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Author Topic: Big Green Egg  (Read 66485 times)

Offline tschmidlin

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Re: Big Green Egg
« Reply #120 on: January 21, 2012, 11:18:08 pm »
Cool, thanks.  One of those places is reasonably close to where I occasionally travel.  Not as nice as if it was down the road, but it will do :)
Tom Schmidlin

Offline boulderbrewer

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Re: Big Green Egg
« Reply #121 on: January 24, 2012, 08:44:30 am »
I bought ProQ Cold Smoke Generator ( http://www.macsbbq.co.uk/CSG.html ), before I even thought of getting an egg, so I would use that. Here is a link where someone did what I was thinking. http://www.thesmokering.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=30433

I know it could be made alot cheaper than my route.

Offline tschmidlin

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Re: Big Green Egg
« Reply #122 on: March 12, 2012, 10:14:58 pm »
I saw the medium BGE at costco today for $580 -is that a good deal?  I probably can't justify the cost, but there is a little bit of temptation :)  What have others paid for theirs?
Tom Schmidlin

Offline euge

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Re: Big Green Egg
« Reply #123 on: March 12, 2012, 10:18:23 pm »
For the medium? Sounds like that is the going price anyway.
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Offline james

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Re: Big Green Egg
« Reply #124 on: March 12, 2012, 10:52:11 pm »
I saw the medium BGE at costco today for $580 -is that a good deal?  I probably can't justify the cost, but there is a little bit of temptation :)  What have others paid for theirs?

I was at costco tonight and was also surprised to see a BGE there, then I noticed it was a medium.  From people I've talked to most of the accessories (or at least the common ones) are designed for larges.  For a bit more than that you can get a Big Steel Keg (or whatever they call them now), I've got one and love it.  It comes by default with a number of things you have to pay extra for on an egg.

Offline euge

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Re: Big Green Egg
« Reply #125 on: March 12, 2012, 11:02:28 pm »
You have one fine instrument with the UDS Tom. And a gas grill as well?

Sometimes I don't like my Egg as a grill. Why? At grill temps opening and closing the lid causes a surge in the air-fuel and it'll start burning hot within seconds. Real hot. So you have to do your work quick and also fiddle with the damper to try and slow it down.

Damn thing can get out of hand- it's a beast.

The first principle is that you must not fool yourself, and you are the easiest person to fool. -Richard P. Feynman

Laws are spider-webs, which catch the little flies, but cannot hold the big ones. -Anacharsis

Offline tschmidlin

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Re: Big Green Egg
« Reply #126 on: March 13, 2012, 01:07:14 am »
You have one fine instrument with the UDS Tom. And a gas grill as well?
I know, I know, I love my UDS.  But the U is there fr a reason, and the BGE is purty :)

Shiny . . .  ;D
Tom Schmidlin

Offline bluesman

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Re: Big Green Egg
« Reply #127 on: March 13, 2012, 05:30:45 am »
You have one fine instrument with the UDS Tom. And a gas grill as well?
I know, I know, I love my UDS.  But the U is there fr a reason, and the BGE is purty :)

Shiny . . .  ;D

I've been temped as well...but I just can't quite pull the trigger. I really don't need it. It would probably do a lot of sitting. But...yes...it is shiny.  ;D
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Offline phillamb168

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Re: Big Green Egg
« Reply #128 on: March 13, 2012, 06:05:56 am »
You have one fine instrument with the UDS Tom. And a gas grill as well?

Sometimes I don't like my Egg as a grill. Why? At grill temps opening and closing the lid causes a surge in the air-fuel and it'll start burning hot within seconds. Real hot. So you have to do your work quick and also fiddle with the damper to try and slow it down.

Damn thing can get out of hand- it's a beast.

I close the vents -completely- when I'm going to be doing a lot of moving and poking, that seems to fix it.
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Offline gmac

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Re: Big Green Egg
« Reply #129 on: March 21, 2012, 03:46:52 pm »
Anyone have any advice for getting the BGE hot?  I have no problem smoking and BBQ'ing at 200 to 300F but I can't really get the thing up to the 700F temps for searing a steak or doing pizza.  It's almost like it needs a blower to really push the air through it like a smelter or something.  Vents are wide open but I'm not hitting the high temps.

Offline deepsouth

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Re: Big Green Egg
« Reply #130 on: March 22, 2012, 05:48:32 am »
Anyone have any advice for getting the BGE hot?  I have no problem smoking and BBQ'ing at 200 to 300F but I can't really get the thing up to the 700F temps for searing a steak or doing pizza.  It's almost like it needs a blower to really push the air through it like a smelter or something.  Vents are wide open but I'm not hitting the high temps.

what kind of lump are you using?  could it be moist?  how are you lighting it?
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Offline phillamb168

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Re: Big Green Egg
« Reply #131 on: March 22, 2012, 07:03:37 am »
Make sure you've got super good quality lump, and make sure you start with the biggest clumps on the bottom and build up bigger -> smaller. Never dump a bag of charcoal directly into the egg because that'll cause lots of tiny pieces to drop down and keep air from moving around. The more airflow the hotter it will get. When was the last time you cleaned it out completely?
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Offline gmac

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Re: Big Green Egg
« Reply #132 on: March 22, 2012, 09:01:39 am »
Make sure you've got super good quality lump, and make sure you start with the biggest clumps on the bottom and build up bigger -> smaller. Never dump a bag of charcoal directly into the egg because that'll cause lots of tiny pieces to drop down and keep air from moving around. The more airflow the hotter it will get. When was the last time you cleaned it out completely?

My lump is just hardware store lump charcoal.  You wouldn't recoginze the brand as it's a Canadian manufacturer but I do like it a lot.  It could be moist, it just sits in the garage though.  I hadn't heard about piling big to little.  Sounds messy but I'll give it a try.  And I do probably need to give the thing a thorough clean out.  I suspect that there is a lot of small chunks that have fallen down as it's been used.

I light it with bbq lighter fluid because that's about the only option I have and let it burn open for a while to get things heated up and the fluid burned off.

Do you use the daisy wheel when you ramp up the heat or do you leave it right open?  I'm using the wheel swung wide open and the bottom vent wide open.

Offline phillamb168

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Re: Big Green Egg
« Reply #133 on: March 22, 2012, 09:46:50 am »
Make sure you've got super good quality lump, and make sure you start with the biggest clumps on the bottom and build up bigger -> smaller. Never dump a bag of charcoal directly into the egg because that'll cause lots of tiny pieces to drop down and keep air from moving around. The more airflow the hotter it will get. When was the last time you cleaned it out completely?

My lump is just hardware store lump charcoal.  You wouldn't recoginze the brand as it's a Canadian manufacturer but I do like it a lot.  It could be moist, it just sits in the garage though.  I hadn't heard about piling big to little.  Sounds messy but I'll give it a try.  And I do probably need to give the thing a thorough clean out.  I suspect that there is a lot of small chunks that have fallen down as it's been used.

I light it with bbq lighter fluid because that's about the only option I have and let it burn open for a while to get things heated up and the fluid burned off.

Do you use the daisy wheel when you ramp up the heat or do you leave it right open?  I'm using the wheel swung wide open and the bottom vent wide open.

If I want hot,hot,hot I take the wheel off completely. Could you post a pic of some of the charcoal?

I would recommend against lighter fluid if possible - almost every hardware store will sell compressed paper-based firestarters, they'll last a lot longer than the fluid will, and won't risk giving weird flavors to the smoke etc.
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Offline euge

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Re: Big Green Egg
« Reply #134 on: March 22, 2012, 11:16:17 am »
Invest in a chimney starter. Light it with newspaper and 5-6 minutes later you dump it on top of the rest of the coals and ready to go!

As Phil said, but also you can't start small and ramp up. You need to have a bunch of coals going right from the get-go or you just spend fuel trying to get it where you want it and never quite get there. :-[
The first principle is that you must not fool yourself, and you are the easiest person to fool. -Richard P. Feynman

Laws are spider-webs, which catch the little flies, but cannot hold the big ones. -Anacharsis