The Weber Master Touch Premium charcoal grill at Costco is one of the very few Weber products that I suggest people do NOT buy.
This pains me to say as:
- I love cooking on Weber grills.
- Weber tried really hard to make this a great grill.
Unfortunately there is a design flaw with this grill which makes it miss the mark.
Upgrades on the Weber Master Touch Premium
Let’s take a look at what makes this grill different form a basic Weber charcoal grill as well as what makes this an upgrade over the standard Master Touch.
Regular vs Master Touch
The Master Touch grills are 22 inch kettles that are differentiated from a regular 22 inch kettle by:
- Larger wheels
- Gourmet BBQ Grates
- Tuck Away Lid Holder
- Char baskets included
The larger wheels make the Master Touch stand a little taller than a regular grill (42 vs 39.5 inches) and look a little nicer.
The Gourmet BBQ Grate is thicker than the grate on a standard kettle and has a removable center insert that accepts a variety of grilling gadgets that you will need to buy separately and then will never use.
The Tuck Away lid holder is a wonderful feature that lets you set the lid on the side of the grill when you need to open it to get to whatever food you are grilling. The lid holder is probably the most important upgrade on the grill.
The char baskets make it easy to hold and arrange your charcoal.
Master Touch vs Master Touch Premium
Here is where things get seriously different. Weber has taken some of the features of their ultra premium Summit Kamado grills and incorporated them into the Master Touch Premium.
While a standard Master Touch Grill has a Tuck Away lid holder, the Master Touch Premium has a hinged lid that holds the lid open when you need to access whatever food you are grilling.
The Premium comes with the same char baskets as the standard Master Touch but it also comes with a charcoal ring and a heat diffuser. The ring and diffuser are designed to be used together to turn the Master Touch Premium into the best “Low and Slow” smoker available at this price point.
You should be able to get up to eight hours of low temperature smoking from a single load of charcoal.
The Design Flaw
On paper the Master Touch Premium looks like a spectacular grill.
In reality there is an unfortunate design flaw that reduces the utility of the grill.
The defining characteristic of Weber charcoal grills and smokers is the ability to precisely control the flow of air.
When you can control the air flow you can control the temperature of the grill. When you can control the temperature of the grill you can dial it in to 250F, throw on some ribs and let the fire and smoke work their magic for hours on end until the ribs are fall apart tender.
The problem with the Master Touch Premium is that the lid hinge prevents the lid from closing all of the way. With the lid fully “Closed” there is still an air gap between the lid and the body of the grill.
The presence of the air gap means that you do not have precise control of the air flow for this grill which makes using it as a smoker extremely difficult.
Some owners “solve” this problem by detaching the lid hinge when they want to use the grill as a smoker but that is a very unsatisfying solution.
Costco Value
Weber is making this grill a “Costco Value” by throwing in a grill cover.
When I went to do some price comparisons with other stores I discovered that Weber has scrubbed this grill from the American market. The Master Touch Premium is no longer listed on Weber’s website or at Home Depot.
I am just speculating but I think Weber is using Costco as a point of liquidation to get the last of these poorly designed grills out of its warehouses.
I absolutely love most Weber grills but this is one that I would avoid.
I wish I had read this page before I purchased the Master Touch Premium at Costco. What a disappointment after all the enthusiasm and work to put it together for my 7 hours Brisket smoking. Based on my experienced Brisket Smoking from the Old Original Weber Charcoal Grill, it supposed to reach the Brisket internal temperature 170 degree F at 5 hours with the lid closed, because of the air leak from the lid (even I had control the lower vent also the Top vent to a minimum trying to keep the Grill temperature reading at 225 degree F. But it could NOT be achieved with the lid’s leak air.) The Brisket internal temperature reached 170 degree F at 2.5 hours, not a slow cooking, and with the wrap of the Brisket for the 2nd stage cooking. In 1 hour the Brisket temperature reached 205 degree F. The meat taste good, but the the texture was a serious failure. (Brisket Jerky! What a waste!)
Another hassle was to bring it back to Costco to return. Even with the Costco fantastic return policy, I had to find a creative way to tuck the Grill into my sedan to bring back to Costco. What a GREAT DISAPPOINTMENT. Costco should pull this product line out of its shelf immediately.)
So is the flaw only if your smoking ?
Correct
There are YouTube videos showing how you can easily move the connection point for the springs that will allow the lid to close satisfactorily. I picked this grill up for $199 at Costco, a steal!!
You beat me to it. I just bought a new one yesterday at an estate sale, and the modification had been made. No wobble.
Does this grill come with the warming rack like the regular master touch? If not, can you buy it separately?
Got this grill for about $169 on sale from Costco. For a Weber multi use grill, this is a steal. If I want to actually smoke something, I use a dedicated smoker…
What costco did you purchase this from?
Like the Weber Summit Charcoal grill, another Big Flaw is the Top vent design allowing rain to enter. The cheap plastic wheels too are sad for such an expensive BBQ.
Yea that’s an easy fix