sear cast-iron grates
2x porcelain-coated warming racks
3600cm² whole cooking area
Constructed-in temperature gauge
Meat probe thermometer
App compatibility
1-year guarantee