Ang-L Brackets - Are they worth having?

UncleBilly

Anyone on here have experience with CGS Ang-L-Brackets?  Trying to decide if they serve any purpose in the realm of cooking on an Egg.  To achieve true indirect cooking I can use the plate setter, or use a raised grid to move the food farther from the heat source.   With those options already available, is there a need to shift the lump to one side and keep it corralled there?

bgebrent

What size egg?

Fred19Flintstone

I have those and I have an XL.  They are great for creating a direct and an indirect zone without moving your grid.  So if you like searing and then finishing indirect (or vice versa), then you might want to look at them.  I cooked like that on a weber kettle for a number of years before I bought an egg.  I still like cooking that way and those brackets make it a snap.

Fred19Flintstone

I like your avatar @UncleBilly.  My favorite Rodney Dangerfield joke:  My wife and I are trying to cut down on smoking, so we agreed to limit ourselves to smoke only after sex.  Three months later I still have 3/4 of a pack and she's up to two packs a day.  And I've been cheating.  
Here's his real grave marker:

Photo Egg

I use them on my XL BGE as well as the lump reducing ring. Both are great to have.

Seapointbakers

Use a couple of fire bricks. That's what I do on my XL

Thatgrimguy

I have them for my xl and never ended up using them. The egg just doesn't' do a good 2 zone. I save that style cooking for my weber.

UncleBilly

I'm running an XL Egg.  One of my first cooks was steaks and I didn't use a full load of lump and pushed all of the lump to one side to set up a 2 zone cook.  It seemed to work OK.  But I have really only done 2 zone cooking on my gasser.  I've used the water pan on my WSM, but I believe that is more like using a plate setter than doing a true 2 zone set up with charcoal.

dougcrann

Have all sorts of scrap metal in my garage. Tried using some angle once...thought process was "just cooking a couple burgers, don't need that much active fire"...not real impressed. To me it seems like "one of those gadgets"....sorta of like how some folks think a controller is a waste....or the KAB...
I bought one of these things...
https://www.bbqsmokermods.com/product-p/bsm-vor-sm.htm
Because a friend raved about it. Used it a few times...now its sole purpose is to light my Reverse Flow. 
It is what it is...

tjv

the xl egg is the best two zone ceramic grill on the market.  

the large lump grate, almost 18" dia. provides a greater area for lump at a consistent depth.  So, when you sear a steak or burger, it's the same temps across the grid.  No fading grill marks across the meat.  

The Ang-L brackets help with the constant lump depth by creating a wall to hold the lump up if not using the entire fire box.  Unlike other ceramic grills which only offer half divisions, the brackets let you partition the firebox in multiple divisions.  

The Ang-l brackets also let you shrink the firebox if you want to do a small grilling cook.  Check the picture below: Firebox divided in approx. 1/3 and drippings in foil under the bird.  Try doing this in any other ceramic grill.

The brackets make great ash scoops too. 



Zoning the xl egg is one of it's best abilities and from our many discussions with xl owners, it's also one of its least used/understood abilities. 

t

DialSquare

I got the angle brackets with my XL I recently purchased at CGS. They are fantastic! I agree with Tom, they make the XL a dual-zone powerhouse. I've used the setup for both forward- and reverse-sear with really great results. Recommended.