Masterbuilt Manufacturing, LLC

Authority

Manufacturer (own product)

Territories

US

Primacy

primary

Commercial interest

own products

Retrieved

2026-08-21

State

Read and citable

Original document

Model MB20041220. The GravityFed hopper holds up to 10 lb of lump or 16 lb of briquettes and feeds the fire under gravity as the coals below it burn away. A digitally controlled fan moves air from the hopper to the cooking chamber; the stated range is 225–700 °F (107–371 °C), reaching 225 °F in 8 minutes or 700 °F in 15, over 1,050 sq in of cooking space. Smoke is added by putting 1–2 chunks 'no larger than your fist' directly in the ash bin. The start-up guide gives the order — slides out, hopper and ash door open, charcoal in, a fire starter lit in the charcoal grate, wait 1–2 minutes, then turn the control panel on and set a temperature — and one prohibition in capitals: 'NEVER use fast light charcoal or lighting fluid.'

Equipment specification, Technical

• Explicitly not safety: The manufacturer restriction, and a checked silence. Neither page carries a carbon-monoxide warning, an outdoor-only instruction, or any statement about the electrical supply the digital controller obviously needs. An absent warning is not a permission: the gravity-fed family takes its carbon-monoxide rule from the public-health authorities that publish one, and its electrical rule from Electrical Safety First and RoSPA.

• “The GravityFed™ hopper holds up to 10 pounds of lump or 16 pounds of briquettes ... just load it up and let gravity fuel hours of authentic flavor.”

  Masterbuilt's Gravity Series holds charcoal in a vertical hopper above the fire, which feeds the fire under gravity as the coals beneath burn away; the hopper is stated to hold up to 10 pounds of lump charcoal or 16 pounds of briquettes.

  This is what makes it an architecture rather than a trim level. Every other charcoal cooker in this catalogue is refuelled by opening it and adding fuel to the fire; this one is refuelled by filling a column and letting the fire eat upwards into it. The consequence is a long unattended burn on charcoal, which no other charcoal architecture here offers.

  Lump and briquettes differ by six pounds in the same hopper because they differ in density. Recorded as the two figures the source gives rather than averaged.

  The weights belong to the 1050. The mechanism belongs to the family.

• “With the push of a button, the digitally controlled fan moves air flow from the hopper to the cooking chamber ... Temperature Range: 225 - to 700°F [107 - to 371°C] ... Hit 225°F in 8 minutes or 700°F in 15”

  Masterbuilt states that a digitally controlled fan moves airflow from the hopper to the cooking chamber to hold a set temperature, and gives the Gravity Series 1050 a range of 225 to 700 °F (107 to 371 °C), reaching 225 °F in eight minutes and 700 °F in fifteen, over 1,050 square inches of cooking space.

  A fan, not a vent. Every other charcoal cooker in the catalogue controls its fire by restricting how much air convection can pull through it. This one pushes air in, which is why it can be dialled like a gas grill and why it stops working when the power does.

  225 °F to 700 °F in one appliance spans low-and-slow smoking and searing, which in this catalogue are normally two different machines. Recorded because it is the reason the architecture is interesting to a reader choosing one.

  The page does not state a voltage, a wattage or that mains power is required. BBQHQ says the controller and fan are electrically powered because the source calls them digital and a fan; it states no figure the source does not give, and the manual-capture queue carries the request for the electrical specification.

• “For On-Demand smoke, add 1-2 chunks (no larger than your fist) directly to the Ash bin ... Place a Masterbuilt Fire Starter in charcoal grate and light. ... Turn on the control panel and set the temperature to the desired setting. ... NEVER use fast light charcoal or lighting fluid.”

  Masterbuilt instructs that smoke be added to the Gravity Series by placing one or two wood chunks no larger than a fist directly in the ash bin, and gives a start-up order of removing the intake slides, opening the hopper lid and ash door, loading charcoal, lighting a fire starter in the charcoal grate, waiting one to two minutes, then switching the control panel on and setting a temperature; and prohibits fast-light charcoal and lighting fluid.

  Fire first, then the controller. The reverse order runs the fan over unlit charcoal. Recorded as an ordered procedure because the order is the instruction.

  'NEVER use fast light charcoal or lighting fluid' is the maker's, in capitals, about its own appliance — which is where a product prohibition belongs. It corroborates RoSPA's general accelerant rule from a completely different direction and is not a restatement of it.

  Wood chunks in the ash bin means the smoke source and the energy source are separate here, as they are in every charcoal cooker in this catalogue and unlike a pellet grill.

• A gravity-fed charcoal cooker holds its fuel in a vertical hopper above the fire. As the coals at the bottom burn away, the column drops into the fire under its own weight, so the fire refuels itself without the cooker being opened.
• A gravity-fed charcoal cooker is controlled by a digitally governed fan that pushes air from the hopper into the cooking chamber, rather than by vents restricting a natural draught — which is why it can hold both a 225 °F smoke and a 700 °F sear, and why it depends on electricity to do either.

If this source changes, these are the claims that need rechecking. That is the point of recording provenance per claim rather than per page.