Would a smaller Kick ash basket work

B747crew

Wonder if a Medium Kick Ash Basket would work just as well in a Large BGE as would an open Bar reducing ring.Looks like you'd kill two birds with one stone.

Botch

Should work, you just wouldn't be able to "overfill" the basket very far.  

Eggdicted_Dawgfan

That's a great idea for shorter cooks if you want to save some lump. As Botch said I wouldn't fill it above the basket. 

Photo Egg

The KAB are made to rest on a spesefic spot on the fire box. If you use a smaller size, without the BGE cast iron grate, it might wedge down into the fire box. Heat expansion of the KAB might crack your fire box.

B747crew

Photo Egg said:

The KAB are made to rest on a spesefic spot on the fire box. If you use a smaller size, without the BGE cast iron grate, it might wedge down into the fire box. Heat expansion of the KAB might crack your fire box.

I'm getting an XL. My idea is to use an XL KAB in the grill and the Medium KAB as a Lump saver / Reducer. I think its a better bet than the open bar reducer ring and you get the benefit of the KAB to boot 

SmyrnaGA

B747crew said:

I'm getting an XL. My idea is to use an XL KAB in the grill and the Medium KAB as a Lump saver / Reducer. I think its a better bet than the open bar reducer ring and you get the benefit of the KAB to boot 

What about the medium firebox in the XL as a lump saver?

B747crew

SmyrnaGA said:

SmyrnaGA said:

B747crew said:

I'm getting an XL. My idea is to use an XL KAB in the grill and the Medium KAB as a Lump saver / Reducer. I think its a better bet than the open bar reducer ring and you get the benefit of the KAB to boot 

What about the medium firebox in the XL as a lump saver?

I don't understand??

Photo Egg

B747crew said:

Photo Egg said:

The KAB are made to rest on a spesefic spot on the fire box. If you use a smaller size, without the BGE cast iron grate, it might wedge down into the fire box. Heat expansion of the KAB might crack your fire box.

I'm getting an XL. My idea is to use an XL KAB in the grill and the Medium KAB as a Lump saver / Reducer. I think its a better bet than the open bar reducer ring and you get the benefit of the KAB to boot 

OK, I was just going from the information on your top post asking about using medium KAB in a large EGG.
When using the KAB in the XL you need to also keep the original cast iron grate in place for support. Adding another smaller KAB as a lump reducer should work fine. 
Let us know how it works for you.

stlcharcoal

From a thermodynamics stand point, the amount of lump you're going to save is really not that much and only happens in certain scenarios.  You still need to heat the entire xl whether you have 2# of lump blazing or 10# of lump burning normally.  It takes the same amount of BTU's to bring it to temp and maintain.  The only exception is that you concentrate the area for searing, so that might save some lump.  But ultimately the stuff in the basket burns exponentially faster than the what would be in the whole firebox, because the BTU's required remains constant (BTU's per pound in the charcoal is constant)

It's like selling your paid off car and buying a new Tesla to save on gas.  Yes, you will save money on gas but in the long run are you "saving" anything??

B747crew

stlcharcoal said:

From a thermodynamics stand point, the amount of lump you're going to save is really not that much and only happens in certain scenarios.  You still need to heat the entire xl whether you have 2# of lump blazing or 10# of lump burning normally.  It takes the same amount of BTU's to bring it to temp and maintain.  The only exception is that you concentrate the area for searing, so that might save some lump.  But ultimately the stuff in the basket burns exponentially faster than the what would be in the whole firebox, because the BTU's required remains constant (BTU's per pound in the charcoal is constant)

It's like selling your paid off car and buying a new Tesla to save on gas.  Yes, you will save money on gas but in the long run are you "saving" anything??

Thanks  That Makes sense .

     I'm actually not so much looking to save lump as I am trying to concentrate heat in one area for a quick smaller cook of steak, burgers and dogs and the like on the XL

Photo Egg

B747crew said:

     I'm actually not so much looking to save lump as I am trying to concentrate heat in one area for a quick smaller cook of steak, burgers and dogs and the like on the XL

Should work great. Also good if you want to do a little Wok cooking.

stlcharcoal

B747crew said:

stlcharcoal said:

From a thermodynamics stand point, the amount of lump you're going to save is really not that much and only happens in certain scenarios.  You still need to heat the entire xl whether you have 2# of lump blazing or 10# of lump burning normally.  It takes the same amount of BTU's to bring it to temp and maintain.  The only exception is that you concentrate the area for searing, so that might save some lump.  But ultimately the stuff in the basket burns exponentially faster than the what would be in the whole firebox, because the BTU's required remains constant (BTU's per pound in the charcoal is constant)

It's like selling your paid off car and buying a new Tesla to save on gas.  Yes, you will save money on gas but in the long run are you "saving" anything??

Thanks  That Makes sense .

     I'm actually not so much looking to save lump as I am trying to concentrate heat in one area for a quick smaller cook of steak, burgers and dogs and the like on the XL

I think KAB make a lump reducing basket for the XL......or maybe it's CGS?  Somebody makes one.  I know both make inserts to wall off the firebox of basket.

Eoin

B747crew said:

stlcharcoal said:

From a thermodynamics stand point, the amount of lump you're going to save is really not that much and only happens in certain scenarios.  You still need to heat the entire xl whether you have 2# of lump blazing or 10# of lump burning normally.  It takes the same amount of BTU's to bring it to temp and maintain.  The only exception is that you concentrate the area for searing, so that might save some lump.  But ultimately the stuff in the basket burns exponentially faster than the what would be in the whole firebox, because the BTU's required remains constant (BTU's per pound in the charcoal is constant)

It's like selling your paid off car and buying a new Tesla to save on gas.  Yes, you will save money on gas but in the long run are you "saving" anything??

Thanks  That Makes sense .

     I'm actually not so much looking to save lump as I am trying to concentrate heat in one area for a quick smaller cook of steak, burgers and dogs and the like on the XL

If you light in one area on the XL, you do get a concentrated fire for smaller cooks, but you still have to heat up the big Egg. Some bricks would stop the fire from spreading, but I agree with @stlcharcoal and you won't save much. My MMX uses noticeably less lump for a quick small cook thatn my XL, just because it's got less mass to heat up (just see how long a hot XL takes to cool down when snuffed and you will realise how much energy is used to heat up the mass).

Photo Egg

Eoin said:

B747crew said:

stlcharcoal said:

From a thermodynamics stand point, the amount of lump you're going to save is really not that much and only happens in certain scenarios.  You still need to heat the entire xl whether you have 2# of lump blazing or 10# of lump burning normally.  It takes the same amount of BTU's to bring it to temp and maintain.  The only exception is that you concentrate the area for searing, so that might save some lump.  But ultimately the stuff in the basket burns exponentially faster than the what would be in the whole firebox, because the BTU's required remains constant (BTU's per pound in the charcoal is constant)

It's like selling your paid off car and buying a new Tesla to save on gas.  Yes, you will save money on gas but in the long run are you "saving" anything??

Thanks  That Makes sense .

     I'm actually not so much looking to save lump as I am trying to concentrate heat in one area for a quick smaller cook of steak, burgers and dogs and the like on the XL

If you light in one area on the XL, you do get a concentrated fire for smaller cooks, but you still have to heat up the big Egg. Some bricks would stop the fire from spreading, but I agree with @stlcharcoal and you won't save much. My MMX uses noticeably less lump for a quick small cook thatn my XL, just because it's got less mass to heat up (just see how long a hot XL takes to cool down when snuffed and you will realise how much energy is used to heat up the mass).

You don't have to heat up the entire XL to take advantage of a smaller, concentrated fire in a reducing ring. Cooking direct, over the hot lump is all you need for for small, quick cook. Cooking direct at grid level over a reducing ring is perfect for a couple burgers or steaks. It's not dependent on radiant heat from the ceramics or the entire Egg like indirect cooking.
You just need the rising heat from the concentrated area of lump for direct cooking. I do agree that it's never going to be as efficient as cooking in a smaller Egg and energy is going to be lost heating a larger area no matter what.