I am building a new house, and hoping to add a new grill to my collection. I have been planning on the Memphis grill, but the review on the Weber SmokeFire was very positive. I know its not out yet, but other than the extreme difference in cost and no built in version, does anyone have opinions on the functions of the two grills? They both seem to have a good searing option.
Eric
Looks like you’ve been here some time before making your first post? Welcome from Iowa.
IMO, you are comparing a Toyota to a Ferrari. There’s a ton of factors to consider in that decision. I had a Memphis Pro for about 18 months. It’s construction was amazing and had no equipment failures. It will smoke well, grill well and direct sear OK. The open flame area is pretty small for direct searing more than one big ribeye or a couple decent strips. I personally was happy with the indirect searing on burgers, chops, etc. that you can get at 450-500 degrees from convection. In the end it wasn’t the right fit for me because I like to smoke a lot of greasy meat then turn up the heat and cook sides, sausages, or biscuits. My experience proved this dangerous and I had many grease fires. I had to thoroughly clean the grill after any greasy smoke before grilling at high temps. Cleaning a Memphis is a considerable amount of work removing parts and scraping down. I’m not sure if we know how the Weber will handle this situation yet.
EricHockstad I think based on the preliminary review from Max Good and Meathead that the Weber has solved the pellet searing issue with the SmokeFire. And probably for a lot less cost than the Memphis grill. Based on what glitchy says, the searing area on the Memphis is small - the searing area on the new Weber SmokeFire sounds to be much larger, and while hotter in the central area, is hotter over most of the grill surface than on most pellet rigs.
Looking at the design, in my opinion they did a great job leveraging their proven grease collection system and flavorizer bars from the Weber gas grills in the design of the new pellet grill. There's a reason I have have a Genesis that is 18 years old, and a new one that is 1 year old sitting next to it. They are just well built grills, and parts availability is not an issue, even when the grill is 20 years old or more.
I will say, that if I had the funds and lived in a climate more friendly to a built in kitchen, I would probably choose a Memphis and Blaze pairing or a stainless charcoal built in to go with the Memphis built in and learn to deal with their shortcomings in lieu of their looks as built ins. I think the fancy Napoleon charcoal might have a built in option and had a charcoal infrared rotisserie burner too.
I do plan on getting a SpitFire, but having that and a Summit charcoal was my plan all along when I sold the Memphis. From my experience Memphis support is right on par with Weber.
I guess from the mention of the built in, I’m assuming you are at least considering that?
Doesn’t say where you live. We are in the Sierra and it’s cold here in the Winter months. We needed a cooker that would maintain heat when it’s cold outside. We didn’t want to have to use an insulated wrap for the cooker because we’re just not those cooks. The double walled Memphis with WiFi has been the answer. Maintains temp in any weather.
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