Spirit II (Natural Gas) grill won't sear.... (warning: Manifesto!)


 
Mack Manning said:
As others have said, you'll need a heavy chunk of metal to store heat for the sear. Could be a cast iron pan you already own, or a griddle made to fit the grill.

I used to sous vide steaks, but family prefers reverse sear now. I put the griddle or pan on the hot side of the grill to preheat and the meat on the cool side for slow cooking, then finish on the pan or griddle.

Weber certainly knows this disappoints some buyers. They addressed it by increasing the sear burner BTUs in the 2022 Genesis.

Consider your steak seasoning as well. I've been using Lawry's salt lately and the sugar content makes everything brown faster. Anything with a little sugar would help.
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Thanks for the tips, Mack.
I'm definitely going to try the reverse sear route soon.
As to seasoning... I like to course sea salt the steak before putting it on the grill, then a little cracked pepper and maybe light garlic after I remove it from the heat.
I do like the flavor of Lawry's, maybe I'll give that a shot too.
Rob
 
Chris Allingham said:
Maybe someday Weber will add an infrared burner like you find on some Napoleon and other gassers...but that would be on a Summit, not a Spirit.
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I think the IR side burner like a Napoleon would be a relatively low-effort new option for the Genesis and Summit. I am certain they've considered it, wonder why they haven't tried to sell it.
 
Here's my latest email response from Weber:

"Hi Rob,

Thank you for your reply. We are unable to exchange or take the grill back. It would need to be done through the store of purchase.
I am happy to help with an accessory if there is anything you want to try that may enhance your grilling experience. Please let me know.
Thank you!"

-I responded to this email letting the sender know I'm unsatisfied with her answer, and requested that my review/emails be sent to a supervisor for review.

So, a week ago I went back to Ace Hardware (Where I bought the grill in late June), and after a 15 minute conversation, and a phone call by the manager to Weber...I was told that Ace can't take the return and Weber has to take anything back directly.

I'll keep you guys in the loop, but at this point, I'm losing hope that Weber will step up and support a currently unsatisfied customer. Ace dropped down on my list of places I'll be making major purchases from as well. I sincerely appreciate you guys (and ladies) who sent work arounds for my non-searing Weber issue.

The thing that bugs me is that I spent $600 on a grill that only works half as good as it should, and I need to beg for ideas on how to make it work better.
 
I hope you get satisfaction. I think what might happen is that Weber will give you a coupon for a discount on a different grill. I hope they just refund you, but, I don't see that as likely since they don't consider the grill to be defective. A discounted different Weber grill may not get you what you are looking for anyway unless you opt for one with an searing station in it.
 
I assume all the temperatures mentioned are from the hood thermometer. Just to be sure your grill is working as designed, I suggest putting a temp probe at grate level. If you don't have one, get a cheap oven thermometer with good reviews for high temp accuracy.

If they're willing to give you an accessory to help, I suggest the heaviest griddle they make for the Spirit. Preheat it and it will sear whatever you want. Here's one model, others may be better.

Weber Spirit 300 & SmokeFire Cast Iron/Porcelain Griddle 17.4 in. L X 12.1 in. W 1 pk Mfr# 7598 - Ace Hardware

This porcelain-enameled cast iron griddle is perfect for making pancakes in the morning or fajitas for dinner. It's also great for grilling delicate foods that would typically fall through the grates, like fish and veggies.Find the GRILL GRIDDLE CI 17X12 at Ace.
www.acehardware.com www.acehardware.com
 
Bruce said:
I hope you get satisfaction. I think what might happen is that Weber will give you a coupon for a discount on a different grill. I hope they just refund you, but, I don't see that as likely since they don't consider the grill to be defective. A discounted different Weber grill may not get you what you are looking for anyway unless you opt for one with an searing station in it.
Click to expand...
To be honest, Bruce - I am getting the feeling that Weber Customer Service (and it may be a single person, considering the responses I'm receiving) has gone the way of many other manufacturers and has just given up.

-They state "supply chain issues" and can only make so many grills.
-Due to the shortage of grills, they can pretty much sell every one they make.
-If they don't have to work hard at selling, why work hard at keeping existing customers happy?

I don't consider the grill defective either. Except from a design standpoint. The grill is operating as designed, but the design is not applicable to getting a sear on meat. It was designed to be a 600 degree baking unit.

I wish it had said that on the box.
 
LMichaels said:
You don't even want to know my thoughts on this.
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Sure do!

I haven't come up with an answer to resolve my issue yet, Mr. Michaels.
-If I see enough responses stating "Smith, you're a moron for expecting a $600 Weber to sear", then I need to be thinking I'm wrong.
-If I see responses agreeing with me, or even questions seeking more information to be able to form reasonable responses, I'd be happy to include more info.

Meantime, I'm doing my grilling on a $30 charcoal Smokey Joe because my new $600 grill won't cook the way I want it to.
 
@RobSmith I'd be SORELY tempted to call Weber Customer Service while I'm standing at the counter at that Ace, and drag the manager into a speakerphone conversation. Somebody ain't tellin' me what's right, so suppose YOU two figure it out.

I wouldn't necessarily expect the greatest sear in the world, but you should be able to get something. You get a good sear from a direct heat source exposure, and that heat source does have to be lit up pretty well. On a gasser..... there's the usual fuel suspects like an OPD malfunction (try another tank,) air/fuel mixture (adjust the air shutters,) maybe the fuel regulator. Yeah, I know, there's a distance aspect for sure.
 
RobSmith said:
I don't consider the grill defective either. Except from a design standpoint. The grill is operating as designed, but the design is not applicable to getting a sear on meat. It was designed to be a 600 degree baking unit.
Click to expand...
From where I'm sitting, this is it in a nutshell. Weber pioneered the grill lid to promote even cooking, as well as the flavorizer bars, again to promote even cooking. Their gas grills are simply intended to be more of a roasting machine than a searing machine. They put a lot of engineering in that particular direction.
 
Yah, watch commercial grills. They have no lids and flames shooting up everywhere. Maybe try grilling with the lid open for a change and see if that works any better. Sure,it will take longer and use more gas, but it might give you what you are looking for.
 
I think this is an example of mismatched expectations. I'm not saying you did anything wrong when buying this grill, @RobSmith , but these Spirit grills don't grill the same as a charcoal grill and those were your expectations. It's kind of a bummer that there's not a "try before you buy" situation available to consumers because it is a lot of money to spend on something that doesn't work the way you assumed it would.

This situation caused me to re-read one of Meathead's articles on AmazingRibs.com about the various ways that heat is conducted to meat in various types of grills (diagrams about halfway down the page). It may explain why you don't get the sear you were expecting.

amazingribs.com

The Thermodynamics of Cooking and How Different Cooking Methods Work

Learn about thermodynamics: the basis of all cooking! Find out how heat transference works by conduction, convection, radiation, induction, and infrared heat in your grill, bbq, and smoker.
amazingribs.com
 
The one huge difference between a normal gas grill and charcoal is not necessarily temps alone. Charcoal (especially good lump coal) emits a lot of infrared heat. This behaves differently because it actually heats the "object" in this case a steak more so than the air then the object. So the heat acts directly on the food you cook. Bottom line though the "sear" or Maillard reaction takes place at 350F (I may be off on the actual temp here but IIRC I am VERY close). If you're looking for food that's "blackened" and call that a "sear" don't invite me for dinner. :D
I have posted many times (though I don't know how to find the posts) how well my steaks have a nice crust all over, beautifully rosy center. I don't ever use full heat (unless I'm trying to grill outdoors in dead winter and it's only 20F outside). In summer on my Genesis I heat the grill up full on for a good 15 min. Allowing everything to come to temps and stabilize. I then drop center burner to low and front/rear to med, leave the lid open about 2 or 3 min to get rid of excess heat and place my steak(s) in the middle. I leave the lid closed and allow them to cook a few min then quickly flip, leave 5 min or so, flip again and one final time. Pull and rest when they hit about 125 internal. Rest 5 to 6 min, serve. Perfect every time. I do the same thing on the Wolf (except that grill has more burners and I have to work left to right not front to rear.
The only time I feel compelled to use extreme heat (and then I usually resort to charcoal lump only btw) is Tuna steak. IDK why but tuna will not crust otherwise without ruining the interior. I think because of the different moisture and texture levels of seafood vs land food. There ya have it. Seems some use "how hot my grill can get or how dark I can sear" like 2 guys having a how big mine is contest. Worthless in the end
 
Mack Manning said:
I assume all the temperatures mentioned are from the hood thermometer. Just to be sure your grill is working as designed, I suggest putting a temp probe at grate level. If you don't have one, get a cheap oven thermometer with good reviews for high temp accuracy.

If they're willing to give you an accessory to help, I suggest the heaviest griddle they make for the Spirit. Preheat it and it will sear whatever you want. Here's one model, others may be better.

Weber Spirit 300 & SmokeFire Cast Iron/Porcelain Griddle 17.4 in. L X 12.1 in. W 1 pk Mfr# 7598 - Ace Hardware

This porcelain-enameled cast iron griddle is perfect for making pancakes in the morning or fajitas for dinner. It's also great for grilling delicate foods that would typically fall through the grates, like fish and veggies.Find the GRILL GRIDDLE CI 17X12 at Ace.
www.acehardware.com www.acehardware.com
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Hey Mack,
Just to be sure, I used my GF's oven thermometer and sat it in the middle of the grill and center grate. It read within a couple degrees of what the grill/lid thermometer read.
When emailing Weber at their customer service address...I get the feeling that the person I'm dealing with is only an accessory sales person. I don't think she wants to help me at all, she wants to sell me something. This is the only email address I can get from Weber.

Thanks for the link to the griddle. I hope not to need it!
 
JKalchik said:
@RobSmith I'd be SORELY tempted to call Weber Customer Service while I'm standing at the counter at that Ace, and drag the manager into a speakerphone conversation. Somebody ain't tellin' me what's right, so suppose YOU two figure it out.

I wouldn't necessarily expect the greatest sear in the world, but you should be able to get something. You get a good sear from a direct heat source exposure, and that heat source does have to be lit up pretty well. On a gasser..... there's the usual fuel suspects like an OPD malfunction (try another tank,) air/fuel mixture (adjust the air shutters,) maybe the fuel regulator. Yeah, I know, there's a distance aspect for sure.
Click to expand...
Thanks for the input, Mr. Kalchik. It probably got lost in the first post, but I have a natural gas grill - plugged into a quick disconnect nipple near my meter, running through 20' of hose to the grill.

I'll be headed to Ace (It's kind of a drive, so I have been waiting until I need to get that direction) today. Going to tell the manager that I want my issue escalated to the owners of this Ace.
 
Based on my experience, the problem with this grill is that it's natural gas. Natural gas just doesn't get as hot as propane. Every single NG grill I've ever used has been very poor for searing. My dad has a propane Spirit and after a 15 minute warmup the hood thermo always reads at roughly 600 degrees. Sears like a beast.

Unfortunately there isn't a fix other than converting to propane, but even then you do need to understand it'll never be as good as searing over charcoal. Still need to temper your expectations.

Back when I still had my Genesis, I put a large griddle in it and it pretty much became my "Blackstone" and a finisher/warmer. I still relied on my charcoal SSP as my workhorse, especially for searing.
 
RobSmith said:
Thanks for the input, Mr. Kalchik. It probably got lost in the first post, but I have a natural gas grill - plugged into a quick disconnect nipple near my meter, running through 20' of hose to the grill.

I'll be headed to Ace (It's kind of a drive, so I have been waiting until I need to get that direction) today. Going to tell the manager that I want my issue escalated to the owners of this Ace.
Click to expand...
I think this is likely a problem of expectations, but just in case: Can you wheel the grill closer to the meter and try the shorter included hose?

Spirit isn't super high BTU and 20ft isn't that long, but it's easy enough to test.
 
Scott Smith said:
From where I'm sitting, this is it in a nutshell. Weber pioneered the grill lid to promote even cooking, as well as the flavorizer bars, again to promote even cooking. Their gas grills are simply intended to be more of a roasting machine than a searing machine. They put a lot of engineering in that particular direction.
Click to expand...
Chris Allingham said:
I think this is an example of mismatched expectations. I'm not saying you did anything wrong when buying this grill, @RobSmith , but these Spirit grills don't grill the same as a charcoal grill and those were your expectations. It's kind of a bummer that there's not a "try before you buy" situation available to consumers because it is a lot of money to spend on something that doesn't work the way you assumed it would.

This situation caused me to re-read one of Meathead's articles on AmazingRibs.com about the various ways that heat is conducted to meat in various types of grills (diagrams about halfway down the page). It may explain why you don't get the sear you were expecting.

amazingribs.com

The Thermodynamics of Cooking and How Different Cooking Methods Work

Learn about thermodynamics: the basis of all cooking! Find out how heat transference works by conduction, convection, radiation, induction, and infrared heat in your grill, bbq, and smoker.
amazingribs.com
Click to expand...
Thanks Chris, (and Scott),
I do agree that my expectations weren't met by this grill. Having owned a number of gas grills in the past though, I went under the assumption that a $600 grill will perform better (overall) than a $200 grill. And I've had $200 grills that work better in almost every aspect. (They just didn't have a 10 year warranty, like the Spirit)

Since you really can't "road test" a grill, usually, I went off of other people's reviews and Consumer Reports writeups before deciding on this grill.

Amazon reviews? fugeddaboutit. Most of those are bot generated anyhow, and I didn't even look.

The information and opinions provided by everyone on this forum have been extremely helpful. I believe I'm coming to the end of my saga as my upcoming visit to the Ace Hardware store will be my last possibility for solution to my issue. I'll let you guys know what I hear from them, and probably let this thread die out shortly after. Life's too short. (and there's plenty of charcoal!)
 
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