New Weber pellet grills for 2020


 
I showed my SO this grill and the eyes started rolling as I have a few Webers on the back patio already. But to be honest (and this hurts to say), I could see myself getting rid of the Performer and WSMs for this. I could see myself getting a Kettle for cooking if the power is off or I run out of pellets. But I really don't need the Performer, WSMs AND this...okay maybe I will keep the little WSM, lol

Either way, I could see myself increasing my activity on the patio with this.
 
Derrick H said:
I showed my SO this grill and the eyes started rolling as I have a few Webers on the back patio already. But to be honest (and this hurts to say), I could see myself getting rid of the Performer and WSMs for this. I could see myself getting a Kettle for cooking if the power is off or I run out of pellets. But I really don't need the Performer, WSMs AND this...okay maybe I will keep the little WSM, lol

Either way, I could see myself increasing my activity on the patio with this.
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It is never a bad idea to get another grill. I only have a Spirit and Q100. I have talked with my wife about getting a WSM but she says that if she lets me, I will eventually turn my back yard into a BBQ pit. Luckily I turn 40 in the spring. Happy Weber SmokeFire Birthday to me!
 
Boy I'm a lucky guy. Barb is an avid griller and can handle any of our nine Weber grills and smokers. We both agree on getting an EX4 and downsizing our fleet to five grills initially and possibly down to three.
I have to say it's been fun having all the grills and smokers but I won't miss the maintenance and cleaning of them all as I get older.
We are both excited to go into a new phase of outdoor cooking and recovering some more turf in our small backyard.
I still have to restore the 1985 Genesis 2 which I may keep, the genesis 2000 will go, both WSMs will go and the skyline will go, the jumbo joe will go.
But nothing until spring gets here, just to hard to sell grills sitting in the snow in the middle of winter. Also I want to wait until I can look at one in person to see if the quality is there which I believe it will be and to get some reviews on the EX4 also.
 
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Rich Dahl said:
Boy I'm a lucky guy. Barb is an avid griller and can handle any of our nine Weber grills and smokers. We both agree on getting an EX4 and downsizing our fleet to five grills initially and possibly down to three.
I have to say it's been fun having all the grills and smokers but I won't miss the maintenance and cleaning of them all as I get older.
We are both excited to go into a new phase of outdoor cooking and recovering some more turf in our small backyard.
I still have to restore the 1985 Genesis 2 which I may keep, the genesis 2000 will go, both WSMs will go and the skyline will go, the jumbo joe will go.
But nothing until spring gets here, just to hard to sell grills sitting in the snow in the middle of winter. Also I want to wait until I can look at one in person to see if the quality is there which I believe it will be and to get some reviews on the EX4 also.
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Rich, Congratulations on your future purchase on your new Pellet Grill. I hope that it performs well for you and gives you no problems. That way you can give us all a great review or not.
I'm sure for the money you will like it a lot.
Interesting note: My dad had a 15-16 yr old Traeger Pellet pooper. He bought it when they first came out when they were made in the good old USA. Two-three months ago it started tripping the breakers in his house when he used it. I imagine the motor on the pellet auger was getting bad, when the auger came on it would kick the breaker. Now my dad he's 87 yrs old & doesn't want to mess around & went down the the local ACE Hardware & bought a new Traeger. Spent about $900 bucks med sized. Fancy WiFi controlled he will never use. Well after a couple weeks he doesn't like it. LOL Says he was going to give it to me, which I would never take it I have way too many charcoal grills that I like. So I passed up a free Pellet pooper. I think that he just needs to wait for it to warm up longer & he's working on it. The control system is much different from his old one. If he doesn't like in the future I will have him give it to the relatives up north who all own Traeger's. And I will try to talk him into getting one of the Weber smoke fire. Maybe he would like that better.
 
I could probably sell all my 10+ grills and easily afford one of these with the proceeds. And it would free up a lot of patio space. ;-) But I am a technology lagger and I never buy any brand new tech items until they have been proven reliable and the bugs been ironed out. There are a lot of moving parts and lots of electronics for an item exposed to various environmental conditions. On top of that the grates are not SS. Not sure what the other silverish material is inside the firebox. I would like to see how it holds up after 5 years before I spent that amount of money.
And I am not sure it is as versatile as I want it to be but maybe I am wrong. I hardly ever smoke but use my grills mainly for hot searing (Vortex), rotisserie, quick meals on the gasser, as pizza kettle with a stone, Wok cooking, ... Plus I would have one black box on my patio compared to colorful kettles and gassers. So for I am going to sit back and to wait and will follow the folks who buy one.
 
I'm wondering why Weber omitted a rotisserie. Weber has a long history of rotisseries. Broil King and Twin Eagles have them on pellet cookers.
 
I imagine by the time it hits the market they will have a rotisserie available for the grill. It may be is it an accessory can buy after the fact. And it might even be a rotisserie that already fits other Weber grills.
 
Bruce said:
I imagine by the time it hits the market they will have a rotisserie available for the grill. It may be is it an accessory can buy after the fact. And it might even be a rotisserie that already fits other Weber grills.
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I think the design of the sides and the lid on the Smokefire may preclude the use of a rotisserie.
 
Russ:
Did traeger blow him off on getting a new motor for the auger? Just wondering if that would solve the whole problem and make your dad a happy camper...
 
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J Grotz said:
I think the design of the sides and the lid on the Smokefire may preclude the use of a rotisserie.
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J Grotz: I didn't even notice that, but you are right. It would certainly not be a conventional type roto if they did come up with something.
 
After further thought, I don't think the 36" is necessary, at least for what I do.

Could I get two brisket on the 36 " ? Possibly, but do I really want to do that ?

Four pork butt would fit nicely on the 24 and could get two more on the 36 , but do I want to pull six pork butt ? I smoke 4 butts on my offset stick burner now, and that's plenty.

And an addtional 12" in length is not gonna provide room for any more racks of ribs. Ribs average about 19" or a bit longer. Trying to double up on rib racks would really press for space.

And I could easily do three spatchcocked , halved, chickens on the 24".

My stick burner has two racks, but I took the upper rack out long ago, it just gets in the way and I don't need the extra capacity.

I think the extra $200 for the 36 could be better spent on accessories that Harry Soo spoke about.
 
My only concern is clean up, what’s it going to look like after some long cooks and how will the bottom clean up. Traeger and the pan they have looks easier to clean.
Still can’t wait to get my hands on one.
 
Also, in Harry's vid, he talks about the vents in the back of cooker lid vrs a chimney or a stack. Weber says they found the stack lets out too much smoke.

That sounds to me like permanently closing off the top vent on any other smoker. That will back up the air flow and keep smoke in the chamber, but is it the right kind of smoke ?

Today, I'm picking up a 2 foot length of 5" duct pipe at Home Depot, that I will put on my offset stick burner to increase the height of the stack, in order to hopefully improve the draw on my smoker. What I'm after is the reverse of what Weber has done.

A complaint I've read about Yoder 640, is that it has high fuel consumption. And that sort've puzzles me because its made from heavy steel, it should not have a lot of heat loss that would increase fuel consumption. But if the chimney/stack moves a lot of air through the cooker, that will increase the fuel consumption.

I've thought all the complaints about lack of smoke flavor from pellet poopers, has more to do with clean combustion of pellets that won't produce a lot of visible smoke. But the gases needed for flavor are actually still there. I think its a bit psychological. When my stick burner is burning really clean, it won't produce a lot of visible smoke, but Im still getting flavor in the meats. I really don't want any visible smoke, other than some very thin blue.
 
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Dan Leighton said:
Russ:
Did traeger blow him off on getting a new motor for the auger? Just wondering if that would solve the whole problem and make your dad a happy camper...
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Dan,
No Traeger did not blow him off on a motor, His old one was several years old and he thought that he would update to new one. And help spur the economy. As I said the relatives up north said they would take it and use the rest for parts because they have some of the older models. I could have easily changed the motor for him because in 1991 a pellet fired Earth Stove for heating our old house. It had believe it or not it had the same Traeger pellet system under the stove. So over the years I got good at changing the motors out every 2-3 years. But that being said it sure was a good stove. it stayed with the old house when we moved.
 
Lynn Dollar said:
After further thought, I don't think the 36" is necessary, at least for what I do.

Could I get two brisket on the 36 " ? Possibly, but do I really want to do that ?

Four pork butt would fit nicely on the 24 and could get two more on the 36 , but do I want to pull six pork butt ? I smoke 4 butts on my offset stick burner now, and that's plenty.

And an addtional 12" in length is not gonna provide room for any more racks of ribs. Ribs average about 19" or a bit longer. Trying to double up on rib racks would really press for space.

And I could easily do three spatchcocked , halved, chickens on the 24".

My stick burner has two racks, but I took the upper rack out long ago, it just gets in the way and I don't need the extra capacity.

I think the extra $200 for the 36 could be better spent on accessories that Harry Soo spoke about.
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I agree Lynn, with it just being Barb and I 99% of the time all I would be doing is heating a lot of extra air with a 36 and burning more fuel to do it. My 18.5 WSM has been more than adequate for our needs so the 24 should be fine for us. We also will still have our NG E320 and performer for extra capacity if needed.
 
Hmmmm, I was initially thinking the 36" was lot better deal for the money and more versatile, but like you guys say, it is just too much for the average guy. Kind of like a Six burner Summit for a family of 3.

But anyway, I have NO experience with pellet grills and it is interesting to read these reviews and discussions as well as watch the video reviews. But, what I am getting is this grill is going to kill the market. I can't really find any review that say ANYTHING negative or even have reservations regarding any aspect of the grill. I was expecting something like "Weber designed it this way, but I really think the way Rec Tec did it is better" or something to that affect.

Also, I think we will get a lot better reviews on these grills once Weber starts releasing them to the public and they can actually do a full personal cook on them outside of the Weber showroom. And I wish we didn't have to wait 5+ years to see how these things are going to hold up in the long run.
 
I keep wavering back and forth, but won't decide until it's been field tested.
I was very impressed seeing those strip steaks grilled over a live wood fire.
Put steaks on the upper shelf/grate, run the temp low while monitoring the meat temp, remove them when they're ready for searing, kick up the pit temp, and the fun begins!
If it only worked well for barbecue, I wouldn't be interested.

Controlling the amount of smoke flavor on meats could be a problem, but that must hold true for any pellet grill.
Also interested in seeing out how many cooks you can expect from a full hopper of pellets.
 
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