As promised, Weber added a feature that lets you really saturate your food with smoke at the beginning of the cook. It’s called SmokeBoost, and it sets the grill between 165 and 200 degrees for this initial period. The Weber Connect app provides some guidance for times based on the food you’re cooking, but if you really want to enhance the smoke flavor, this is now an option. To me, the SmokeFire grills already imparted a ton of smoke flavor, especially over longer cooks. But I can see the utility here in things like reverse-seared steaks and other things you might cook hot-and-fast, but still want that kiss of smoke flavor. If you’re worried about exact temperatures, Weber says this will vary based on ambient conditions. In my experience on days in the low 80s, SmokeBoost was 175 degrees.

“What we didn’t want to do was to make that temperature visibility a source of concern or drama,” he said. “If anything goes outside of those parameters, we have steps that are automatically taken to react to that.”

Right now, SmokeBoost is independent of the grill presets that give you guided cooking directions and estimated completion times. You run the feature for the recommended time and then you can select the preset for what you’re cooking. Scherzinger said Weber could incorporate SmokeBoost into one of the cook programs and have it activate automatically. “It’s not there today, but I’m drawn to that [idea],” he noted.

Following the recent software update, there was also a major firmware upgrade that went out last week. First, Weber improved the preheat times. Basically, SmokeFire grills reach their target temperature faster. That’s pretty impressive considering they were already on-par with other grills I’ve tested. This tweak should also remedy issues some owners were having with slow heating times. Plus, the new firmware also reduces fluctuations when you’re preheating or grilling. I haven’t clocked the SmokeFire since the updates rolled out, but I have completed three cooks on the grill since installing them. I can tell you the grill keeps a consistent temperature much better, even after I opened the lid for a quick peek or to flip some pork chops. 

Weber was careful to address the temperature fluctuation aspect. More specifically, how SmokeFire reacted to changes — like you opening the lid to inspect, sauce or flip. The company found that the grill was overcorrecting to those events, but that’s not the case anymore. 

“What we’re trying to do now is just soften that curve so that we’re not freaking out the operator of the grill when you’re just making a minor tweak,” Scherzinger explained. He went on to say that the grill will still let you know when things drop 10 degrees or more. Weber did this by adjusting the algorithms that control fan speed and the auger to smooth out how the grill adjusts to changes to temperatures both inside and outside the grill.

Billy Steele/Engadget

And Weber isn’t done. Scherzinger said the company is continuing to work on the regular updates it promised. The challenges of remote working have slowed some aspects of the workflow down — particularly new cooking programs. Weber hasn’t been able to get its culinary and technical teams in the same room to sort out new additions there. But Scherzinger is clear they are coming, and you won’t have to wait long. 

“We were jamming out in the office a few months ago, and so [COVID-19] slowed us down a bit,” he explained. “But there is still a really aggressive stream of additional support or programs coming in.” 

Part of those new cook programs are presets that are based on time rather than a calculation between the grill temperature and the internal temperature of your food. For things like ribs, you can’t really stick a probe far enough away from a bone to get an accurate reading for the entire cook. You’ll still get guidance from the app — push notifications, etc. — but those will be driven by how long you’ve been on a particular step instead of how the food is progressing. 

“The next wave of cook programs will be released on June 15th,” Scherzinger said. Ribs should be in the update after that one, but the chief executive explained that Weber is “trying to launch a new chapter every couple of weeks over the summer.” You know, when people are using their grills the most. 

Having tested the updates myself, I can tell you they make a huge difference. From the handy and informative software tools to the background tech that runs the grill, Weber has taken its work-in-progress and made it a more complete product. I can’t stress enough how much easier SmokeFire is to use with detailed notifications and remote temperature controls. And if the company continues to improve, things should get even better. 

“The key for us is making sure that everyone gets that [ideal] experience every time they grill,” Scherzinger noted. “It’s not good enough to have 90 or 95 percent of cooks going well, so we’ve been trying to make sure everyone’s having that same great experience consistently.”