Getting Forced a Different Direction


 
R

RStephen

TVWBB Member
I've always used Weber Kettles to grill, and have had a 22" WSM for about 6 years now. My Mom was a Weber Sales rep in the 80s. I share the name of the lesser used side of the brand name. So I'm Weber through and through. I moved to the foothills outside of Denver in 2017. I still grill in the snow, have figured out how to control my temp even with the 9600' of elevation messing with the coals, and have fought giving up on charcoal. I haven't grilled or smoked since April 2020. Where I live is still under a burn ban, even with snow on the ground. Previous year I couldn't use charcoal May to October. Not being able to cook our turkey on a Weber was the final kick in the balls this last week, so I'm exploring other options.

I don't like propane grills anytime I've used them. I'm assuming I'd get better with them and figure out how to get better taste out of them eventually. I feel like the Smoke Fire coming out is a sign, but I'm trying to figure out if a pellet grill is allowed at all times. I'm also trying to talk myself in to a Smoke Fire because of the price, hard to swallow after using the same kettle since 2000, and it probably has another 20 years in it. According to the the county sheriff website:

- Propane grilling is allowed even in Burn Ban Level 2.
- Pellet grills are allowed in Burn Ban Level 1.
- Pellet grills are not mentioned in Burn Ban Level 2, so I've sent in an email asking for clarification.

I don't care about time required for startup, I'm used to lighting my starter stack and waiting 20 minutes to spread the coals and another 10 minutes to heat up the kettle. I care about being able to recreate indirect cooking on a kettle and smoking with the WSM. My go to meals off the kettle are tri-tip (grew up in tri-tip's hometown), pork loins, chicken, turkeys, and steaks. WSM I smoke pork butts/shoulders, pork ribs and beef ribs. These meals are what I want to replace. I have a few questions about the Smoke Fire:

- Anyone gone from Kettles to SF, comparable product?
- Is the EX4 big enough to cook a 20-24 lbs. turkey?
- I know this is a Weber based website, anyone gone from another pellet to a SF?
- Anyone have a SF at elevation? Slightly worried about temperature control, based on experience with charcoal.
- Pros/cons/any comments?

Thank you for the responses.
 
I used Weber kettles and a WSM for years and purchased an EX6 just to compliment those grills. I moved all my charcoal grills off the deck and onto our paver patio when we had composite decking installed because I found out quickly that composite does not do well when you drop a hot piece of charcoal. When I use the SF at night I see lots of sparks dropping into the ash tray but have no idea if they could start a fire. That's about all I can offer.
 
- Anyone gone from Kettles to SF, comparable product? Yes. I now use the SF for grilling and it works great. You really can't do a 2 zone cook. Cook to desired temp. Remove meat and crank up the heat. Put the meat on for the sear.

- Is the EX4 big enough to cook a 20-24 lbs. turkey? Yes.

- I know this is a Weber based website, anyone gone from another pellet to a SF? Yes. I started with a Rec Tec portable. Went bigger with a 24" Camp Chef DLX. Replaced that with an EX6.

- Anyone have a SF at elevation? Slightly worried about temperature control, based on experience with charcoal. No, BUT, the controller is going to feed enough pellets to maintain the temp you select.

- Pros/cons/any comments? I replaced my Performer and WSMs with the Smokefire to simplify my life. Getting old. It generates more smoke above 275° than my other pellet grills and love the flavor of food it produces. The software is a work in progress. I've had glitches but never lost a cook. With $200 off right now this is a good time to do it.

Hope that helps.
 
RStephen said:
- Anyone gone from Kettles to SF, comparable product?
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Yes (though I still have one kettle since I like to use my rotisserie and pizza attachments.) Life-long Weber enthusiast, and only recently went to a pellet grill (RecTeq). Like Lew said, you don't get the ability to build a 2-zone fire for indirect cooking, pretty much all of the cooking in a pellet grill is indirect. If you want to sear, you remove the meat, crank up the grill, and sear (did it last night on a tri tip....yum.)
RStephen said:
- Is the EX4 big enough to cook a 20-24 lbs. turkey?
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Yep, without an issue (my RT is only 28 sq in bigger....)
RStephen said:
- I know this is a Weber based website, anyone gone from another pellet to a SF?
Click to expand...
As noted above, I chose to go with RecTeq. The primary reason for not going with Weber was that I just felt like the SF was still a v1.0 product, and I didn't want to have to navigate through the glitches, updates, etc. I think that as poorly as Weber managed the initial production and launch, they have done an admirable job of fixing the issues, taking care of customers, and getting the product moving in the direction that it needs to be. I fully expect that they will make the product what it needs to be, since pellet grills are here to stay so Weber needs their fair share of the market.
RStephen said:
- Anyone have a SF at elevation? Slightly worried about temperature control, based on experience with charcoal.
Click to expand...
Sorry, I can't help with this one as I'm at about 250 feet. :)
RStephen said:
- Pros/cons/any comments?
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As with any grill, you have to learn how it works, how that's different than what you used previously, and make the necessary changes to your established process. As a seasoned griller, the learning curve will be short for you as it was for me. I've done 24 cooks on the grill since it arrived in early October, and after the first couple, they have all turned out pretty much as expected. I'm keeping a detailed log as I go, so I can refer back to my notes about what to change with various types of cooks. I've done low/slow, really low/slow (140-150F for bacon and sausage), and mid/high temps cooks. All of them can be done.

So far, my pellet consumption is about a pound an hour across all types of cooks (basic average of my cooking temps so far is 300F) using various pellet brands (Traeger, Bear Mountain, Cookin' Pellets, etc.) My pellet preference so far is Bear Mountain, though I have 160lbs of RecTeq pellets (don't know who made them for RT) in the garage. Mostly, I'm shopping within a quality set of brands for the best price.

Biggest con that I see is you are totally dependent on electricity. Normally, that's not a problem, however, I live in a part of CA where PG&E has decided that in order to avoid lawsuits for all the wildfires their poorly managed infrastructure has causes that they will shut off power when there is a high danger of weather causing damage to their lines starting fires........has me thinking about how to provide backup power at 3a during a brisket cook!

Hope that helps you somewhat!

R
 
Jerry We said:
I used Weber kettles and a WSM for years and purchased an EX6 just to compliment those grills. I moved all my charcoal grills off the deck and onto our paver patio when we had composite decking installed because I found out quickly that composite does not do well when you drop a hot piece of charcoal. When I use the SF at night I see lots of sparks dropping into the ash tray but have no idea if they could start a fire. That's about all I can offer.
Click to expand...

I'm to the point, if I have to I'll build an outdoor cook station to keep whatever I grill/smoke with in, if that will get me back to grilling. That will be a fun conversation with the building department though.
 
Good news is the county replied that pellet grills are allowed during fire bans. Electricity is not my issue, always have backups if you live in the mountains. Now for me to waste hours upon hours on research because I second, third, fourth guess myself unless I make some sort of giant spread sheet of data.
 
Like you I had no charcoal fire restrictions from April till late November for the last three years. So I bought a Camp Chef because I didn't want to go through the hassles everyone was having with the SmokeFires. Now that gen 2 is out I would consider one if I didn't have the CC.
I'm not up as high as you are, we are at 5800 ft. and absolutely no problems with heat control at all on the pellet grill.
I did have ten Weber's now I have four two gassers and a performer and a 22 Weber propane kettle. I kept the performer as my only charcoal grill for KFC and steaks. My Camp Chef has the sear feature like the SmokeFire and it works well but I have other grills for that.
With the swirling winds here the CC is much easier to use than my WSM which I sold.
 
Rich, I'm only at 1100 ft here and of course in the valley no fire restrictions-yet. Summer winds do kick up though. For me the SF is way too much $$ as is RecTeq. Wife's Ace owner trying to push her into either a Traeger Pro22 or newer 575 I believe? Smallest ones, I don't need or want a large one if I go that way. Be interesting to learn the employee price. He is extremely bullish on them, and hardly carries any Webers unless you order one.
 
I'm figuring on selling my 22" WSM, pizza insert for the kettle, and the kettle to recoup some of the costs. Still having a hard time swallowing the prices on pellet grills, plus the pellets look more expensive over time versus charcoal. Took me a while to pull the trigger on the WSM because of the price of it.
 
RStephen said:
plus the pellets look more expensive over time versus charcoal.
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The cost of pellets versus charcoal really stands out on long overnight cooks. An 18 pound packer brisket can take 24 hours and a bag or more of pellets depending on the outside temperature. I decided to stick with Weber pellets at $16 a bag since every time I call Weber support with an issue the first question they ask is what brand of pellets I'm using.
 
BobH-SCW said:
Rich, I'm only at 1100 ft here and of course in the valley no fire restrictions-yet. Summer winds do kick up though. For me the SF is way too much $$ as is RecTeq. Wife's Ace owner trying to push her into either a Traeger Pro22 or newer 575 I believe? Smallest ones, I don't need or want a large one if I go that way. Be interesting to learn the employee price. He is extremely bullish on them, and hardly carries any Webers unless you order one.
Click to expand...

FWIW I would see if you can't find a used EX-4 or small RecTeq (used to be Rec Tec). I think the Recteq will be more reliable and do an excellent job, but the SmokeFire seems to impart more smoke. When the SmokeFire is happy it has produced some amazing results as we have seen here. Just expect it to require more coddling and cleaning. Maybe a little temperamental like a thoroughbred race horse...
 
Jon Tofte said:
FWIW I would see if you can't find a used EX-4 or small RecTeq (used to be Rec Tec). I think the Recteq will be more reliable and do an excellent job, but the SmokeFire seems to impart more smoke. When the SmokeFire is happy it has produced some amazing results as we have seen here. Just expect it to require more coddling and cleaning. Maybe a little temperamental like a thoroughbred race horse...
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I had the small Rec Tec as my first pellet grill and now I have the EX6. I agree totally with everything Jon said.
 
Not much luv for the new Traeger's. I've read elsewhere they've finally caught up with others after a quality downturn. Wirecutter recently gave it a good rating.
 
Sold my 22" WSM yesterday. Had a UnkownBBQ hinge, seals on barrel, lid and door, a couple scratches but no rust. Sold my pizza opening for the kettle too. Sad to see them go, but were sold 18 hours after listing them. Came home and ordered a EX4. Patiently waiting for it to show up now. Guess the good thing is being on max telework for the foreseeable future it will be easy to meet a freight delivery at home.
 
RStephen said:
Sold my 22" WSM yesterday. Had a UnkownBBQ hinge, seals on barrel, lid and door, a couple scratches but no rust. Sold my pizza opening for the kettle too. Sad to see them go, but were sold 18 hours after listing them. Came home and ordered a EX4. Patiently waiting for it to show up now. Guess the good thing is being on max telework for the foreseeable future it will be easy to meet a freight delivery at home.
Click to expand...
In July I waited until I wrung out the EX6 before I sold my charcoal cookers, rotisserie, and accessories. Like you, I was sad to see them go but life is a lot simpler now and I'm delighted with the do it all SmokeFire. Enjoy your EX4.
 
BobH-SCW said:
Not much luv for the new Traeger's. I've read elsewhere they've finally caught up with others after a quality downturn. Wirecutter recently gave it a good rating.
Click to expand...
I have a first generation Traeger Timberline 800. I have not had any problems. Well built. However, Traeger did themselves a disservice by offering lesser quality grills via Costco and TV infomercials.
 
RS -- hope the SF works for you.

If it doesn't turn out to be your total one arrow quiver, you really should consider getting a gasser. For $100-200 around Denver, you can easily get a classic Weber gasser off CL or FBM around Denver for There's a guy up in I think Evergreen who does a decent amount of rehabs. I've been tempted by some of his classic redhead redos on Craigslist from time to time.

A fast simple propane cook is a nice in the middle of a snowy winter.
 
Jim C in Denver said:
RS -- hope the SF works for you.

If it doesn't turn out to be your total one arrow quiver, you really should consider getting a gasser. For $100-200 around Denver, you can easily get a classic Weber gasser off CL or FBM around Denver for There's a guy up in I think Evergreen who does a decent amount of rehabs. I've been tempted by some of his classic redhead redos on Craigslist from time to time.

A fast simple propane cook is a nice in the middle of a snowy winter.
Click to expand...
Thanks. Snow doesn't bother me for grilling, even with all the prep starting the charcoal. Snow was on the ground mid October to late May at my house in Conifer.

Snow BBQ.jpg


I'll have to watch for the guy in Evergreen.
 
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