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New Egg

bwalek
bwalek Posts: 2
edited January 2012 in EggHead Forum
I just purchased the XL....anything specific i should do before my first use.  The dealer suggested to heat it up to 250-300 for a few hours with nothing on it before 1st use.  Any suggestions would be great.  Thanks

Comments

  • travisstrick
    travisstrick Posts: 5,002
    deff do a low bake for your first time. (I burnt my gasket off on my second cook.)

    I think a spatchcock chicken is the eaisest and best first cook to do. 

    welcome and enjoy
    Be careful, man! I've got a beverage here.
  • I agree a spatchcocked chicken is easy and very good.  I would load it up and burn it for a few hours playing with the vents to see how the temp can rise and lower very accurately.  Just remember, it doesn't take much adjustment to jump the grill up 50 degrees.  It is all in the placement of the bottom vent.  I run mine up to 400 on my first couple cooks and didn't have a problem.  Cooked burgers and chicken breast.  Spatchcocked chicken does good with a raised grid direct with dome at 375 to 400.  5 pound bird takes 45 minutes to an hour.

    Good luck...welcome and congrats.
    Large BGE Dyersburg TN
  • Just did a spatchcock chicken. Injected apple juice and dry rubbed with  a Lime Chili dry rub,Cooked 30-20-10 with a raised grate direct. Absolutly Phenominal, Sorry no pics
    LET'S EAT
  • Mickey
    Mickey Posts: 19,669
    edited January 2012
    No matter if you cook 200 or 600 your gasket is gone. 80%+ are failing no matter what. It is the only downside of the egg, it is going to happen so just cook. Cooking at a low temp will not season in your gasket.
    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.   

  • Chubbs
    Chubbs Posts: 6,929
    Rookie question but how do you know when gasket failing? Leaking smoke? Can't get temp up? What is the best replacement gasket?
    Columbia, SC --- LBGE 2011 -- MINI BGE 2013
  • IrishDevl
    IrishDevl Posts: 1,390
    I went with a full cook immediately, didn't do any burn or anything like that.  Chubbs, just look at the gasket and you can tell it is destroyed, will just look terrible - doesn't take long - the gasket it comes with is horrible.  I also noticed it took longer to get my grill up in temp.  I went with a nomex high heat gasket and it has been perfect, my grill gets hot very quickly now. Can get them at amazon or high-que website.  Pretty easy to replace, just scrape off the old gasket, I was sure the rim was fully cleaned and put on the nomex, I kept the lid down for 12 hours and no problem.  I don't see why BGE doesn't just put a high heat gasket on and jack up the price $25-30 or something.  As Mickey stated, really the only negative against the egg
  • DMurf
    DMurf Posts: 481
    Mine indicator as flames shooting up around the dome. From what I have seen on the board is excessive smoke coming out from the seam, hard to put the fire out when you close up, and the gasket will get that crispy, crunchy look to it.

    As for a replacement, I burned mine up within the first months of BGE ownership and contacted the Mothership and Bruce sent me a high temp gasket, have not had another problem since and have run everything from low and slow to pegging the dome gauge.

    Now I must admit that when I burned out my gasket I had the platesetter in place to do pizza and let the egg runaway, all vents full open. That put the flame path right at the seam where the gasket was.
    David
    BBQ since 2010 - Oh my, what I was missing.
  • gdenby
    gdenby Posts: 6,239
    Having lost the gasket on both my Eggs when they were less than 4 days old, and then having burnt thru more, here's what I think happens to new gaskets.

    I believe the felt gasket material is not really air tight at first. It slows and gasses, but they are penetrating the material. There is a good chance that a high temp cook will eat into the felt, especially if the the platesetter and pizza stone are deflecting 800 F heat straight at it.

    With repeated uses, 2 things happen. The felt packs down, and becomes more dense. More importantly, it gets gunked up with grease and soot. I think the gunk is actually what forms the real seal.  My current gaskets are 2 years old. Both are black rings of crust. Only one is leaking slightly. When I last replaced them, the hardest thing to scrape off was the soot accumulation right at the inside edge.

    If you ease into higher temp cooks, there is a better chance to keep the gasket, but they will inevitabley wear away.
  • Mickey
    Mickey Posts: 19,669
    Rookie question but how do you know when gasket failing? Leaking smoke? Can't get temp up? What is the best replacement gasket?
    Just do not replace the gasket. Have 3 without and work just fine.
    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.   

  • joe@bge
    joe@bge Posts: 394
    Welcome Bwalek...your gonna love it.  I jumped right in and did steaks for my first cook.  I am going on two years on my eggs and I have only replaced one gasket and it wasn't that bad and I do 2 to 3 cooks per week on avg.  I personally think that the placesetter legs down with a pizza stone is the hardest on the gasket - someone already mentioned this is deflecting high heat directly at the gasket.  A pork butt is a forgiving cook to start with.  Spatchcock is awesome...if you are unfamiliar - look up Naked Whiz's site.  Good luck....have fun...cook...and post pics!
  • mustgrill
    mustgrill Posts: 141
    edited February 2012

    Hello all,

    Mustgrill here. New to the EHF.  I got a new egg and my first cook is a 11 lb pork butt. I rub with my spice mix I call Red Eye Rub mixed with dark brown sugar. I also got a digiq dx2. Both egg and controller are running  as everyone said they would. It's now 13.5 hours into the cook. I have not opened the egg and it's killing me. Meat is at 162 and egg is at 226.

    Located in Western North Carolina
  • boatbum
    boatbum Posts: 1,273

    Looks like you are on track, just waiting it out.

    Cookin in Texas
  • IrishDevl
    IrishDevl Posts: 1,390
    Welcome Mustgrill, 13.5 hrs in and at 162 - stubborn pork ain't she.