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Hopper Fix Incoming?

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    Hopper Fix Incoming?

    From a reddit post earlier today, it sounds like they're ready to send out inserts for the pellet hoppers to increase the feed angle.




    Just received an email with the following text.
    "I have good news! We have been listening to feedback from grillers and would like to offer you a complimentary ramp accessory for your SmokeFire to improve the angle of the feed. We want to make sure you have the best grilling experience. If you are interested I can go ahead and set up the order for you, just let me know! "



    Also, just because it caught my eye as the second post on the r/smokefire forum, Amazing Ribs is getting some decent praise for their honest and detailed journal review. As one user put it: "Did not shy away from the issues, but did not highlight drama for clicks." Keep up the good work Max Good !!!


    #2
    Both pieces of news here sound really good.

    Comment


      #3
      The more I read about the SmokeFire, the more I'm thinking that will go ahead and order one after all. My wife did place a pre-order for me for Christmas, but unfortunately she managed to pre-order with the US site so it wasn't honoured. When the initial reports came out, I was glad for this slip up but as time goes by I'm seeing more and more positive reviews and have confidence that Weber will correct the pellet hopper issue as BDCarp04 mentions above, and I know they will continue to update the app. The grease fire thing isn't a concern of mine as I keep all of my cookers, including my current Traeger scrupulously clean between cooks. I'm a slob in most of the rest of my life but not when it comes to my cookers.

      Comment


      • ItsAllGoneToTheDogs
        ItsAllGoneToTheDogs commented
        Editing a comment
        Go put your hands on it at Lowes (or whatever the brand equivalent is in your area). I finally touched one today and I definitely have some concern with long term cleaning, though it's very possible the staff put the floor model together wrong. There's lots of gaps and cut outs on the top underside of the grill for grease and gunk to build up. It does feel to be better quality by far compared to the other pellet burners our store sells though

      • Argoboy
        Argoboy commented
        Editing a comment
        If you have a Traeger now you have time to wait and see what modifications/corrections they make?

      #4
      I went and grabbed some of the Weber pellets today at Lowes and am currently conducting a test. I'll probably start a thread tonight and finish my tests by then end of the weekend. We only had the Hickory and the Blend, but the pellets are definitely much smaller than any other brand I've used before. They seem to be using a feed mill sized die on their operation. The good news is, that surely means they are making their own pellets and not just slapping their names on someone elses? One funny thing though is that I'm actually having a few issues with pellet bridging with the Weber pellets that I've NEVER experienced before.

      After smushing them in the hopper and also in a bowl I think it's actually their smaller size that lets them pack tighter than the larger brands that don't pack so tight. So the Weber bridging issue might not be fully solved with a ramp angle change. Having said that, I haven't had it so bad that pellets stopped feeding more than a rotation or two of the auger on my MAK so all it did was slow down my startup time.

      Comment


        #5
        pkadare - if they're smart, they'l later the upper design so the accessory isn't needed and might address other issues. I'd wait a couple of months at least. Esp since you can get them at Lowes.

        Comment


        • pkadare
          pkadare commented
          Editing a comment
          Can't get them at Lowe's here, eh? :-) But I get the drift.

        • ItsAllGoneToTheDogs
          ItsAllGoneToTheDogs commented
          Editing a comment
          @pkdare I thought you guys had Lowes in Canada but I did some googling and was surprised to learn they all but closed all Canada stores last year. So then I searched Weber retailers and was even more surprised to see nothing on the official Weber site for Ontario other than web based

        • rickgregory
          rickgregory commented
          Editing a comment
          We'll letcha come down here ya hoser. :P

        #6
        See - I told you all to give Weber a little time...

        Comment


          #7
          I finally saw one in a review video- I hadn't paid too much attention because I do charcoal. It is a beautiful grill.

          Comment


            #8
            pkadare and anyone else still on the fence after the early bad reviews, here's one of the guys that's been pretty positive about his experience (and he's definitely had some of the same problems).

            He goes into his maintenance and cleaning of the thing later on in the video, but in the first five minutes he talks about all of the other pellet smokers he's owned (Yoder ys640 and ys1500, Camp Chef sgx36, and an older Traeger) and compares this experience to them. He doesn't absolve Weber of anything, but none of his others were perfect either so it puts it a little more into perspective for a guy like me that had no pellet experience starting out. Might be worth a watch.




            Last edited by BDCarp04; February 29, 2020, 11:28 AM.

            Comment


              #9
              RonB there's another reddit post with some comments that were made by a couple of Weber UK chefs regarding the smokefire release in the UK:

              So I was lucky enough to spend time with the Smokefire yesterday and a number of Weber chefs. I asked a lot of questions and the differences we should see in the UK are:

              Weber are going to increase the ramp angle on the hopper with an insert for the larger version EX6 to eliminate the feeding issue

              The UK version comes with the GBS as standard.

              Post image
              Picture of Grate on EX6

              The GBS is on both models. In the middle on the smaller and to one side on the larger.

              It’s basically a Genesis grill grate, so the GBS is 2 pieces with the hole between them. On the EX6 there is a third grate. Apparently UK users buy a lot of GBS accessories and in the US they don’t. Hence the difference in spec.

              The grate looks to be the same height as the US ones and there is room for a pan underneath. Apparently they might do an add on pan thing as an aftermarket part for under the grates. Will have to see what that looks like

              They recommend the use of a pan on fatty meats. Lamb, pork shoulder, maybe brisket. But the Weber chefs didn’t use one.

              UK/EU launch has been delayed by a few weeks, mainly so we will have access to a newer version of the firmware straight away. Stockists should see them by 3rd week of March.

              - UK/EU models will come shipped with an insert for the hopper which increases the steepness. The units at the event did not have this, but no pellet issues were observed during the event and they Weber guys had only noticed the issue with non-webber pellets. The weber pellets at the event had an incredibly smooth exterior finish.

              They absolutely recommend that you use drip pans on top of the flavouriser bars when cooking fatty cuts of meat for an extended period. As per the manual.

              - Most other issues encountered are due to firmware which is currently being worked on. They had a pre-production EX6 on the the very latest software version and an american spec pre-production EX4 running a slightly older version - the EX6 performed flawlessly after it was updated and the EX4 could only reach about 525 degrees

              As a side note they admitted that Weber were embarrassed about the issues and are working hard to get it right. However a lot of issues seem to be putting it together wrong, used in very cold conditions, not updating the software. They had 2 on the old software and one on the new one, and apparently it made a huge difference.

              The guys at Weber UK did say they had removed their guards as well, Just don’t stick your finger in there


              Link to the post: https://www.reddit.com/r/smokefire/c..._of_smokefire/
              Last edited by BDCarp04; February 29, 2020, 11:38 AM.

              Comment


              • rickgregory
                rickgregory commented
                Editing a comment
                If the software wasn't up to snuff, they should have held shipment. They don't get to say "wow, look at the difference between this version and the new one..." and then say they tested it well.

                "putting it together wrong" is blaming the customer.

                Using it in cold weather is... a silly excuse. As for the pan use... sigh. Never mind.

              • divisionbell77
                divisionbell77 commented
                Editing a comment
                People used the Weber pellets and had the hopper issue. This 'fix' is only for the EX6? The EX4 has the same hopper issue. This fix will also make the hopper smaller.

                The manual in no way says to use drip pans under fatty cuts of meat. It's available online and I have read it. All you have to do is search for the word 'drip.' There is one reference to use a water pan for low and slow cooks, but does not state under the meat or even on the flavorizer bars

              #10
              Originally posted by BDCarp04 View Post
              pkadare and anyone else still on the fence after the early bad reviews, here's one of the guys that's been pretty positive about his experience (and he's definitely had some of the same problems).

              He goes into his maintenance and cleaning of the thing later on in the video, but in the first five minutes he talks about all of the other pellet smokers he's owned (Yoder ys640 and ys1500, Camp Chef sgx36, and an older Traeger) and compares this experience to them. He doesn't absolve Weber of anything, but none of his others were perfect either so it puts it a little more into perspective for a guy like me that had no pellet experience starting out. Might be worth a watch.



              I think the reaction was driven by two things,

              First, that it's Weber, a company with exponentially more resources and which has put out high quality stuff for decades.

              Second, that Weber advertised that they had fixed all of these issues, that they had solved all of these problems. It turns out that they haven't.

              That's why people react negatively when you point out that grease can be collected in a drip pan. It's a work around. Same for the pellet feed issue. At $500, eh. At $1000+... ow.

              I also think this is forcing people to come to grips with the limitations of pellet grills - there IS no perfect solution. They're inherently a compromise between smoking and grilling and that's just their nature.

              Comment


              • divisionbell77
                divisionbell77 commented
                Editing a comment
                I think if they had the grease drain to the left and right, not to the fire, they would have been far more successful with this design.

                Your second point is spot on and the main issue. This was billed as an evolution of pellet cookers, where it can direct heat grill and low and slow smoke as good as any two separate grill and smokers could due to them solving issues via it's design.

              #11


              Looks like auger/chute replacements. Starting with this post, Rev D is the current auger, and the replacement is Rev F

              This weekend I saw a very small youtube channel where he was talking about how Weber has admitted there are augers/chutes that have a flaw, and one of the issues was uneven temps due to the fire spitting out to the right side. This is the first I have seen of others mentioning this new Rev F auger.

              Comment


                #12
                More info here, with pictures of the Rev F, looks like this guy still had the flames on the right

                https://tvwbb.com/threads/daves-smok...16#post-881849
                Last edited by divisionbell77; March 2, 2020, 01:57 PM.

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