How hot has your egg gotten?

gee · July 2011

My wife lit my egg tonight and somehow it got Over 1000 degrees or that is what she said. It has the big green egg teltru thermometer and it went all the way around to 150degrees. I know that the gasket is fried for sure because it was melting. So how hot have you got?

Hoss · July 2011

1000 +.On a clean burn.Doing one as I type this.

rmr62 · July 2011

The very first time I lit my egg, I was following the general instructions from the CD. I used my electric starter, took it out, left vents open, expecting it to take about 10 minutes which is what the video said. Anyway, walked back out after 2-3 mins, and temp gauge wrapped around like that. Had to be over 1000 easily, and after that short a time. Learned a lot on that first experience!

Crimsongator · July 2011

I've been that far on an indirect burn off :woohoo:

BillB2002 · July 2011

I wonder what a representative sample would say about this. Everybody who responds in general will be proud of their response which means they've achieved ginourmous temperatures (as read by their thermometers).

I have a small egg and have never gotten beyond 700. Fully open vent, new load of mesquite lump with lots of air spaces between the pieces, no DFMT. Hundreds of tries. I doubt (seriously doubt) it would be possible to get 1000 degrees on my egg as read with my thermometer (calibrated with boiling water when I bought the egg). There just aren't that many things I could be doing wrong.

cookingdude555 · July 2011

Bill, this is the best I have done on my small:

This one was a mistake (what would I cook at 900?). I have had my medium to about 1200, and it is much easier to bring to that temp.

BillB2002 · July 2011

Right, like I said, I wonder what a representative sample would say.

The naked wiz site claims dome temperatures much closer to mine than to the 1000+ stuff seen in this thread.

It may well be that people with mis-calibrated thermometers are the ones most likely to respond to these sorts of threads, thereby propagating the myth of ginourmous temperatures.

Burns · July 2011

For some reason I cannot get my large egg to go past 650ish. Even tried a different thermometer.

I recently bought another large egg and took it Michigan as a present for my father. I TRex'd some steaks while there and that egg blew right through 750 in a blink of the eye. I think it would have kept going up in temperature if I hadn't caught it in time.

Two large eggs using the same brand charcoal. Different behavior, very weird.

I'm starting to think it might be some variance in the environment such as altitude or humidity.

BillB2002 · July 2011

Here's naked Wiz's findings, from this page:

http://www.nakedwhiz.com/searingtemps.htm

This is using a medium egg with Cowboy lump. Loaded by, obviously, an expert with lump and Eggs.

With the dome closed and the top and bottom vents wide open, we allowed the cooker to heat up as much as it could. The dome temperature, as measured with at Tel-Tru 1000-degree thermometer, was 720 degrees.

fiercetimbo17 · July 2011

Bill on a large 1000+ is easily obtainable. Like others have said I have had my large that hot with a plate setter in. I calibrated all my thermometers every couple of months, Im sure they are never hundreds of degrees off.
With the small you have less fuel so its going to be harder to get it that hot but Ive seen it done before.

CrazyHarry · July 2011

When I grill steaks I open the bottom vent all the way and remove the DFMT at the top. Once the lump really gets going I can see flames jumping out of the top of the dome.

When this happens the thermometer rockets past 750 and wraps around to 200 or more. But I wonder if maybe it's reading hotter because the flames are actually licking at the thermometer. Not sure if that would give me a false dome reading or not...

My Egg doesn't stay that hot for very long and so far -- knock on wood -- my gasket seems fine. (It's sort of dark and slick, but I still have an airtight seal.)

Bobby-Q · July 2011

When was the last time you cleaned behind the firebox?
Also make sure your cut out in the firebox is lined up with the draft door.
Make sure you are using dry lump.

If you have good airflow and dry charcoal, the rest is just physics...or whatever brand of science that covers fire.

fishlessman · July 2011

my large will hit somewhere around 1200 hundred, with a full load it stalls around 900, then as the lump burns down the airflow must increase because after an hour at 900 it jumps to about 1200. at 1200 there is a blue ball hovering in the dome over my pizza setup. dont know about mediums but my small will hit between 750 to 800 max. my large has a homemade lump grid with more openings and the fire box is so broken up there is plenty of airflow. i think to get it over 1200 you would need to force feed it more air with a fan

Grandpas Grub · July 2011

BillB2002 wrote:

... It may well be that people with mis-calibrated thermometers are the ones most likely to respond to these sorts of threads, thereby propagating the myth of ginourmous temperatures.

Myth!!! That's not at all the case.

With a calibrated thermometer it is pretty simple to get my large up to 1,200° and I am cooking at 5000° elevation. Folks at lower elevations will have an easier time reaching these temperatures.

There are plenty of past posts showing thermometers well past full circle. A year or two ago many folks were cook pizza's at 1000°.

After burning out 9 gaskets I purchased a Spider for searing and have seen no need to take the egg past 550° dome. Using an IR thermometer I can easily have a 800° to 1,000° sear without taking the dome thermometer over 400°.

Here is a burn on my large with a calibrated thermometer using a lump lever just above the holes in the fire grate. The lump being used if very small pieces, the largest being about the size of a thumbnail from previous cooks. Royal Oak lump.

The dome temperature would be much higher if I would have loaded the lump higher in the egg, larger pieces mixed with smaller pieces.

To reach higher levels the air holes in the fire grate and fire box must not be blocked or plugged. Light the lump down into the lump bed about 1.5 to 2 inches and light accross the entire surface of the lump bed. I light in 4 to 6 places.

GG

BillB2002 · July 2011

CrazyHarry wrote:

When I grill steaks I open the bottom vent all the way and remove the DFMT at the top. Once the lump really gets going I can see flames jumping out of the top of the dome.

When this happens the thermometer rockets past 750 and wraps around to 200 or more. But I wonder if maybe it's reading hotter because the flames are actually licking at the thermometer. Not sure if that would give me a false dome reading or not...

There you have it.

That's how people get those temperatures - with flames literally licking the temperature probe.

BillB2002 · July 2011

Here is the temperature of fire, from wikipedia:

Red
Just visible: 525 °C (980 °F)
Dull: 700 °C (1,300 °F)
Cherry, dull: 800 °C (1,500 °F)
Cherry, full: 900 °C (1,700 °F)
Cherry, clear: 1,000 °C (1,800 °F)
Orange
Deep: 1,100 °C (2,000 °F)
Clear: 1,200 °C (2,200 °F)
White
Whitish: 1,300 °C (2,400 °F)
Bright: 1,400 °C (2,600 °F)
Dazzling: 1,500 °C (2,700 °F)

So any flame at all touching the probe will yield these alleged 1000+ degree "dome temps". But that's not in the honest spirit of a "dome temp".

fishlessman · July 2011

its a real dome temp, if it were not this pizza wouldnt have cooked in 53 seconds

http://www.eggheadforum.com/index.php?option=com_simpleboard&Itemid=55&func=view&catid=1&id=411252

[Deleted User] · July 2011

Bill- I don't disagree that sometimes it could be flames licking the thermometer, but I've had flames shooting out the top at 600 degrees, why didn't it read hotter?
The few times I let my fire get out of hand (LBGE) and go to 1000+, there were no flames until I lifted the dome.

When I looked inside I had a full load of new lump fully engaged, every piece was glowing orange like lava.

believe it or not.

My Mini I've heard can get real hot, but I've never been able to get it above 650. Then again I only tried once and I was using used lump.

I will cook Pizza at 550 - 600 but other than that I can't remember the last time I intentionally went higher.

NC-CDN · July 2011

Hot. Very hot. LOL. Last night it took only 9 minutes and lighting with 1 cube (split in half and put in two spots) to get up 500F. I've had it over 800 and higher doing a clean burn, but only do that on a rare occasion. Usually I get it up to 600-700 and that's about it for steaks.

oldfishinglure · July 2011

Around 1200 ....too hot....Bany many a mmon since I got up there though..

Lit · July 2011

The problem is you are using a small. The air flow is not near as good in the small. I have all size eggs except the xl and all will get over 1000 except the small (I have even got the mini over 1000). I don't believe I have ever had my small much over 700. I am tempted to cut the bottom vent on my small bigger because the ceramic opening is bigger than the metal opening is and that would increase airflow. As others have stated I can get flames coming out the top of all my eggs but the small. I lit one of my larges this afternoon and went in to get the food ready and came back and it was 900 plus in 10 minutes.

Wise One · July 2011

One year at the after party to EGGtoberfest, I cam across a EGG all set up and I asked if I could use it for my cook. Getting the go ahead, I looked and saw that it was sitting around 275 but the vents were wide open so I decided to wait for it to get up to 350 or so to cook. After 30 minutes it had nudged its way toward 300. The guy asked me if I was going to cook and I explained I was waiting for it to climb a bit. He said "I think it's hot enough" so I opened it and it was inferno. He said he was trying to clean it out so he let the temperature run. I closed it back down and 30 minutes later it had dropped to 650 or so. I threw my stuff on and kept it closed down and it finally got back to around 400 when my stuff was done (in record time mind you). It had to be close to 1100 or so.

TheHandleGuy · July 2011

Mine got so hot that it stuck shut. Scared the heck out of me. I thought is was fused for good. I ended up shredding the gasket to get it open. I only know that then therm was all the way around and I sure wasn't taking any pics!

Kentucky Wildcat Fan · July 2011

gee · July 2011

I cant help but to say if the flames are licking the thermometer ins't that still heat in the dome. granted it may not be the correct way but it still giving a temp reading of the inside of the egg. I did calibrate this thermo because I just bought it. I have never had this egg to this temp before The egg itself was radiating heat. I was afraid that it was going to crack.I have seared enough ribeyes on this thing to have made a whole steer but never this hot.I still was only asking if it is possible to get an egg too Hot.

fishlessman · July 2011

the ceramics will take the heat, the stock gaskets wont, and be aware that thermal expansion on the metal parts will loosen the dome and the dome may fall out at really high temps and break when it crashes to the ground. i dont think it will go past 1200 on its own :whistle:

The Naked Whiz · July 2011

1200 probably.

4Runner · July 2011

My large we hit 1000 with not much effort. No gasket issues either since I use the "white nomex" ones glued on with the 3M Super 77 I think it is called.

Anyway, I guess unless you have multiple probes in your Egg to cover more area, you aren't really getting an avg temp. Who cares if we are 1000+ b/c some flame his hitting the probe. It is still 1000 at the probe.

PhilsGrill · July 2011

Well I don't know about all of you, but my egg has gotten so hot...

it has cooked my food!

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