Lazy Old Weber Guy Here - Thinking of the Searwood: What's all the fuss over Grill Marks?

[Jim C in Denver]

I honestly think for a reasonably priced pellet grill the Searwood really has it all going

I agree.

I'm pretty happy with my current two grill quiver. WSM (for infrequent long smokes and occasional charcoal grilling) and Genesis gasser (daily driver grill).

If I wanted to get it down to just one cooker, I'd definitely go pellet grill. Pretty easy to address the oft-cited pellet grill weaknesses (if you experience those after using it). Smoke tube if you want more smokiness. Griddle or GG insert to boost searing. Done!

 

[Paul M]

My two penneth, can't comment on Searwood, but my experience with a Broil King pellet grill, which can reach a temp of 600* has been disappointing for searing steaks or even burgers. It nukes them before they get a nice colour.

I've decided to move on after two years. I was looking at the SW and read it gets some good reviews for searing. I see it sort of does have naked flames aspect, and I was thinking of it to replace my BK, as I've always been a Weber fan. But I've decided to go back to charcoal. I might get a SW in a few years time, to replace my BK (its already rusting) for low & slow. I've a SM, but I've just got lazy and prefer a pellet grill for that.

If you want just one grill, then a highly rated pellet grill fits all bases, but not searing, in my experience.

 

[Jonas-Switzerland]

Not a pellet grill owner, but here are my two cents. Apart from the software core of the pellet grill, the thing that worries me is the cleanup. I was surprised how cumbersome it looked on the Tom Horseman video of the searwood.

When I started grilling with just the spirit, I had a lot of the typical recipes where you glaze the food at the end. That was something I stopped doing because it left a big mess, and I felt it just was not worth the cleanup of the spirit grill.

But I get around most of it by using different recipes, and by smart use of drip pans. Most hassles can probably be minimized by a smart process. I wonder what the experience is for pellet grill owners.

IMO the biggest revelation to me has been getting a kettle. Now glazing makes more sense. Cleaning a round kettle is so simple. And if I want a super hot sear, I have charcoal. You could replace my old gasser+kettle with a fancy, super expensive gas grill in theory. Sure, they now come with an IR burner. But will it be as simple cleanup as a kettle? No.

I probably will never move back to a single grill. Even if the searwood does not have the perfect sear (neither does my spirit), then you can easily pair it with a small sear machine. Like the Q series for example.

 

[Mike - LA]

Well I’m in now, but just for this. My Yoder is an excellent cooker. The science that was stated previously may be scientific but my pellet cooker will blister off a steak with guns a blazing hot flames or low and slow smoking whichever way you are a goin. My bullseye Recteq won’t do it quite that way, but it’s a nice little smoker. Heck I like all cookers really

Well here’s three prime filets from Sams just a tad over 1.5” thick Yodered this past Saturday. How much more crust would anyone need?

 

[LMichaels]

IDK about Weber cleanup but I will tell anyone looking cleanup on my pellet grills is easy as pie. I'll take my pellet grill cleanup over any gas or charcoal grill. A scotchbrite for the temp probe, brush the grates, hit it with the shop vac and off to the races again. Even a REALLY deep clean only takes me 10 min

 

[Robby-Ribeye]

Not a pellet grill owner, but here are my two cents. Apart from the software core of the pellet grill, the thing that worries me is the cleanup. I was surprised how cumbersome it looked on the Tom Horseman video of the searwood.

When I started grilling with just the spirit, I had a lot of the typical recipes where you glaze the food at the end. That was something I stopped doing because it left a big mess, and I felt it just was not worth the cleanup of the spirit grill.

But I get around most of it by using different recipes, and by smart use of drip pans. Most hassles can probably be minimized by a smart process. I wonder what the experience is for pellet grill owners.

IMO the biggest revelation to me has been getting a kettle. Now glazing makes more sense. Cleaning a round kettle is so simple. And if I want a super hot sear, I have charcoal. You could replace my old gasser+kettle with a fancy, super expensive gas grill in theory. Sure, they now come with an IR burner. But will it be as simple cleanup as a kettle? No.

I probably will never move back to a single grill. Even if the searwood does not have the perfect sear (neither does my spirit), then you can easily pair it with a small sear machine. Like the Q series for example.

I'm thinking I'll still use my kettle for steaks/burgers, save a couple 100 and get the Weber Smoque.

 

[Mike - LA]

IDK about Weber cleanup but I will tell anyone looking cleanup on my pellet grills is easy as pie. I'll take my pellet grill cleanup over any gas or charcoal grill. A scotchbrite for the temp probe, brush the grates, hit it with the shop vac and off to the races again. Even a REALLY deep clean only takes me 10 min

Pellet is easy clean up. FWIW I soak a rag with vinegar and wrap around the thermo couple probe and let it sit a while and the smut and gunk wipes right off. I’m a little jubious of the aggressive methods.

 

[LMichaels]

Pellet is easy clean up. FWIW I soak a rag with vinegar and wrap around the thermo couple probe and let it sit a while and the smut and gunk wipes right off. I’m a little jubious of the aggressive methods.

I simply use a blue scotchbrite. (no scratch). Some Windex or such and it works fine. I only clean the probe every 4th or 5th cook. Depending on how long a cook I do I vacuum out usually every 2nd cook. Unless I've been doing a long overnight cook previously. Then I'll vacuum before using again. Bottom line (at least mine) pellet grills are easier than anything to clean

 

[Todd NC]

IDK about Weber cleanup but I will tell anyone looking cleanup on my pellet grills is easy as pie. I'll take my pellet grill cleanup over any gas or charcoal grill. A scotchbrite for the temp probe, brush the grates, hit it with the shop vac and off to the races again. Even a REALLY deep clean only takes me 10 min

Cleaning the Searwood is simple. I clean out the ash every few cooks and it’s a matter of a few minutes. A deep clean might take 20-30 in total. I don’t know about other pellet grills, but I don’t think the effort to clean one shouldn’t be much of a concern for anyone considering purchasing one.

Here’s a sear on a couple of ribeyes using my Searwood. I don’t go for grill marks and these were very much to my liking.

 

[Jim C in Denver]

Well here’s three prime filets from Sams just a tad over 1.5” thick Yodered this past Saturday. How much more crust would anyone need?

I personally like my steak to have more. An all over sear. Edge to edge. Rather than stripes of sear.

To get that result, I cook over charcoal using very thin wire cooking grates (radiation). Or use flat hot metal (induction).

 

[JimK]

There are almost as many 'good methods' for cooking a steak as there are steaks. It comes down to what method and tool works for you. I will likely get to a point where I want to cook over charcoal again, but right now, the Searwood works great for my use case, with the Genesis as a backup. I think for a lot of us, the joy is in the journey of finding out what works best for our use case.

 

[LMichaels]

I am quite honestly lovin' steaks off my pellet grills and absolutely not missing so called "sear". I find I get to taste far more of the actual steak. YMMV but if my gas grill disappeared tomorrow I would not miss it. Rarely touch it honestly

 

[Paul M]

I concur, my BK pellet grill is a chore to clean.

The shop vac'ing only takes a few min and is quite therapeutic. It's the disassembly and scraping of the internal bits which is a pain & messy. The Searwood internal design and parts looked less complicated. But vids I've watched show its practically the same.

A Weber kettle takes about 5 mins, as opposed to 20-30 mins for a pellet grill.

 

[LMichaels]

I only occasionally scrape anything and when I do it's only the main grease/heat deflector. And even when I do I only spend MAYBE a couple minutes. I still stand by both of mine being FAR FAR easier and faster to maintain then any gas or charcoal grill I've ever owned.
Maybe I'm not as fastidious or maybe some are overly so. My deflector plate on Big Z has a pretty good layer of what I call "seasoning". I don't think I've seen bare metal there on either of the grills since MAYBE a month after I bought them. I simply scrape off loose "chunks" and buildup occasionally. Also another thing I like to do is I cook most things on my top shelf and longer messier cooks get a disposable foil pan underneath. I simply toss that away when I am done.
Again I cannot relate to either the SmokeFire or Searwood as I've never used either one. But I honestly don't see what all the "hard to clean" worries are about. Grills get dirty. Is what it is. I'd be happy to have anyone stand over me with a stop watch and time me doing a "deep clean".