James17

On 3/29/2020 at 6:15 PM, Is it dun yet said:

Anyone no what this is intended to fix.

Hi all,

First time to forum. Been smoking for 7 years now on my GMG and had some good cooks on it.

I then herd about the SF and placed  order back December. I'v had a few issues with it not getting to temp, control freeze and not starting. But since the update only had it not starting, took three attempts this morning. Any idea .

Thanks Eli

What firmware version do you have? Should be 04003. If it’s 03700 then you have the issue I had with an old piece of hardware 

3 hours ago, sotv said:

Not sure if ours in the UK already have them installed or if it is a completely new part, since release over here?. Worth keeping an eye on it, going forward.

From looking at mine it looks like it’s a new part. Sent an email to weber earlier asking if we were getting the upgrade 

Interesting. My grill is on F and the app on C. I’ll see if it works 

26 minutes ago, Lleyton Mac's Backyard BBQ said:

Just a heads up on that during my brisket cook i found i had to push pellets down the hopper as they stopped dropping around the 4-5 hour mark

I haven’t had that issue and ran it till empty. 
 

finished the pork candy. If I stop posting it’s because I’ve had a heart attack

51 minutes ago, Simon.W said:

Assembled and initial burn in going well.  Had a minor pain with the WiFi connection but that was more to do with my home network than the smokefire so all good.

Big bugger isn’t it.

this is my first pellet and really liking it. Turned it on, threw on the meat and went for a 2 hour walk. Exactly why I bought it so the wife doesn’t complain about to tending the BBQ all day and I can get on with the family. 

Smoke ring looks epic. Did you wrap?

24 minutes ago, Lleyton Mac's Backyard BBQ said:

Wow sorry about that bud that sucks you have the patience of a saint i probably would of blown a gasket but glad youre back up and running best get that meat on 

Yep bag of pellets down, running at 370f (180C) for 6 hours today cooking a ham and whole chicken. Didn’t miss a beat. 

Used the apple pellets, seriously mild flavour at higher temp, probably hickory tomorrow with the pork candy im doing with a pork belly. 
 

Slightly more flame kicking out on the right but not a huge difference. 

So I said I would post my experience thus far and I was keen not to get on here and rant during the experience of having a new BBQ that wasn’t working. Here is how it unfolded. 
 

 BBQ arrrives on time and I build it. Do the software update and fire it up. E2 fan error, grill is shutting down for safety. I do all the bits your meant to and get nowhere. 
 

I emailed WOWBBQ that evening and they are fantastic and try troubleshooting with me till past 10pm, including getting Weber in the US involved. I’m asked to take the fan off etc... but no joy. Still getting a fan error. 
 

The next day Weber UK ring me and try a few more things. They decide I need a new control unit As somehow I appear to have an old version which snuck through to the UK and shouldn’t have done. Way to tell is the firmware version was 03700. Unfortunately Weber can’t supply one till mid April. If it wasn’t for the issues the world is having in general with supply chains I would have had a sense of humour failure but i just accepted it. Wowbbq to the rescue. They checked the firmware on their showroom model which was the correct 04003 version. 
 

The next day I get a delivery from WOWBBQ and I swap them over, only for it to show the old 03700 firmware version. Back on the phone to WOWBBQ and they talk to Weber UK. No one has ever seen it before but it appears the BBQ itself is dragging the control unit back to an old firmware version. 
 

it’s Friday by this stage and I have a fridge of meat that is going to go off so I had resigned myself to firing up the other BBQs. 
 

WOWBBQ to the rescue again. They have one in stock and after opening it and checking the firmware version they send one overnight for Saturday AM delivery. 
 

so today  I built the new one and it works perfectly. 
 

I can’t say enough about the great level of support I received from Weber and even more so from WOWBBQ who were on the phone to me all the time including late at night and express shipped multiple items to me. 
 

Yes, it was frustrating, why Weber don’t turn on every unit and do these simple version checks before shipping is beyond me. But the after sales support is there for you. So thank you to Patrick at WOWBBQ for the first class service and support. 
 

makes me want 2 of them on the patio now though! 
 

10 minutes ago, sotv said:

Sorry to hear that, hope it comes to a good conclusion for you, be interested to read what the problems are.

It was tasty, nice to be able to turn the grill on and 18 minutes later you are up to 600F and cooked your burgers and toppings within 15 minutes after that, not sure I could do that with a charcoal grill. Still whether undecided to leave the lid down or grill with the lid open, will suss it over time (but it is so pretty and orange in the dark, with the lid open)😀  

Thing that I realised next to my other grills, is the Ex6 is massive. Easily take 5 briskets 

6 hours ago, Simon.W said:

Mines in the garage, so hopefully get it all set up over the weekend.  Having a bit of difficulty getting the cuts of meat that I want though

You must either work for auto finesse, love their stuff or a pro car detailer 

47 minutes ago, sotv said:

First go, no idea what to call them, so i think a Dirty Burger sounds good. Wrapped the meat round a babybel (which melted as hoped during the cook)and grilled them on the plancha with some mushrooms and onions and melted some cheese on top, using a dome. Sorry for the quality of the photos, but my back garden is very dark, but they tasted good.

 

Looks amazing. Very jealous. 
 

I was the first one to receive a smokefire and it still doesn’t work. Should have good news tomorrow. When it’s all over I’ll post what I experienced and the good and bad points of the support network. I will say now that WOWBBQ have been outstanding. 

34 minutes ago, Lleyton Mac's Backyard BBQ said:

On your units are your probe gaps this big?

 

 

 

Both sides. Look the same to me

1 minute ago, Lleyton Mac's Backyard BBQ said:

No it slopes downwards to a snug fit at the other end, riverside better sort this asap and a new leg sent tomorrow 1. I live in a tiny bungalow and have zero space in my living room for this to be in there so im stuck in my bedroom also ive got about £200 of meat defrosted really niffed 

Given the issues in the US I didn’t defrost anything. Just have a ham ready to smoke but it has ages left on it. 

1 minute ago, Lleyton Mac's Backyard BBQ said:

On your units are your probe gaps this big?

 

 

 

I’ll send a photo of mine when it stops raining. It’s undercover now. Is it the same the other end?

also try taking the tape off between the lid as might be holding it open 

Very annoying. I have a pretty big problem with mine but I’ll reserve comment until it’s sorted so I can report in full and hopefully with a fix for anyone else with the same problem 

8 minutes ago, sotv said:

Going to have do it myself as well. Just going to wait for the rain to stop. I am sure they said it was going to be a dry day today? 

Did you connect via the 2.4ghz Wifi band or does it run quite happily on the fibre 5ghz. I have had apps/connectivity with Smokers that have had problems with the 5 ghz previously.

You’re getting too technical for me. Paired it with my phone, it updated over the Bluetooth connection. 
then had to repair it and then was able to link it to the house WiFi. 
update failed first time but no issues the second and WiFi link up worked fine. 

Took me an hour to build. did it as a one man job on the Ex6 but 2 is better. 
 

it’s a big piece of kit but very well build. 
 

do the software update before you use it. About 25mins to update 

Excited 

On 3/17/2020 at 10:21 AM, Lleyton Mac's Backyard BBQ said:

Not jealous at all lol where did you order yours from?

WOWBBQ  

Mine is getting delivered tomorrow. 
 

freezer is stacked with meat ready for many a long cook! 

well since I am now working from home for the next few weeks to a few months, perfect time to do all day cooks throughout the week!

bring it on

3 hours ago, Lleyton Mac's Backyard BBQ said:

Ok cool thanks for the info freezer is loaded and ready to go haha

Same. At Louis ribs, baby backs, brisket, short ribs, pork shoulder all ready to go! 

Not sure if anyone has seen this vid but Harry Soo tests the sh*t out of his new smokefire. Enough said, no grease fire. 
 

also Weber have released a hopper insert for the US buyers so they are taking issues seriously  

1 hour ago, sotv said:

That all seems very positive then and if Weber UK are as proactive as Weber US seem to be finally, then if there are any problems, they will be addressed quickly and professionally by them.

They have a wider selection of Weber branded pellets in the US, but hopefully they will become available soon over here. The cost of pellets used in a cook , seem substantially higher than charcoal, but that is to be expected with any pellet grill

p.s. Seems Weber US are recommending removing the finger guard over the Augur as part of solution to the feed problems. May have a chat to Weber Uk before I assemble mine to see if they recommend the same thing over here.

Thanks for the info.

Yes the guys at Weber did say they had removed their guards as well. Just don’t stick your finger in there 

The GBS is on both sizes. 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 night 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. Lamp, pork shoulder, maybe brisket. But the Weber chefs didn’t use one. 

On pellets they recommend Weber ones, and they were very compact with little dust. I saw Traeger ones are dustier and might cause more issues.

I asked about getting crispy skin on wings. On a kettle you can do high heat indirect. Which on the smokefire only low temp is indirect and high is direct. So you would need to go low then crank it up at the end. Or even better, still use a kettle. So it has some limitations and you would have to adjust how you cook some meals. 
 

I was told I’d get mine in about 2 weeks. 

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, use 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.