First Brisket on EX4

[Dassman5]

Cooked first brisket on EX4 this weekend instead of WSM...21# USDA Prime, trimmed to 17# and smoked for 21.5 hours at 200 degrees with a mix of Hickory and Mesquite. Smoker ran perfectly, including warning of a low pellet level at 3am. My wife, my toughest critic thought it was the best yet.

 

[dudemcnally]

I've never used a pellet grill other than the SF, but I think the SF puts more smoke on the meat than 'normal' pellet grills? I'm not at all unhappy with the amount of bark, or smokiness the SF produces, whereas I see constant complaints or comments from other pellet grill owners about the lack of bark or smoke. I'm not saying it's the same as an offset or wsm, just that it produces enough, and I've been very happy.
Has anyone here used another brand of pellet grill to comment on the amount of smoke compared between the two? If it is more smokey, what would that be attributed to?

btw that brisket looks delicious!

 

[Dassman5]

I've never used a pellet grill other than the SF, but I think the SF puts more smoke on the meat than 'normal' pellet grills? I'm not at all unhappy with the amount of bark, or smokiness the SF produces, whereas I see constant complaints or comments from other pellet grill owners about the lack of bark or smoke. I'm not saying it's the same as an offset or wsm, just that it produces enough, and I've been very happy.
Has anyone here used another brand of pellet grill to comment on the amount of smoke compared between the two? If it is more smokey, what would that be attributed to?

btw that brisket looks delicious!

Thank you for the compliment.

Actually, I was pleasantly surprised that the SF produced as good, if not better, bark than the WSM, with a whole lot less attention... truly “ set it and forget it”. Plus, the water pan under the lower set of grates lasted the entire cook, caught most of the drippings, and cleanup was much easier.

 

[dudemcnally]

Thank you for the compliment.

Actually, I was pleasantly surprised that the SF produced as good, if not better, bark than the WSM, with a whole lot less attention... truly “ set it and forget it”. Plus, the water pan under the lower set of grates lasted the entire cook, caught most of the drippings, and cleanup was much easier.

That's been exactly my experience. Prior to the SF I smoked on a cheap offset, it was leaky and horribly inefficient. I had to babysit the thing and every smoking session meant 12+ hrs of constant tweaking to maintain temps. I 'think' the SF is producing just as good food as the offset, but I don't know if that's just a false memory. In any case, the SF has been a godsend, I turn it on and walk away, come back to delicious bbq. LOVE this thing!

 

[Dassman5]

That's been exactly my experience. Prior to the SF I smoked on a cheap offset, it was leaky and horribly inefficient. I had to babysit the thing and every smoking session meant 12+ hrs of constant tweaking to maintain temps. I 'think' the SF is producing just as good food as the offset, but I don't know if that's just a false memory. In any case, the SF has been a godsend, I turn it on and walk away, come back to delicious bbq. LOVE this thing!

One of the reasons I always buy Weber (I have 5 working units and have owned 8) is they always get it right — albeit Sometimes with some hiccups — but they always fix their issues and stand behind their products.

I suspect that, like all Texans, you know your smoked briskets. Mine was simple Texas style, prepared mustard as a binder, with 50/50 salt to pepper, but with some added celery seeds and garlic powder.

 

[tigermikie]

Nice job. A beautiful brisket indeed.

 

[JpsBBQ]

Yep, nice brisky right there! Looked like a great product to start and you did it justice.

The Weber paired with their pellets definitely puts out significantly better smoke than other pellet cookers I’ve used and there have been several. This is backed by the amazing ribs website review and they definitely have tried them all.

the WSM is also a great product. I use their all lump briquettes and the minion method in my 22” and find it incredibly steady with temps. Rock solid temp control. I’ve read otherwise online and chalk it up to inferior fuel and or poor technique. It is a bit more work at cleanup for sure. The water pan and lack of ash clean out make it a minor cleaning chore. Great food though, great!

I’ve been fortunate to utilize dozens of cookers and I really think the SF is very simple but extremely well thought out. That is a trait of most all Weber products. It’s the little things like the distance between the upper and lower grates or the fact that the upper gate slides forward for ease of use without protruding outside the cooking chamber. “Its gold Jerry, gold!”

 

[Kmdodge]

I've never used a pellet grill other than the SF, but I think the SF puts more smoke on the meat than 'normal' pellet grills? I'm not at all unhappy with the amount of bark, or smokiness the SF produces, whereas I see constant complaints or comments from other pellet grill owners about the lack of bark or smoke. I'm not saying it's the same as an offset or wsm, just that it produces enough, and I've been very happy.
Has anyone here used another brand of pellet grill to comment on the amount of smoke compared between the two? If it is more smokey, what would that be attributed to?

btw that brisket looks delicious!

Yes - I just bought an EX4 coming off of a couple of years using a Louisiana Grills pellet smoker (gas Weber before that). I have actually been surprised at how much more of a smoke ring I get using the SmokeFire vs. the LG smoker. I notice visually that the smoke is much more consistent with the SmokeFire as well. I think some may think it's too much, but I love the smokiness, so I'm happy with it.

 

[Dassman5]

Yep, nice brisky right there! Looked like a great product to start and you did it justice.

The Weber paired with their pellets definitely puts out significantly better smoke than other pellet cookers I’ve used and there have been several. This is backed by the amazing ribs website review and they definitely have tried them all.

the WSM is also a great product. I use their all lump briquettes and the minion method in my 22” and find it incredibly steady with temps. Rock solid temp control. I’ve read otherwise online and chalk it up to inferior fuel and or poor technique. It is a bit more work at cleanup for sure. The water pan and lack of ash clean out make it a minor cleaning chore. Great food though, great!

I’ve been fortunate to utilize dozens of cookers and I really think the SF is very simple but extremely well thought out. That is a trait of most all Weber products. It’s the little things like the distance between the upper and lower grates or the fact that the upper gate slides forward for ease of use without protruding outside the cooking chamber. “Its gold Jerry, gold!”

Thank you! I have used my 22” for smoking since 2013, and it always turned out great food. I also followed the evolving world of pellet smokers for the past 4 years, and nearly pulled the trigger several times, but...

When the Weber SF came out around the holidays my interest in pellet smokers again peaked, and once I saw Weber’s efforts to “make it right”, I was hooked. And you are right, it is well thought out features that make this unit a winner.

 

[roberickson]

Cooked first brisket on EX4 this weekend instead of WSM...21# USDA Prime, trimmed to 17# and smoked for 21.5 hours at 200 degrees with a mix of Hickory and Mesquite. Smoker ran perfectly, including warning of a low pellet level at 3am. My wife, my toughest critic thought it was the best yet.View attachment 1280View attachment 1280View attachment 1281View attachment 1282

Looks great! Nice work. I'm doing my first brisket this weekend on my EX4. So excited!

 

[SillyRabbit]

How much pellets did you use over that long of a cook?

 

[Dassman5]

How much pellets did you use over that long of a cook?

I do not have an exact quantity, since I mixed Hickory with Mesquite for my smoke profile., and all of my various bags of pellets had already been transferred to other containers before mixing. My best estimate is that I used somewhere around 25#-27#. I used the Smoke Boost setting for the first 3 hours after allowing the EX4 to stabilize at 200F and adding the brisket. After that I kept it at 200 until wrapped in Butcher Paper (about 8 hours in) and the set to 215 for the remainder.

There are probably more efficient ways to cook it, as suggested by others. However, as an old 22” WSM smoker aficionado I wanted to compare both energy source usage (Competition briquettes + Hickory/ Mesquite chunks on WSM vs. Hickory/ Mesquite Pellets on SF), the bark and taste, as well as how the EX4 Performed on that long a run. Both compared very favorably on taste and bark for that large a brisket, and I estimate the costs to be the same.

 

[KevinD]

Harry Soo did a test between Smokefire and another pellet grill whose name escapes me. He did a brisket on each and the SF won by a hair due to a better smoke ring.