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How I unclogged my grate after my egg was lit

arango1
arango1 Posts: 10
edited January 2012 in EggHead Forum
Hello,
This has probably already been discussed but I thought I would just tell my story.

I was having issues getting my egg past 300 tonight, even after I  'swriled' my old charcoal around to make sure the smaller ash fell through.

 

When the coals were going at 300 what do you to to fix a clogged grate?, I simply looked into the ash compartment (I said ash, hehe) I noticed that a few of the holes on the bottom of the grate were full blown amber, like the exhaust of a rocket ship, and some holes were just dark.

I took my pig tail tool and started to poke the dark holes, ash fell through the holes and I got them all to glow.  As soon as I did that, my temperature began to skyrocket!



Thought I'd share that... not sure if anyone has any other tips.

Comments

  • SteveWPBFL
    SteveWPBFL Posts: 1,327
    Ignition, fuel, and oxygen. Once you light the charcoal then you need to feed it with air!
  • Botch
    Botch Posts: 15,427
    I've been egging for about eight months now, and there's talk about the "wiggle rods", even pics, but I've never quite understood how they were used.  Your post clarified it, thanks!
     
    Oh, and Welcome!  
    _____________

    "I mean, I don't just kill guys, I'm notorious for doing in houseplants."  - Maggie, Northern Exposure


  • I use the handle of high-tech rusty slip-joint pair of plyers as a wiggle-rod to clear the fire-box holes before every cook.  It's habit now and and only takes a minute or two.  One less thing to worry about.  I'm sure a piece of coat-hanger would work just as well.

    My actuary says I'm dead.
  • njl
    njl Posts: 1,123
    I have a section of coat hanger I've used for this...but it's too flimsy to do much wiggling of the grate.  It works fine for poke/clearing individual holes.  OTOH, I've swapped out my grate for a HI-Que, but haven't used the egg yet with it.  This grate's supposed to be pretty much clog-proof.
  • Jasper
    Jasper Posts: 378
    I have a set of skewers, the kind with a metal handle, that I don't use so much since getting Firewire and I use one of them as a wiggle rod. I put about a 2-3" 90 degree bend at the top and it works great.