here is my new master touch premium
Hey Philip,
Go mine a few weeks ago. really like it, but found it hard to get the lid to sit properly with the hinge. When not using the hinge, it sits perfectly, but with hinge i had to push the lid down on the front to close. I did the spring trick too, but made not much difference. Hows does your sit with the hinge?
yes the hinge is very tricky to set up. I got mine to sit well enough for grilling but for low and slow or smoking it is not sealed. As you say you can detach the lid from the hinge and just sit it on top like any other webber grill. However removing the lid is a two handed operation as there is no top handle.
Last week I did low and slow ribs. I used a bungee cord to pull the lid down and it did the trick but I dont think it is a permanent solution.
to be honest with the hinge in use it will be difficult to get a perfect seal as even small changes like the tension on the quick release screw make a difference.
I guess it all comes down to how you use your kettle. for grilling the lid is excellent and makes things very convenient, but if you need a tight seal for smoking it does not work so well. adding a gasket might help. I am still trying things out with mine so the jury is still out
The hinge!
Last summer I also bought the premium as I was stuck between buying a kettle or a smoker and it seemed asthough this baby would cover both given that you get the deflector plate and smoke ring etc as part of it.
Initially I was having the same issue, great for grilling but when smoking getting a decent amount of smoke coming from everywhere!
The trick with swapping the hinge springs around made a big difference (you can find a tutorial on you tube) but also tweaking the position of the nuts which attach to the bowl makes the final adjustment.
It wasn't perfect but having now used it for nearly a year the final tiny leaky bits around the rim have almost sealed themselves with the kind of funky gunk produced by using it for smoking and grilling. Don't get me wrong I keep the inside of the grill clean enough to eat from, I just let the rim stay a little sticky in order to solve the issue.
Hope this helps as I think it's such a great all rounder once its been tweaked!