Grilled the first steaks tonight and of course not all the steaks were uniform. They turned out great, but noticed there is a real hot spot in the front right of my ex4. I guess now I know about it but really was hoping for a more consistent temp across the entire grill. Anyone come up with a solution for the hot spot other than always moving the food around? Note, I did the steaks at the Weber recommended 525 degrees. I watched the fire below and it was definitely blowing out the right side of the pot.
-
-
Not that I have that pellet pooper, but expecting even temps at those high temps is pretty much a pipe dream. I've got a drip pan in mine with a mat (manufacture claims it helps even temperatures
I knew it wouldn't I got it for other reasons) and as you go up that baby sure spreads the temperatures. The key for anything really is to learn what you got and use it to your advantage.
-
Ask them for a cryovac of the steak primal. The advantages are you can cut to your desired thickness, no blade tenderizing and it's cheaper to buy that way. Maybe only makes sense if you have a vacuum sealer and freezer space, but that's the only way I buy steaks from Costco (and occasionally Sam's). -
I buy the whole prime strip or ribeye when Costco has their sales. Those aren’t blade tenderized.
-
-
Originally posted by Mark-B View Post
All of that was predicable by reading Max's review if the EX 4 before you bought one. Not everyone likes their steak done the same way, 525Ëš is not near hot enough to cook mine, but might be just fine for yours. However, cooking more than a couple of steaks at a time can get interesting with temps being uneven across the grill surface. This is why I did not buy Smokefire, and use my Weber kettle instead. YMMV, good luck.
Last edited by zinfella; January 10, 2021, 02:29 PM.Comment
-
Meh, all in all, I’m very happy with its versatility. I can work around minor issues like this. Very happy I bought it and so far no regrets. Most pellet poopers can’t do this. Flavor was on point! I think part of the problem too was that I was grilling in 20 degree weather, which made the grill work pretty hard to keep temp up. It’s all fun and learning to me either way. I love Weber products and always will. You really need to cook on one before a final judgment is made. 525, plenty hot.Last edited by Mark-B; January 10, 2021, 03:51 PM.
-
-
@Mark-B commented-"You really need to cook on one before a final judgment is made. 525, plenty hot."
Not really, Mark. I relied on Max and Glitchy to learn that SF was not ip to the task of cooking steaks to our specs. That saved me from the $1000 mistake of buying a SF. Max and Glitchy have the creds in the SF area, so I used them to my benefit. I can appreciate the SF's versatility, but we do a lot of Ribeye's, so if the SF can't deliver them the way we want them. then we don't want the SF. I do Ribeye's at 700Ëš-800Ëš over mesquite charcoal on my kettle, 525Ëš won't begin to cut it. We eat 'em "charred rare", and 525Ëš will just produce an overcooked steak if we are to get the crust we want.Comment
-
I think it’s just what we get cooking that hot with a such a small fan forced fire. Something in the design obviously slightly favors the right, maybe if the fan spun the other way it would be on the left even. Some people play with shifting the shields a little left or right, I just enjoy that it grills like no other pooper before it and usually cook all on one side or rearrange food.
Also, remember the more often and longer you have the lid open the worse it is trying to recover the temp so it’s pouring more pellets in and blowing harder.Last edited by glitchy; January 11, 2021, 07:30 PM.Comment
-
Mark, be sure to show me the pics of your SF producing these results.
Attached FilesComment
-
Comment