Searwood Not Reaching Temp

[2Maybe4]

Try heating to 600 in temp mode, then switch to manual mode 10. In the photo, it's only 13 degrees below my target temp, probably because I opened the lid for the photo.

I've seared plenty of steaks & chops using this method with great success. And my typical sear is 90 sec or so., each side.

On another occasion, I did a pizza, it took longer, but got over 700 degrees with over 400 degrees on the stone. This thing will sear using this method.

I have a new Searwood and I'm new to a pellet grill. Would you please advise what pizza stone you're using? Thanks!

 

[Bulkman]

I have a new Searwood and I'm new to a pellet grill. Would you please advise what pizza stone you're using? Thanks!

Not sure, I've had it for years. Any pizza stone should work.

 

[2Maybe4]

Not sure, I've had it for years. Any pizza stone should work.

Thanks!

 

[NickA]

I got my searwood in May it started great than was struggling to get to temp, then not recovering, then taking forever to get to temp. Even when it did it was not hot below and would not sear. I went back and forth with Webber customer care they tried pellets first and obviously that didn't work. They sent me a few fan and it was broken when I got it. They sent me another one and that finally did the trick fixed my smoker and it is back to getting red hot and sears like crazy. I love this thing when it works correctly. Ruined a bunch of good food in the process of fixing it. But if you are having this problem I would suggest asking for a new fan.

I might ask them to send me a new fan next. Weber Support has already sent me a new thermocouple but measuring all around the grill with my Combustion Gen 2 thermometer, I'm 30F to 50F below what the grill thinks it's at.

 

[scouter882]

Hey folks. Sorry to have been absent on this thread for a while. Ultimately the issue was never resolved. Whatever the last firmware push was made the issue better, but still not fixed. I have just adjusted my timing and temps to address.

 

[Euan]

Hey folks. I recently purchased a searwood 600 and after a few cooking sessions have noticed that there appears to be a large discrepency in grill ambient temp on the display and actual temp inside the grill. Has anyone experienced this? For example at 400 degrees (as registered by the display) I'm only seeing 300 degrees inside the grill. I've reached out to Weber on this and am working through the process.

Thanks,
Brett

I think Weber has a problem here. My new Searwood 600 does not hold the temperatures I set on the controller. I first realised this when my roasts were consistently undercooked. It was taking hours to reach recommended internal cook temperatures, if at all. Then, my Meater Pro 2 probe showed that firebox temperatures were consistently lower than the controller was showing. All this with fresh pellets straight out of the bag.

So I tested the firebox temps with my Weber iGrill probe, situated close to the Searwod's internal thermoprobe. Sure enough, the Searwood powered its way to the target temperature, then cooled down and wallowed around 20-30C on average cooler than the controller read-out.

WeberNZ sent me a new thermoprobe but the result was the same.

Now the interesting bit. I looked at the temperature graph for the same tests on the Weber Connect app. The app's graph showed the Searwood reaching its target temperature, then remaining there with absolute stability throughout the test. Simultaneously, over on the iGrill graph, the firebox temps were all over the place, but mostly well below the target. The Weber connect graph did not even register my opening the lid to see how temperatures would fluctuate. The stability is suspicious.

Could be that my iGrill probe is faulty. I'm going to borrow another and run my tests again.

 

[NJKris]

Ugh, still have to go through 4 pages of this thread to hopefully get an answer, but I'm having exact same issue with my new Searwood 600XL to replace my Smokefire EX4 lemon. Temp will NOT get past low 400s when cranked up to 600. The 'sear' part of Searwood is non-existent. Burn report attached.

 

[NJKris]

Edit: Just read all 4 pages of thread, apparently no answers. If this is a firmware/software issue, it should be affecting ALL of us, but some guys are getting good results, some aren't. There is an issue with auger speed, or fan speed/air flow, or the controller interfacing the two. This is not rocket science, I wish I could figure it out. I don't even want to think about all the time I've spent on phone and emails with Weber. I know the pellet division so well, I think I'll be knowing their children's names next.

 

[Euan]

Hey folks. Sorry to have been absent on this thread for a while. Ultimately the issue was never resolved. Whatever the last firmware push was made the issue better, but still not fixed. I have just adjusted my timing and temps to address.

Scouter,

Thanks for the update. My firmware is up to date, so my app tells me.

I have not resolved my Searwood's fickle cooking temperatures (see my original post) despite long and generally constructive communications with Weber Australia and Weber USA. It would be fair to say that the Weber folks on both continents are mystified by the cool-cook issues I'm raising. Clearly they are not reading the forums.

Because they are entitled to test whether my problems arise from operator failure (I am a Searwood novice after all, though competent on the much more problematic charcoal Weber kettles), we agreed to test my Searwood against Weber recipes. I'm midway through yet another cook, adhering strictly to the recipe again - a small Texas-style brisket this time. It's already half a day past the predicted cook time and we are still 30C short of the internal temperature at which the recipe said I should be resting the wrapped parcel. The War Office is growling about the dinner delay. I've had to bump the cook temperatures up a couple of times to force the cook. The recipe said I shouldn't need to do that.

I'm not the first to say this but my observation is that if you get an under-performing Searwood (we're not alone here), you're stuck with a smoker which does not comply with the precision set-and-forget promises of Weber marketing. I'm inclined to believe that the Youtube dudes celebrating the Searwood's superior brisket cooking are all on crack.

As I said originally, I think Weber have a problem with this product. The premium price we pay here in the Colonies (NZ) demands genuinely reliable cooking according to Weber's own recipes. On one previous test cook when the lamb was rare and chewy inedible, Weber Australia said the target internal temperature of the recipe was too cold. Really? I don't think it's acceptable that you and I should be experimenting our way to an understanding of the Searwood's sweet spots.

As things stand, the War Office snarling in the kitchen, I cant recommend the Searwood 600.

PS. My retailer has offered to refund me for my Searwood 600 purchase. Were it not for my disappointment in the Searwood, I would buy another and try again. Would I be lucky next time? I don't want a repeat of this grief.

 

[NJKris]

Don't be afraid to crank up the heat a bit, I'm not sure how accurate the pit temp is compared to setting. I just did babybacks 2 days ago on the upper rack above a drip pan on the main grates. The last hour I had it turned to 300. I was testing pit temp by putting my Thermoworks ThermaQ pit probe tip within an inch of Searwood pit probe, but the cable on my ThermaQ is definitely shot, temp was wandering. Just ordered a new ThermaQ K type pro grade probe and will repeat temp consistency test when it comes.

 

[Euan]

Don't be afraid to crank up the heat a bit, I'm not sure how accurate the pit temp is compared to setting. I just did babybacks 2 days ago on the upper rack above a drip pan on the main grates. The last hour I had it turned to 300. I was testing pit temp by putting my Thermoworks ThermaQ pit probe tip within an inch of Searwood pit probe, but the cable on my ThermaQ is definitely shot, temp was wandering. Just ordered a new ThermaQ K type pro grade probe and will repeat temp consistency test when it comes.

I bought a Meater 2 Pro probe to help me get my roasts cooked properly because earlier testing with my Weber Grill2 showed that the Searwood's firebox temperatures were routinely cooler than the temps set on the controller. In effect, the Meater probe was also testing whether the Searwood's undercooking problems were operator-error. I have placed the Meater probe alongside the Searwood probe in recent brisket, lamb and rolled pork roasts. The Meater probe showed the same pattern of temperatures wallowing around below the set temperatures. Of course the Searwood thermocouple shows nothing of the sort because its temperature graphs are locked seemingly automatically on the controller temperature. Weber always has explanations for the differences registered. I don't find the explanations compelling because I'm having a good deal of trouble getting my Searwood to cook a roast satisfactorily. The meat tells the story, as I've remarked before.

As I hinted in my last post, recipes posted on the Weber website or in Weber bibles appear Pollyanna-like. I don't trust them. For instance, yesterday's small brisket took a full 8 hours + to reach the stall and wrapping, whereas the recipe predicted four -five hours. Turning up the blow torch to force the brisket to 94C internal before midnight was not mentioned in the recipe. The eventual cook time at the recommended temperatures was well in excess of the predicted time. For a 2kg brisket?!

So, based on my experience, it seems that Searwood users should not rely on the signature precision, set-and-forget qualities of the pellet-burner. Native cunning is necessary to drive this product. The one quality I had relied on ( set and be sure that the burner will maintain a constant temperature) is the one quality that I can't be sure of. On my burner, anyway.

 

[BobInNH]

Hey folks. I recently purchased a searwood 600 and after a few cooking sessions have noticed that there appears to be a large discrepency in grill ambient temp on the display and actual temp inside the grill. Has anyone experienced this? For example at 400 degrees (as registered by the display) I'm only seeing 300 degrees inside the grill. I've reached out to Weber on this and am working through the process.

Thanks,
Brett

Here is my temp profile using three setpoints, 225, 250 and 300

 

[NJKris]

How did you get that cool looking graph? I only get this:

 

[NJKris]

Despite frustration of not being able to sear, I did a rotisserie chicken on the new rotisserie yesterday and was quite please. After a little over an hour with SmokeBoost and apple wood, cranked it up to 400° (what you must set for 'medium' heat in the Searwood). Cranked out one of the most delicious birds I ever had, surprisingly few drippings in the pan I put beneath it, bur was so moist I almost overflowed trencher cutting board when I cut half of it up!

 

[NJKris]

On the new spit! Which itself is proportionate cost to quality.