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Most effective way to reach nuke temps inside the egg?

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mwraulst
mwraulst Posts: 131
edited January 2012 in EggHead Forum
I seem to be having a problem reaching anything above 550 with the platesetter inverted and the pizza stone atop. I have a medium bge and i separated the lump, starting the fire with a bge firestarter. Any suggestions on how to get this thing super hot, super quick?
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  • stevesails
    stevesails Posts: 990
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    weed burner, or lots of alcohol.

    rubbing that is.

    XL   Walled Lake, MI

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  • bigguy136
    bigguy136 Posts: 1,362
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    How about some fan unit in the lower vent? Maybe an old hair dryer?
    I know my leaf blower got my large to 700° in 5 minutes after I had coals burning.

    Big Lake, Minnesota

    2X Large BGE, 1 Mini Max, Stokers, Adjustable Rig

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  • upnsmoke
    upnsmoke Posts: 60
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    light it in multiple spots (3 to 5 around the center) with a torch. it is actually cheaper (butane $3.50) faster and lasts longer than a box of bge fire-starter. wait until you have multi spots glowing before placing the setter. leave the cap off and the bottom wide open.

    liquid O2 works wonders too (google the video) but not something i would put in mine 8)
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  • stevesails
    stevesails Posts: 990
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    in my experimenting with it, i found a computer fan that would fit into the lower opening and hooked it up to 8 AA bateries. (12 volt) That helped bring it up to a high temp fast too!

     

    XL   Walled Lake, MI

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  • stike
    stike Posts: 15,597
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    mwraulst...  the platesetter is going to make it take much longer to reach nuke temps, especially legs down.  you want airflow, and the platesetter restricts it.  it's also a bit of  a heat sink (though that is eventually overcome)

    use more than one firestarter (if that's what you use), too.  and fresh charcoal always seems to take off quicker.  lighter charcoal too.  cowboy used to be lighter maple, now it seems to be sourced from south america too, as it is very dense and heavy/hard lately.  the lighter cowboy was perfect for quick high temp cooks. 
    ed egli avea del cul fatto trombetta -Dante
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  • jscarfo
    jscarfo Posts: 405
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    I use my Airgun with a long nozzle put it down along side plate setter toward coals
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  • Mickey
    Mickey Posts: 19,674
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    Put in more lump.
    Salado TX & 30A  FL: Egg Family: 3 Large and a very well used Mini, added a Mini Max when they came out (I'm good for now). Plus a couple Pit Boss Pellet Smokers.   

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  • gdenby
    gdenby Posts: 6,239
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    I'm supposing you want to make some pizza, or do some baking. The last baking I did like that, I had some very wet ciabatta type dough. It took awhile, but the dome got to about 500, and stayed there. Eventually, I measured the pizza stone with an IR therm. It was 650. The bread did just fine.

    For pizza it doesn't work so well, 'cause the air needs to be hot too, not just the stone. I don't have a solution for that, but got better results with thin toppings, and cooking right on the 'setter. Real fast, just 2 minutes.

    No way I know to get that heat super fast. FWIW, real wood fired pizza ovens take about 2 weeks to come to temperature.
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  • Crimsongator
    Crimsongator Posts: 5,797
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    If you are going that hot on an indirect cook may I give you one suggestion, be very careful of a flashback. You will need a lot of coals lit to get over 600 indirect and that, combined with a rush or air when opening the lild can be dangerous to the arm hair and eyebrows. Watch the Naked Whiz Video on flashbacks and enjoy, but do so safely.
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  • BakerMan
    BakerMan Posts: 159
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    I have to completly remove my daisy wheel to get enough airflow to go nuclear.  I cook pizza at 650 every week and need to throttle back lower vent to keep from running over 700. 

    Here are (over analyzed) guidelines for controlling Egg temps (but they work):

    http://eggheadforum.com/discussion/comment/1145428#Comment_1145428  

    BakerMan - Purcellville, VA "When its smokin' its cookin', when its black its done"
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  • Theophan
    Theophan Posts: 2,654
    edited January 2012
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    This may seem trivial, and some people insist it's not true, but at least in my own experience the air flow that's just crucial for high temps can be blocked by small bits of lump in the vents, or even by too much really tiny bits of lump all sort of packed in together.  I got one of ThirdEye's wiggle rods, and using it to make sure the air holes in the bottom grate are open, and not plugged by small bits of lump, seems to help a lot.  I use it every time I build a fire, now.  Sometimes I also build the fire with large blocks of lump on the bottom and the smaller ones on the top for the same reason, but most of the time just using the wiggle rod to make sure the air vents aren't blocked seems to do the job.

    Theo
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  • mwraulst
    mwraulst Posts: 131
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    i tried again last night and it seems to be that i need to completely remove the daisy wheel (thanks bakerman). NOT just leave it all the way open, or slid off to the side. My egg seems to prefert the daisy wheel completely off and then i seem the temperature start to ramp up. And by start to ramp up you can watch blue flame shoot out of the top.
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  • stevesails
    stevesails Posts: 990
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    I only use Daisy wheel below 300
    XL   Walled Lake, MI

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  • Crimsongator
    Crimsongator Posts: 5,797
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    p.s. use a hair dryer to infuse air through the bottom draft door. You can go nuke quickly
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