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SmokeFire EX6 review from a total novice.

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    SmokeFire EX6 review from a total novice.

    I'm about a 2/10 on the scale of BBQ experience, but I'm happy to provide my first impressions of the SmokeFire EX6 I now own. Please feel free to correct or edit or comment on anything I've written. I'm a beginner and eager to learn, so all feedback is welcome!
    1. Unboxing and setup: Super simple. It recommends two people - I did it with my 9-year-old son who spent more time playing in the box than helping with the setup and it was fine. The packaging was great. All of my screws matched (I think I saw a review where someone else had screws that were different?).
    2. Seasoning: Per the instructions, I ran her up to 600 degrees and let her sit there. I think the instructions say to leave it at that temperature for 30-45 minutes, but I probably left it for an hour just because.
    3. First Cook: I made BBQ chicken for the family last night. Pretty straightforward cook at 400 degrees and one flip. It was probably too hot, but everyone ate like crazy and thought it was wonderful.
    4. Second Cook: I cooked a Ribeye and New York cut steak tonight. I tried the "reverse sear" method for the first time. Ultimately, they were overcooked (my fault) and my seasoning was too sweet (also my fault), but the cooker performed exactly as it was supposed to. I think I'm not a huge fan of the Grillmaster Blend pellets from Weber, but again, that's just personal preference. You might love them.
    5. Next Cook: I'm going to smoke a 5lb pork butt on Sunday. Low and slow the whole way based on the Awesome Simple Pulled Pork BBQ Recipe found on this website right here. I'll probably switch to the Hickory pellets I got with the cooker - I'm about out of the Grillmaster Blend anyway.
    6. Issues: At sear temperature, mine has a SERIOUS hot spot on on the right-center 4th of the grill. It's MUCH hotter than the other quarters of the grill with visible flames. I plan to check the installation just to make sure the heat diffuser and heat baffles are installed correctly and not somehow off-center. It could easily be user error, for all I know, but it's something I'm tracking. The mobile app is not super useful right now, but I expect Weber to continue to update and add features, so I'm not concerned with that.
    7. Overall: Great smoke out of this cooker at most temperatures. Super easy to use. Lots of fun, actually. It seems like solid construction. Pellet use doesn't seem too bad, although as a newbie I don't have much to compare with. Everything I've done so far has taken about 3/4 of a bag of Grillmaster Blend pellets, which seems reasonable to me. I'm very happy with it and excited to continue to learn more about it.
    Just for fun, here are tonight's steaks with some steak butter melted on the top. Smoked them low and then seared them. I have no question about the sear-ability of this cooker.
    Click image for larger version

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    #2
    Thanks for the post! Glad your happy with your new cooker, they look awesome! Have fun and smoke on
    Last edited by marshall; February 14, 2020, 08:49 PM.

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      #3
      You might be right on the hot spot at high temps and it might depend on which way the wind is blowing. When you're roaring a fire to keep it 500+, those flames are going to be coming out from under the center tent.The fan flow might make it consistently the right side too. Haven't had the time or the energy in Iowa during February to crawl under and stand over for extended periods to investigate. At low and mid range cooks, I haven't noticed it being a hot spot though. Did you on the chicken at 400?

      Comment


      • Jordan S
        Jordan S commented
        Editing a comment
        I noticed it with the chicken at 400° as well, but in fairness, I live in Amarillo where there is always at least a little wind. I would not be surprised if the wind pushed the heat that way. Heck, I might spin the cooker 180 degrees and see if the hot spot moves to the other side.

      • BDCarp04
        BDCarp04 commented
        Editing a comment
        Hot spot on the right for me too. I definitely think the fan plays a big part and the higher you have the temp cranked, the harder the fan is blowing, and the more obvious it gets. Hoping Max can confirm with his in depth testing.

      • LA Pork Butt
        LA Pork Butt commented
        Editing a comment
        Jordan S I cook on a BGE and since moving to Dallas found it necessary to build a wind shield to compensate for the on again off again nature of the wind.

      #4
      This angle isn't the greatest, but a quick video I took of the flame being much more obvious on the right side during burn in a couple of days ago. I didn't think to shoot from the left side to show it wasn't as pronounced.

      Comment


      • bbqLuv
        bbqLuv commented
        Editing a comment
        Tx for video,

      #5
      Someone posted their first cook video on youtube. One side was so much hotter, the food on that side was burnt.



      More issues for him, where it loses all the heat yet claims to be at 250

      Last edited by divisionbell77; February 15, 2020, 10:07 AM.

      Comment


      • BDCarp04
        BDCarp04 commented
        Editing a comment
        He had a couple of problems going on in that first video that he cleared up in his follow up. He turned the dial to 300 but didn't actually click the knob to set it so it was running much hotter than he thought it was. He's also getting some kind of glow plug replacement message so I'm wondering if that maybe something isn't installed correctly, or maybe he didn't get the firmware updated correctly. At least I hope that's all it is, because those are easy fixes. Fingers crossed

      • divisionbell77
        divisionbell77 commented
        Editing a comment
        He has the same issues with the flames going on the right side that others have reported here, causing a hot spot. The higher heat when using higher temps on one side was not resolved.

      • BDCarp04
        BDCarp04 commented
        Editing a comment
        Yeah sorry, I was referring to the unit freezing up on him possibly being related to firmware. He didn't really address the temp variation in the next video other than to say it was "better" a couple of times later on. Based on what I and others have seen I'm thinking the variation gets worse the further up the temp scale you go when the fan is working harder.

      #6
      I might try to find some of that adhesive, heat-resistant felt tape to provide more of a "seal" the top when it's down. That might help with the drafts and hotspots(?).

      Comment


        #7
        Congratulations on the surviving of the presentation of the gift. Well, thus far, the weekend isn't over yet! ;-)

        Comment


          #8
          This guy did some really good temp comparisons across the entire cook surface.



          Seeing a similar theme where the Weber is reading hotter than temps.

          This is why I always have a third party probe when using a pellet grill, just to make sure the temps are reporting correctly. I've seen this behavior with other brands.

          Comment

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