Older Egg won't get hot. Howcum?

JDP · January 2012

I trade cooking ideas with a buddy of mine. The subject turned to steak on the BGE. I touted the TRex method of steaks but he said he couldn't do it. Said his egg would not go above 450*. That piqued my interest so I headed to his house with an 1 1/2 thick ribeye, a calibrated thermometer, and a fresh bag of BGE lump.

His first problem was that he was not using enough charcoal. I filled the box with unused charcoal and we lit it up. Replaced his thermometer with mine and let it rip. An hour later all I could get out of his egg was around 700*. Airflow was good, we had completely cleaned the ashes, even the ones under the removeable bottom section. I have to think it was the egg.

I've got the latest egg and he has an old one, he doesn't know how old. It does not have the daisy wheel adjuster and the lid has a lever to lock it in the upright position.

So what's the deal? My egg will easily do 1000* (well not easily, but it will do it), his identical model won't go above 700*.

TxAg93 · January 2012

I'm new to the forum and a new LBGE owner as well, so you may have already thought of these points. I wonder if the egg isn't sealing around the gaskets. Was there any smoke coming out from there? Or perhaps it is drawing in air there and not getting to the fire below?

Lit · January 2012

Is his a small? A friend of mine in the hood has the same egg you are talking about with the locking band in a large and it burys the thermometer at 750.

The Naked Whiz · January 2012

I have a 2001 Egg with the autolock hinge and I can get as hot as I want. You might want to measure the diameter of the top vent, and the dimensions of the lower vent for fun. Also, what type of grate does he have? Another problem could be if there is a gap between the wall of the Egg and the firebox, allowing some air to flow up the sides of the Egg instead of through the fire.

Hungry Joe · January 2012

Post a picture of the egg so we can see what your working with.

JDP · January 2012

Firebox may be the problem. I seem to recall that flames were coming outside the box. Aparently the problem is with the air flow. I'll get with him and work on it. Thanks for the posts.

JDP

stike · January 2012

if it is not used frequently, it can take a while to drive out moisture in the ceramics.

whichever egg i use most is the one which heats fastest. leave it alone for a month, it becomes the slower one

DIXIEDOG · January 2012

Did you double check that the firebox slot was lined up well with the lower draft door?

Hillbilly-Hightech · January 2012

Aside from the advice given about how to heat up the Egg to those temps, perhaps another way to approach the issue is to NOT have to worry about heating to those temps in the first place.

For instance, I have a smaller grate I use for searing steaks - I place it directly over the coals (which is as hot as - well, whatever temp charcoal burns at) - that way I don't have to worry about trying to get the Egg up to (and then back down from) those really high temps.

HTH,
Rob

stike · January 2012

HH is right, when all is said and done.

an egg with a 250 dome temp still is still around a thousand degrees at the lump. there's just not a lot of thousand degree lump going.

if you are at 400, and close to the lump, you're still searing at 'nuke' temps.

because the lump is much hotter

JDP · January 2012

Thanks for the quick responses. It was the firebox. He had disassembled the egg to put into a table and had not lined up the slot on the firebox. Problem solved!

Gravytrain84 · January 2012

Thanks for the quick responses. It was the firebox. He had disassembled the egg to put into a table and had not lined up the slot on the firebox. Problem solved!

Excuse my ignorance but the fire box slit is supposed to be lined up with the bottom air vent? Ive never checked that on mine.

FxLynch · January 2012

I believe he means the opening to the firebox, the big cut out that you remove ashes from. If it isn't lined up with the bottom sliding vent you can't get airflow to the firebox properly.

Frank

Hungry Joe · January 2012

I'd be surprised if it really made all that much of a difference but certainly it can only help.

I'm not suprised tweev thinks that.

Glad you got it figured out JDP.

Hungry Joe · January 2012

NP tip

Popsicle · January 2012

I don't know how old this egg is but some of the older ones are made of clay and can't take the high heat. I got my old clay model to about 600 and cracked it in several places. Still use it for low and slow and for keeping things warm.

Popsicle

Older Egg won't get hot. Howcum?

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