Finally got my egg!

JerkChicken · November 2011

I pre-ordered a Large Demo Egg from the first annual Greater Orlando Eggstravaganza. I had never even seen a BGE in person, (or tried the food) and I was heartbroken when I found I couldn't attend because of work. So I picked up my egg a few days later. I was worried about how to get it home with no truck. Thanks to the support from this forum I was confident I could fit it in my car. Tight squeeze but made it home safely!

My inaugural cook that day was Raging River Salmon (Dizzy Pig Recipe). It was awesome and got inhaled before the camera came out... I also did some wings with the Dizzy Pig Tsunami Spin rub. My family testified that they were the best wings they'd ever eaten. The following day I busted out some wicked fresh pizzas and for desert some homemade chocolate chip cookies from scratch on the stone. Everything I made on it was 10 out of 10. Being an avid BBQ guy I fell in love with this grill after the first cook!

This grill was everything I was lead to believe it would be and more. I did have some gripes and questions however:

The Daisy Wheel flopping out of control when the dome is opened is annoying. Any fixes for this aside from trying to position it with gravity? Will tightening the screw change anything? Another gripe: My felt gasket is already showing signs of char. I can see why this is one of the major issues with BGE owners.

My biggest question is with firing the egg up. How do you know when the lump is ready to be cooked on? With briquettes you know when all the fowl tasting soot has burned off once the charcoal turns mostly white. Is it the same with lump? It seems when I wait that long, the temp has become nuclear, and difficult to get back down which burns a lot of fuel too.

Aside from that I am thrilled to finally be part of the family and I love the community. Glad I went with this over a Primo

bigguy136 · November 2011

I'm also new to the egg. I have had mine now for about three months. I sift the old coals across the ash holes and what doesn't fall thru, I put in the chimney box and light. The last few times I've been trying the electric heater and that also works but I need about 25-30 minutes for the coals to get burning good. If I'm needing to get something going sooner, I stuff the leaf blower in the lower vent for a few minutes. By opening the vent just so much with the leaf blower, I get the right amount of air.

JerkChicken · November 2011

bigguy, at what point do you know your charcoal is ready? Do you go by the temp or the appearance?

ChokeOnSmoke · November 2011

The Daisy Wheel flopping out of control when the dome is opened is annoying. Any fixes for this aside from trying to position it with gravity? Will tightening the screw change anything? Another gripe: My felt gasket is already showing signs of char. I can see why this is one of the major issues with BGE owners.

When you have it opened the way you want it, turn it so that the two screws align and it won't move.
See here:
http://www.nakedwhiz.com/ceramicfaq.htm#dwinfo

ChokeOnSmoke · November 2011

My biggest question is with firing the egg up. How do you know when the lump is ready to be cooked on?

Open the bottom vent wide open and take the top cap off.
Get the lump going with whatever method you choose.
Close the lid.
When you get it to the desired temperature and the smoke is coming out is clear, you're good to go.

canoeandcue · November 2011

Newbie here too. I like the mapp gas method. It takes about 45 sec. to get a good start. Open up the daisy wheel and the bottom vent all the way. When you reach 50 to 75 deg. hotter than your cooking temp. start to shut it down. Experience and experimenting will help you dial in your egg. I also do not like the daisy wheel being so loose. The screws bottom out on my wheel and sliding cover. Machining custom, brass knurled finger screws tonite. I will post a pic. if someone is intrested in seeing that. As a new egger be patient, this forum is a great tool with a lot of nice,knowlegeble people out there.

njl · November 2011

It depends on what sort of heat you want. I've been lazy and have gone back and forth between using crumpled newspaper (hit or miss and can create annoying ash) or store bought fire starter sticks (like giant wood pulp and wax matches). Stick one of those on the floor of the egg (under the fire grate), light it, and in 10min or less the egg should have a sustainable fire going in the lump.

I'm curious to try the oily paper towel method.

Whatever method you use, if you leave the top vent wide open and the bottom vent wide open, you will get very hot (700F or more) in a time that probably depends on how your lump is arranged...and then it will take time for the egg to cool. If you're planning to smoke (low temp), just mostly shut things down as soon as you see you have a sustainable looking fire going in the middle of the lump.

JerkChicken · November 2011

So if most of the lump is still black, but my dome temp has reached around my desired temp (say 375) is it okay to put the meat on? Or, at that point do you adjust the vents and let it sit around 375 until the lump is mostly white/ashy? Or just go by the clear smoke to determine when it's okay to put meat on?

GreenhawK · November 2011

Yes. You are good when the egg reaches the desired temp. For instance, if you are cooking a but for 12 hours or more at 250, there is no way that all of the coals are going to be white. The actual fire in fire box is small relative to the amount of charcoal that you have in there.

I put the electric starter in for about 10 mins or so, and then close the egg with the bottom vent and daisy wheel both wide open. As soon as the dome reaches temp, I put the vent and the wheel in the spot that I have it for a given temp. i.e. For 250 degrees I have the bottom vent open 2 finger widths and the daisy wheel with the small vents open about half way.

At first the smoke will be heavy. When that smoke clears to a just heat coming out, you are ready.

I put my wood chips on at the time that I put my meat on to get the smoke i want

paulheels · November 2011

cheap veggie oil and paper towel. Works great!

paul

4Runner · November 2011

Can't believe you got that Egg in your backseat assembled. Wow.

JerkChicken · November 2011

Thanks for all the help guys, that gives me a better understanding.

@4Runner, yea, the guy at my Egg dealership (Ace Hardware) was really skeptical and almost refused to help me do it. But once I signed the waiver he put it all on me. It just barely fit, I mean, not even an inch to spare. It wasn't totally perfect though, the weight and dimensions of the egg started a small tear in my leather seats :(

I think it was a sort of payback from the Cow Gods for all of the cows that will be cooked on the egg.

GrannyX4 · November 2011

Jerk Chicken, next year you might want to cook at the fest. I had a good time and the setting on the lake is grand.

JerkChicken · November 2011

GrannyX4, If I can get the time off I will definitely cook at next years Eggstravaganza. I was so disappointed that I couldn't make it this year. I was hoping to see some pictures from the event, do you have or know of any?

JerkChicken · November 2011

Found some pics on the other BGE forum...

http://www.greeneggers.com/index.php?option=com_simpleboard&func=view&id=1179347&catid=1

GrannyX4 · December 2011

More pictures.....

http://www.greeneggers.com/index.php?option=com_simpleboard&func=view&id=1178172&catid=1

FxLynch · December 2011

When I bought my Large Egg we sat it assembled in the passenger seat of my Infiniti FX35 and seatbelted it in. They make great passengers lol

Frank

Finally got my egg!

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