Sharing another SmokeFire experience. Last Friday night I fired up the SmokeFire to 525 to reverse sear some SV steaks. Weather was around 25 degrees temperature and winds about 15-20 MPH very slightly deflected by the house. The SmokeFire got to temp fine while I was inside prepping other stuff and pulling steaks from the bath and seasoning so I proceeded to follow my usual 2 min per side process at 525. Threw the steaks on, set the handy timer on the grill display ran inside to take care of a couple things and came back out to flip. Noticed that the grill had only made it back to about 450 or so in the 2 mins and the steaks were really sticking to the grates (despite the steaks themselves being lightly coated in oil. Flipped them and shut the lid and the temp was down to about 375 because of the extra time to free the steaks from the grates. Continued to follow normal process, but when went to pull them I noticed they were not seared as nicely as usual so gave them an extra minute per side. Still the end result was not the desired sear once we got them inside with better lighting.
Added note: In good weather, the SmokeFire is usually back to set temp or at least very close to fully recovered in the 2 mins per side.
This really brought me back to my Traeger days, except the Traeger would never get to 525 and would have these drops and even slower recovery in 80 degrees with no wind which is why I gave up searing steaks on it even with grill grates.
Again, this is just sharing an experience. I don't consider this a problem and I really suspected this behavior would happen once I really started using the SmokeFire in the heart of winter for grilling. With the mostly single walled construction, lack of a sealed lid and 3 giant vents on the back the grill just don't have the design to hold heat in and overcome elements in 2 mins. I could have set the start temp to 575-600 and given an extra minute per side, etc. and probably gotten closer to my better weather results. Or I can buy the gasser I've been eyeing the past month or so because MCS.
Added note: In good weather, the SmokeFire is usually back to set temp or at least very close to fully recovered in the 2 mins per side.
This really brought me back to my Traeger days, except the Traeger would never get to 525 and would have these drops and even slower recovery in 80 degrees with no wind which is why I gave up searing steaks on it even with grill grates.
Again, this is just sharing an experience. I don't consider this a problem and I really suspected this behavior would happen once I really started using the SmokeFire in the heart of winter for grilling. With the mostly single walled construction, lack of a sealed lid and 3 giant vents on the back the grill just don't have the design to hold heat in and overcome elements in 2 mins. I could have set the start temp to 575-600 and given an extra minute per side, etc. and probably gotten closer to my better weather results. Or I can buy the gasser I've been eyeing the past month or so because MCS.
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