The Ember Maker: The Heart of Every Somerset Grill

What Is the Ember Maker?

The ember maker is the firebox that sits at the back of your Somerset Grill. It's where you build and maintain your fire. Wood goes in, fire gets going, and the ember maker does what its name promises: it turns wood into glowing, steady, cookable embers.

That distinction matters. You're not cooking over raw flames. You're cooking over embers,  a consistent, controllable heat source that gives you the kind of results a gas flame simply can't replicate. Deep char. Real smoke flavour. Heat that wraps around your food rather than just blasting it from below.

How It Works

Think of the ember maker as a small, well-ventilated hearth. Here's what happens when you light it:

You place hardwood logs inside the ember maker and light using the top down method. As the wood burns, it produces two things: flames and embers. The flames are dramatic and impressive (and yes, they look great). But the embers are where the cooking magic lives.

As the wood burns down, you start to see the ember structure form. At this point you use your ember rake to know the embers down, they fall though the bottom and into the cooking area to build a bed of glowing red and orange embers. These radiate consistent, even heat. No spikes. No sudden temperature drops. Just steady, reliable warmth that you can work with.

The ember maker is designed with airflow in mind. Air feeds the fire from beneath, helping the wood burn efficiently and produce quality embers rather than cold, smothered ash. That airflow is also part of how you manage heat, more on that in a moment.

How the Ember Maker Connects to Temperature Control

This is where it gets interesting and where Somerset Grills genuinely do things differently.

On a standard BBQ, you're stuck with whatever heat the coals or gas give you. You can turn a dial or partially close a vent, but real control is limited.

On a Somerset Grill, heat control happens through height adjustment. The cooking surface — your Grill Frame, moves up and down above the ember maker. Closer to the embers means more heat. Further away means gentler warmth. That simple relationship gives you a temperature range of 40–400°C, all with a turn of the handle.

The ember maker's job is to maintain a consistent fire. Your job is to find the right height for whatever you're cooking. Searing a ribeye? Drop the Grill Frame down close. Slow-cooking a shoulder of lamb? Raise it up and let the heat work gently over time. Use the hand test to find the perfect temperature 

After a few cooks, you'll instinctively know how much wood to add to maintain the heat you need. It becomes second nature quickly.

Why Embers Beat Flames for Cooking

It's worth pausing on this, because it's one of those things that surprises new Somerset owners.

Cooking over open flames sounds exciting, but flames are unpredictable. They flare, they spike, they scorch. Embers are different. They produce radiant heat,  the kind that cooks food evenly from all sides, builds proper char, and creates that deep flavour that makes wood-fired food taste the way it does.

The V Grill sits above the ember bed and plays its part here too. Fat drips from your food into the V-shaped channels, away from the embers below. No fat hitting the fire means no flare-ups. No flare-ups means consistent, controlled heat throughout your cook.

That's the system working as it should.

What Wood You Use Matters

The ember maker works with wood and charcoal, not gas. And the wood you choose shapes the result.

Dry, seasoned hardwood is what you're after. Ash and Beech  all work beautifully. They burn cleanly, produce quality embers, and add their own subtle flavour to whatever you're cooking. Softwoods or wet wood burn poorly, produce too much smoke, and leave behind bitter residue. Stick to dry hardwood and the ember maker does its job well. If you not found a supplier yet here a few companies we recommend 

Caring for the Ember Maker

The ember maker is made from the same quality steel as the rest of your Somerset Grill, built to take serious heat over the long term.

If you have a Gunmetal Grill, the ember maker benefits from a quick wipe of oil after each cook. This is exactly like seasoning a cast-iron pan  a small habit that keeps the steel in good condition over years of use. Give it a minute while the grill is still slightly warm, and you're done.

Cor-Ten Grills develop their own protection over time through the natural patina that forms on the steel. The ember maker on a Cor-Ten will weather and deepen in colour, and that weathering is what protects it. No extra treatment needed.

Either way, the ember maker is built to last. We stand behind every weld with our warranty — 10 years on Gunmetal, 20 years on Cor-Ten  because we know what these grills can take.

The Bottom Line

The ember maker isn't a complicated piece of engineering. It's a well-designed firebox that does one thing brilliantly: turns wood into steady, cookable embers that you can control with confidence.

It's the same across every grill in the Somerset range. Whether you're cooking on an Asado, a Grande, or taking the Asado Go! somewhere new, the principle is identical. Build your fire, let the embers develop, find your height, and cook.

That's it. Wood. Embers. Heat you control. Food that tastes like it was worth the effort.

Ready to see the Somerset Grill range? Explore the Asado, Grande, and Asado Go! and find the grill that fits your outdoor space.