Small or Medium

James MB

OK I know it must be one of the most overasked questions (but strangely it doesn't seem to come up in search despite seeing other post on what size, mainly L or XL - probably my error).
Anyway I'm in the UK and looking to get a small egg - I currently have a WSM and a kamado #7 which is about to be rehomed as rather large/overkill. Originally I planned a #3 kamado because the number 1 seemed to have the grill too close to the coals to do anything more than sear and I'd rather just have a lower grate when I want it. There is a #1 tempting me but I've lost faith in the kamado operation
So which size egg S or M? I haven't managed to find a UK source for a small yet either.
Is the small suitable for normal grilling as well as searing and indirect with a plate setter. I saw some measurements on a site somewhere for the grill dimensions / distances for the large but not the M or S.
btw I'm in the UK so may not read the forum until the middle of (your) tomorrow night!
Sorry for such a long first post but I hope you get my point.
Thanks for your patience.

bsfd806

FWIW....We started with a small, and within a week made the decision to upgrade to a medium. It's only a couple inches larger, but definately worth it in my opinion.

The medium is much easier to get to do low and slow stuff than the small was.

HTH.

stike

my wife and i cook (for ourselves and two boys) on the small pretty well. i'd say i can do 80% of the typical family cooks on it instead of the large.

i find that the large heats up more quickly, and have just gotten into the habit of using it more. but the small can handle steaks, chicken etc. easily.

large amounts of ribs or butt (like for 8 people) might be more difficult, or cooks over 12 hours. other than that, the small can cook for two easily.

fishlessman

i think the small makes a great second egg or a camping egg, but it is too small if you want to do alot of different things (turkeys, big prime ribs, a descent sized pizza, longer cooks will need refilling of lump etc). i like the large the best because of the 18 inch grill size and the greater distance to the coals when doing raised grill direct cooks. if at were me i would be looking at the medium or large. if you draw out a 13 inch circle, thats the grill size on a small and you will lose some of that cooking area were it sits on the fire ring, you can see how much and what size pieces of meat will fit on it, its not much

The Naked Whiz

Well, I'd recommend the large, but if you are set on a small vs. medium, I'd say go with the medium. You can do low and slow, grilling and searing on both. But think about a couple of capacity issues. Are you going to want to make pizza? Then the medium will let you do a 12" pie or so. The small will let you do a 10" pie. Are you going to want to roast a turkey for Christmas? If so, how large. Obviously, the medium will handle a larger bird. Any entertaining in your future? How many chicken pieces or burgers or steaks will you want to do, and thus how much grill space will you need? Also, you are in the UK, you are sophisticated. (My wife is English, so yes, I'm taking the mickey here, lol!) What about paella? How large a paella pan would you like to use? Slabs of ribs? All sorts of things cry out for the medium if you have to choose twixt a medium and a small. Good luck!

aaind

I have both small and large ,the small dose the same as the large ,But it dose it much faster
I mean temp gose up much faster bigger learning cure is bigger ,the med I am sure would be some what better and the large is just the better of the two ,But bang for the buck the small is great
Dave

Grandpas Grub

Hello James,

Welcome to the forum. Where are you located? My wife was born & raised in Brighton. A very long before the pier burned down.

Over here in the Westarn part of the colonies (Utah) we are 7 hours behind you folks.

Here is the link to the Medium details:
http://www.biggreenegg.com/eggs_M.html

Here is the link to the Small details:
http://www.biggreenegg.com/eggs_S.html

Here is a link to the name of the components for the egg and how it is configured:
http://www.biggreenegg.com/components.html

Let us know if you plan to use the egg to use when traveling. Even the small is a bit tall to fit vertically in the boot.

Both the Medium and Small are great for both grilling, searing and low and slow cooking as well as roasting.

Be more specific as to what you want to achieve and your needs. You will find many people here on the forum are more than happy to help with your questions.

Some of the folks have their own web sites with instructions, ideas and methods with regard to the egg. We are more than happy to help you with your questions. If you need links just ask here on the forum.

Also, please share some of your recipes a lot of us would like to try them on the egg.

The next few days you will be seeing a lot of ideas and different cooks for the Superbowl our biggest football event. (not your football - soccor as we call it)

Kent

James MB

Thanks for the replies - I'm sorry I wasn't very specific as I guess I'm a bit muddled myself. This project started as a an addition to the K7 (K1 or K3 dilemma) but now I'm set on not getting another Kamado for all the usual "cottage industry" reasons and the egg seemed like the way to go (largely due to your site TNW - I've visited a lot over the last four years) as a cooker with a standard product, established following and plenty of accessories OEM and third party.
The K7 is rather large, uses a lot of charcoal and doesn't get the use it deserves. If I could wave my wand I'd swap it for a large egg, but I have it and the likelihood of finding a customer for it in the UK is almost zero especially as it needs some TLC on the tile front.

What do I want an egg for? - well I hoped to get something I could get the hang of at home and then take it to my cottage. This means I'd have to be able to store it in a secure location and get it out to use it so it must be manhandle-able. (It'll leave an interesting aroma in the cottage no doubt!).

As for cooking - I'm addicted to "hot smoked" salmon in the WSM and the usual grilled everything (not too fast and furious - I find my Weber kettle wants to race away) and grew up cooking over fire embers at every opportunity - only got to put a lid on once I was 38 or so! I do enjoy the odd brisket, but can always do that on the WSM.
One of the things I like about the kamado is that the grate isn't too close to the coals so I can cook things instead of getting charred surface and raw innards. i do enjoy raosting eg chicken, lamb and beef.
My wife doesn't like the smokiness apart from the salmon so we usually just let the charcoal flavour things. Often it's just the two of us - I have two young kids but if we entertain outdoors it's usually something safe.
As an aside I live in an area that wonderful for good meat and take advantage of that.

Having said all this I'd like to get rid of the K otherwise my garden will look like the refuge of a sad barbecue addict. It is but I don't want it to be so apparent, as it is I only have the kettle and K visible. In time I imagine having an egg at home and one at the cottage so I have room for some discovery/upgrade and demoting one to the cottage.

In short can one person manhandle a medium egg?

Thanks again.

PS - on edit
I grew up on the South coast and now live in Shropshire (Near Ludlow).
Also - my search now yields loads of posts but they mainly seem to be about L vs XL or M vs L and evryone always says get the biggest you can afford. Money obviously comes into it but isn't the main driver over the expected use life.

BENTE

well my question to you was going to be how big is the k7 i have never seen one in person. i have a large and a small. i can pick the thing up and carry it almost anywhere so. if you securing it may have any lifting involved you might want to go with the small and buy a large later on..


i also hope this is not your only time comming in here. we all love cooking on here. and are interested in what you eat. and how you prepare it. also we all love pictures on this site so if you can find some pictures of you cooking on ceramics i for one would love to see it.

gdenby

As a medium owner, I can second what TNW said. The medium will let you cook a lot of things without too much trouble. Great big briskets, no, but full size spareribs in a rack, yes. When I bought my first, I had 4 to cook for, and it was always big enough.

Its not to hard to carry. With the fire pot and fire ring taken out, I didn't have much trouble carrying mine fifty feet from the alley to the flagstone where I placed them in their nests.

If you look thru some of the pictures folks have posted here, you'll notice quite a few people with whole "families" of Eggs in their yard or on their porch. People here won't think it strange if you have a collection of cookers. They won't even think it strange if you post loving shots of piles of charcoal lump.

Gandolf

I have both a Large and Medium BGE and it is a GREAT combination in my opinion. sounds like that would be close to the combination that you would have if you got the Medium. I do not have esperience with the Small, but love the Large/Medium combination. You will love whichever you decide to add.

Dave

fishlessman

up and down stairs a small would be easier to manhandle, if your rolling in and out onto a deck and no stairs the med would be a better option. if its just one step two people could get it up and over with very limited lifting

Grandpas Grub

James,

Good evening my friend, it's early afternoon here right now.

Hopefully some of the folks that have eggs & WSM will post and share their comments.

It is not hard to cook at a stable temp of 93° C for a long period of time. The dome tempatrue would probably be about 105° C If build me fire carefully I can cook at 48° and even lower for smoking cheese.

It is not uncommon for some to cook at 245°C and some of the more adventurious will go sear at 287°C to 343°. I never intentionall take my dome temp over about 260°C

All of the eggs are capable of cooking and sustaining these tempetures.

As for movability of course the small is much easier to be mobile. Several people have made wooden carriers for the small and as bente said above one person can handle that size easily.

Most people should be able to handle a medium size if the inside parts are taken out and moved separately.

I would suggest your purchase or make a 'nest' which can be seen on the BGE website.

I have a smoker somewhat like a WSM. Using the egg for me is so much better than any of my other grills and or smokers. The food just tastes better and has a better texture.

The large size would probably be too hevy to meet your needs as stated above. The medium would be good and the small would be the best for mobility.

If the small is the only one you get I think eventually you would end up wishing you purchased a medium.

Possibly this is bit daft, neverthelss do you have access to lump charcoal (not brickettes)?

I have found you have some control over how much smoke flavor is infused into your cooking of food. We can go into that in more detail if you like.

A to the sizes. The the grill measurments as stated in the links and subtract 1" off the diamater. The fire ring will take that much space and one will most likely not place food over that area. Draw that a circle of that diamater so you can see what you can and can not put of the grid(grill).

Kent

Grandpas Grub

Here is a picture of a pot lifter that some use.

The egg shown is the large.

http://www.fredsmusicandbbq.com/PhotoDetails.asp?ShowDESC=N&ProductCode=POTLIFTER

Kent

James MB

K7 has the same size grate as the 22 1/2" Weber grate but it is very heavy - it's hard enough just to roll.
The potlifter looks good - I could make one of those with webbing.
Now all I need do is find one in the UK! So far only source seems to be UK supplier I found two years ago
I'd rather not have to take the insides out as it seems a recipe for damage. I have two steps to clear so I think I could construct a wooden table / cart (ala TNW) and lift it up one end at a time or else use a plywood ramp.
Hmmm.... this getting dangerous!
I'm happy about the temps - I play with the WSM and K7 and have to do a lot of conversion - my dial therm is in C but the probe ones have a switch.

Grandpas Grub

Right now the dome dial thermometer is both C and F it is fairly easy to get C thermometeres.

A instant temp probe we use here is made over there and imported here. It is called a thermopen. Great accessory no mater what cooker one is using.

http://thermoworks.com/

With regards to the pot lifter, if you decide to make one make sure it is strong, it would be sad to loose a cooker because some webbing came undone or borke. Expecially when a ligter is probably only about £15 if shipped correctly there wouldn't be any VAT either.

Hopefully with the strength in the £ vs us$ you should be able to get an egg for a reasonable amount.

If you need any help for any of us make sure you jump in and post.

Several have commented we would like to hear about some of your cooks.

Kent

Broc

Agreed!

~ Broc

Frank from Houma

Jamesmb - It really isn't a big deal to take the guts out - I have had mine in and out a few times and I have an XL. The weight will be significantly lower on the medium with the guts out. Just my two pence.

Lived in the Nairn from 82 to 87. I remember having a time finding charcoal - of course that is in a different country We would drive the Highlands nuts when we would fire up the pit.

Rick's Tropical Delight

here's what you can do on the medium.

click here

Grandpas Grub

Rick, the page sure has a lot more pictures than I looked last.

Nice collection of egg eats.

GG

Rick's Tropical Delight

it does? that was through feb 07, my first five months with the medium egg. :woohoo:

outta space on that free web space

James MB

OK - I get the message - I'll try for the medium.
Great pics by the way - I'll have to learn how to post my WSM/Kamado pics or at least to size them appropriately.
To get back to one of my queries - what is the (typical) charcoal to grate gap?
I see a lot of references to "fill up to the fire ring with charcoal" - I assume that means fill the fire bowl - leaving the 4" fire ring as the charcoal to grate gap, with another 3 or 4 inches to the felt line unless one uses a plate setter (or woo ring)?
So I guess I'm asking what is the fire ring depth on the M and on the S?
Anyone know where I can get one shipped to the UK, it seems damage in transit is a risk.
Thanks again.
James.

Grandpas Grub

I htought I cooked a lot... You need more space.

Kent

Grandpas Grub

James,

I am not sure how much less visiting your posts get when they work the way down on the page.

Hopefully, someone with a medium an small will get those measurements to you.

There has been a couple of posts with pictures today about people raising their grids on the mediums (making their grids further away from the lump).

The distant will depend on how much lump you put in the egg. Which will depend on how hot and how long you intend to cook.

Some people will fill the lump to just above air vents (holes) in the fire bowl which is a little under 1/2 of the fire bowl. Some will fill the lump to the top of the fire bowl (up to the fire ring) and some will fill up to the top of the fire ring. This is somewhat close to the grate level.

I am not sure if there are dealers in the UK or Europe for that matter. Someone here on the forum might know and be able to give you an informed answer.

I might suggest you email BGE directly and ask them how you can get an Egg. Their contact information is on their main page which is linked above.

I also would suggest you bump these questions to the top of the forum. You should post a new question which will creat a new post and thread. Possible title, how to get an egg in the United Kingdom.

Be will my friend, Kent