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First two pizzas- came out great- except...

rprice54
rprice54 Posts: 39
edited November -1 in EggHead Forum
My stone broke and my gasket is fried.

The stone was not a shocker. It's 12 years old, it was really thin, and I'm sure was the el cheapo' stone at Walmart. I have no problem getting a more robust stone.

The gasket has me a little puzzled. Plus, there was a slight metallic taste to the pizza- I'm guessing that's my gasket. Is that okay? Do I need to get checked out. What's in a gasket?

I used a 15" pizza stone (smaller than the BGE stone) I cooked two pizzas at around 550-600 degrees for about 5 minutes each. I kept the dome closed except for when I put them on, checked them once each, and took them off. When I went out to check on the grill, as I closed the lid I noticed a little grinding sensation, and that's when I noticed the back gasket was crumpled up, and the front gasket is crispy and brown.

The pizza was a hit, and very tasty, but I don't want to go through a new gasket every time.

Tell me what I did wrong. I've cooked steaks at 750 without problems. Should we worry about the metallic taste? Thanks.

Comments

  • Buy a Rutland gasket or you get the new high heat gasket from green egg. I think it's called a nomax. I have a Rutland and love it. Lots of folks have the Nomax and like it as well. My original gasket lasted maybe 2 months before I fried it.
    Large & MiniMax in Lexington, KY
  • Carolina Q
    Carolina Q Posts: 14,831
    hahaha. mine lasted two WEEKS. It's Nomex, btw (generic name is aramid). I have Rutlands on my eggs and love 'em.

    No clue about the metallic taste, but it's not from the fried gasket.

    I hate it when I go to the kitchen for food and all I find are ingredients!                                                                                                                                                                                                                           

    Michael 
    Central Connecticut 

  • 2Fategghead
    2Fategghead Posts: 9,624
    rprice54, What egg are you using because the baking stone for my large egg is 14 inches. Also, when setting up for pizza I use a plate setter feet down then big green egg feet then baking stone. That setup gets the baking stone above the felt line.

    Is it possible you had your 15 inch pizza stone on the egg at the felt line and all the heat had to go around it at the felt line therefor putting a lot of heat where your gasket it.
  • Not sure about the metallic taste but my gasket is about shot and I am going to give the BGE high heat gasket a try. There was a recent post I think today from somoene who put one on.
  • A lot of people will tell you they've cooked for years without a gasket. Including me, but I'm just lazy to the bone.

    I have hi-temp self adhesive 1/8" thick Cotronics tape and a new scraper and acetone just waiting for me to feel inspired...and waiting...and waiting. Meanwhile I cook anything I want to on the Large Egg and never give the no-gasket condition a thought.

    http://www.cotronics.com/vo/cotr/fc_tapes.htm

    What I want to get across is don't get into "high anxiety" because your gasket is history. Relax and see if it's going to make much difference to you.
    Judy in San Diego
  • I used the plate setter, then some firebricks, then my pizza stone- it was above the gasket. I thought the BGE was a 16" stone, so I thought I had clearance.

    I found the Rutland gasket at Amazon for about $12 shipped. Is that a good price?

    Seems silly to spend $800 on "The world's best grill" only to have the gasket burn up in 1 month. Oh well. The pizza was good.
  • smbishop
    smbishop Posts: 3,053
    That was me. Less than two months, pizza is what started it; legs down placesetter and the egg feet. Pizza was awesome! I asked my dealer about a new gasket and he asked "are you going to cook pizza again?", :unsure: "Um, yah!". So he pulled out the nomex for me.

    http://www.eggheadforum.com/index.php?option=com_simpleboard&func=view&id=1048368&catid=1
    Southlake, TX and Cowhouse Creek - King, TX.  2 Large, 1 Small and a lot of Eggcessories.
  • JohnB
    JohnB Posts: 183
    I have no idea what the metallic taste could be. I've cooked a lot of pizzas on my egg and never tasted anything metallic.

    The first time I cooked pizzas I completed fried my gasket. That was two years ago and I haven't missed it. The only time I considered putting a new gasket on was when my son closed the lid too hard.

    I've read a lot of articles and watched a few videos and it just seems like too much of a hassle to go through to install a new gasket.