Weber SmokeFire First Cook

kenrobin said:
Get a well-made stickburner. The best made pellet grill is no match with a good stickburner.
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I can leave the house and do other things with a pellet grill, check the temp remotely and have someone at the house do something if needed. Every cook scenario isn’t utopia where I can just sit around feeding sticks. So I’m willing to sacrifice a little character for convenience. I cook a lot more often than I would otherwise because I have a tool in the arsenal that is relatively hands free.
 
I bought the IGrill thermos early on and the app was good, price was reasonable, connectivity was good, probes fairly decent.

Weber bought them and bloated the app with a bunch of BS, connectivity can be iffy, price went up, etc.

I'm using a few Smokes now.
 
sudsandswine said:
I can leave the house and do other things with a pellet grill, check the temp remotely and have someone at the house do something if needed. Every cook scenario isn’t utopia where I can just sit around feeding sticks. So I’m willing to sacrifice a little character for convenience. I cook a lot more often than I would otherwise because I have a tool in the arsenal that is relatively hands free.
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This is exactly why I’m thinking hard about getting my stick burner a pellet grill friend. I really enjoy tending a fire, but I also enjoy eating & sharing tender smoky meats even when I don’t have time to indulge in my pyro tendencies, and I’m willing to give up a little of the aforementioned character for it.
 
sudsandswine said:
I can leave the house and do other things with a pellet grill, check the temp remotely and have someone at the house do something if needed. Every cook scenario isn’t utopia where I can just sit around feeding sticks. So I’m willing to sacrifice a little character for convenience. I cook a lot more often than I would otherwise because I have a tool in the arsenal that is relatively hands free.
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I don’t trust my pit boss unattended anymore, and am not sure if I would leave the smokefire unattended either after seeing a couple videos of it locking up and several videos or having grease fires like These videos. https://youtu.be/9-xKRvMiSHM. https://youtu.be/Y3j5P7PPfOY. The also need to address the fact that the pellets don’t always feed down the ramped hopper that well like this video. https://youtu.be/cJA1Z9FKwZs

I wound up going back to my WSM with an IQ-110 for all night cooks when I want to sleep. I also use a pit temp alarm to wake me up just in case.

I have no doubt that Weber will address and correct these issues. I just think they should have taken care of these problems before the release. If you look at my cooker list below, you will see that I am a Weber fan.
 
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SmokyDick said:
Its dumb to leave any cooker unattended, even a home oven.
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Couldn't agree more. If I am baking a store bought pizza I block off an hour of time so I can sit in my kitchen and monitor the oven throughout the cook. There is literally zero market for any type of set and forget cooker. Probably the most dangerous thing anyone could ever do too. :roll:
 
Seems to me that Weber used grease fires to sell the Smokefire when they had everybody over for NY Strips back in November. Now we get briskets catching fire even when set to much lower smoking temps. Should this turn out to be a widespread problem I would love to see how they keep grease from catching fire when there’s an open flame that’s fan enduced.
 
SmokyDick said:
Its dumb to leave any cooker unattended, even a home oven.
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Man, by that standard... after 25 plus years of leaving pellet grills, kamados, WSM’s, kettles, sous vides, ovens and crockpots unmanned... I must be the dumbest person on earth! Is there a “Dumbest Brethren” contest? Ready to claim my prize [emoji12]
 
Out of all the negative reviews I have read the only one that concerns me is the hopper design not working as planned.
 
rwalters said:
Man, by that standard... after 25 plus years of leaving pellet grills, kamados, WSM’s, kettles, sous vides, ovens and crockpots unmanned... I must be the dumbest person on earth! Is there a “Dumbest Brethren” contest? Ready to claim my prize [emoji12]
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If you seriously left your home with no-one around to tend - then yes you are a very dumb person.
 
ss4825 said:
Out of all the negative reviews I have read the only one that concerns me is the hopper design not working as planned.
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I think THE HOPPER PROBLEM is an easy fix that they will definitely do. All they need is a slicker coating for less friction, steeper angle, or as a last resort they could add a small chute vibrator that turns on every so many minutes.

The electronics will definitely be fixed in time.

The grease mixing with the ash and causing grease fires while smoking is my biggest concern and I bet that will be fixed as well.
 
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Shadowdog500 said:
I think that is an easy fix that they will definitely do. All they need is a slicker coating for less friction, steeper angle, or as a last resort they could add a small chute vibrator that turns on every so many minutes.

The electronics will definitely be fixed in time.

The grease mixing with the ash and causing grease fires while smoking is my biggest concern and I bet that will be fixed as well.
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The very first sentence just boggles my mind.. WHY would anyone need to spend $1500+ on a product for them to be concerned about "OH.. that will be an easy fix that they will definitely do" Just a few days into launch of the product and people's already talking about how weber will soon fix this, and change this and that.. pretty sad. I hope all of you that purchased one and is having problems request a full refund.. and not ask for fixes which all this should of been figured out from the get go


Lets be honest.. If people would stop being early adopters and pre ordering ****.. Then companies would care more about their product and not produce broken **** and sell it to "first adopters"
 
blazinfire said:
The very first sentence just boggles my mind.. WHY would anyone need to spend $1500+ on a product for them to be concerned about "OH.. that will be an easy fix that they will definitely do" Just a few days into launch of the product and people's already talking about how weber will soon fix this, and change this and that.. pretty sad. I hope all of you that purchased one and is having problems request a full refund.. and not ask for fixes which all this should of been figured out from the get go


Lets be honest.. If people would stop being early adopters and pre ordering ****.. Then companies would care more about their product and not produce broken **** and sell it to "first adopters"
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That first sentence was a response to SS4825’s post I quoted where he said the pellets not sliding down the chute in the hopper was his biggest concern. Things sliding down chutes is an old problem that is easily rectified with the three commonly used methods that I posted. The pellets not sliding down the chute is the least of Weber’s problems.

I see the biggest problem as getting the thing to stop having grease fires while smoking.

The software issues will also be corrected in time.

I also agree whole heartedly that Weber should not have released this product until these issues were resolved. I know I pointed that out several times in this forum.

That said, I do think that Weber will fix all of these problems in time and it will be much better in a year or so when I decide if I still want one.
 
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SmokyDick said:
If you seriously left your home with no-one around to tend - then yes you are a very dumb person.
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I guess we will have to agree to disagree. With a bit of common sense, in my opinion there is nothing all that risky with leaving the home with the oven on, a quality pellet grill slowly cooking away, a quality charcoal smoker slowly working its magic, a crockpot doing his thing or a sous vide machine keeping water warm. Is it possible something could go wrong? Sure. Highly unlikely? After 25 plus years of not one issue... I believe so. If it is something you are uncomfortable with, than by all means stay at home and watch your devices cook. Either way, you’re not gonna hear me calling you a dumb person. With a super busy family, I call coming home to a nicely cooked dinner a blessing. Hope you have a wonderful evening and fantastic week sir :)
 
Shadowdog500 said:
That first sentence was a response to SS4825’s post I quoted where he said the pellets not sliding down the chute in the hopper was his biggest concern. Things sliding down chutes is an old problem that is easily rectified with the three commonly used methods that I posted. The pellets not sliding down the chute is the least of Weber’s problems.

I see the biggest problem as getting the thing to stop having grease fires while smoking.

The software issues will also be corrected in time.

I also agree whole heartedly that Weber should not have released this product until these issues were resolved. I know I pointed that out several times in this forum.

That said, I do think that Weber will fix all of these problems in time and it will be much better in a year or so when I decide if I still want one.
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Don't get me wrong, I'm a big fan of Weber grills and I agree a year from now this will be a great product. I'm in the market for a pellet smoker now and was hoping the Weber SmokeFire would fit the bill for me because I don't want to wait a year.
 
I leave my cookers alone at the house all the time. I have cameras at the house and I can monitor the cooks from anywhere...I also have security system with fire and carbon monoxide detection, etc and really don’t see an issue here?

Also, all the bs about being an early adopter of said grill and shame on you and you should expect issues from a first run product and it’s way too much money...etc etc. it’s ridiculous really. It’s a cooker...a grill/smoker that cost $1,200-$1,500 from a reputable company....get over it. Those who paid the money and bought one are free to do so as they choose and should expect a level of performance commensurate with the cost. I’m sure weber will get things fixed and those that own it will be happy. But let’s be real here...it’s a $1,500 pellet grill....it’s not a Memphis Elite that cost more than 3 times as much and it’s not a Mak that is double the cost...I wouldnt expect Amg performance and refinement from a c class car. JMO and no, I don’t have one:)


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rwalters said:
If it is something you are uncomfortable with, than by all means stay at home and watch your devices cook. Either way, you’re not gonna hear me calling you a dumb person. With a super busy family, I call coming home to a nicely cooked dinner a blessing.
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I have been know to do some day drinking at the local watering hole, only to come back to some delicious smoked ribs that have been cooking away unattended. :hungry:
 
ss4825 said:
Don't get me wrong, I'm a big fan of Weber grills and I agree a year from now this will be a great product. I'm in the market for a pellet smoker now and was hoping the Weber SmokeFire would fit the bill for me because I don't want to wait a year.
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All I can tell you is not to get a $500 pit boss! I went that route just to dip my toe in the water and regret it. If this Weber isn’t straitened out in a year I’m probably be looking at a Rec Tec or something similar. I was seriously thinking about getting a Rec Tec just before Weber announced the smokefire.
 
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