FYI... Weber is recommending using a drip pan to catch the grease runoff during low and slow cooks on the SF.. Here’s the YouTube link to Weber’s response.
Is it a long term fix?? Who knows, but at least it’s a start.
Pellet Pro Austin XL and a few more mods... in SoCal and Always... Semper Fi
This is comical. I do realize most likely a lot of the people who got it are new to Pellet grills so like opening the lid for an extending period is something you learn so that has value.
But the whole point(as babybackmaniac said) of their design is to avoid having a drip plan. This is basically admitting(in my humble opinion) that their engineers failed at least somewhat to be nice.
I am so happy I wasn't in the market this spring b/c I would of fell for it b/c I love Weber.
And RCAlan - I am sure you know but this isn't "responding" to you...you're just the messenger, I"m saying in general back to Weber. If I would of gotten that grill, I would of returned it.
this is laughably silly for Weber to miss. Or shameful stupidity. Why do they think all the others have a drip tray/grease management system...hmmm, grease, flames....hmmm wait....hmm yeah the SF wont catch fire because...wait...look it actually does catch fire. OMG the grease drains TO THE FIRE source.Weber's recommendation of now adding multiple aluminum pans for drip trays certainly reaffirms the obvious need for a dedicated grease management system which is totally missing from their design and BTW is something their competition does have
I watched his video and didn't see any issues. But even though he cooked a lot, he didn't have any LONG low smoke where a lot of grease would go down. I think that's why he was ok.Harry Soo has an interesting review on YouTube using a fan's SF smoker grill. He did brisket, pork butt, and steak at appropriate chamber temps. The pellet feeder issue was apparent, as was an ash issue. The video is worth a watch.
You know creative minds think alike and You already know I don’t have a problem with pulling out a drill or a wrench... but for a $1200.00 grill that was flawed as it left the factory... I’ll pass. Just wanted to help those that have one and were willing to put in the effort to modify it.I watched his video and didn't see any issues. But even though he cooked a lot, he didn't have any LONG low smoke where a lot of grease would go down. I think that's why he was ok.
It is a total fail their solution is just to add aluminum pans below.
RCAlan - yeah, that would work. And others have done that.
I was thinking though instead of that, why didn't they just have the grease in the bottom pit just flow to the sides and have two pull out trays. Or even 3 where the ash in the middle and grease flows to the sides and into a trap.
Whatever the solution is, it is hard to imagine us normal bbq'ers noticing these flaws and the "paid" engineers didn't think of this or at least notice in testing. I just don't see how they won't of seen these issues during testing.