Flare ups.

eggteeth · August 2012

Cooked some chicken at 450, came back down to start some steaks. Dome was at 700. I burped it, and opened it up to a huge intense flare up than actually zinged me a little on the wrist below my welders gloves (i'm fine). I countinued to attempt to burp it, then open it and it would do that every time. I even closed the dampers down, waited until it got to abut 475, and it is still had a huge flare up. I finally gave up and used the gas grill.

Any thoughts? I've seared steaks before and never had that issue.

LizzieSamps · August 2012

What was your daisy wheel set at? Opened up at all ?

LizzieSamps · August 2012

Also you can sear on the coals if ya want so you don't have to go so hot.

eggteeth · August 2012

Daisy wheel was on, but wide open when I came back down. I closed the top except for the little holes to try to cool it off just a little before opening it for the first time.

The only things I did differently are use my new woo to raise the grid to the felt line and use grapeseed oil on the chicken instead of olive oil to get the dizzy dust to stick.

nolaegghead · August 2012

700 F dome + copious chicken fat (flashpoint 480 F) = gaseous fat (fat vapor)
gaseous fat + oxygen + fire = FAE (Fuel air explosive)

You had a miniature thermobaric explosion!

Closing the dampers after running hot starves the egg for air, but the heat is still there to vaporize all your fuel. Perfect conditions for flashback.

Solution - catch that fat with a drip tray

U_tarded · August 2012

Flare ups are from a lack of oxygen and then the sudden rush inward, more fire than fuel basically, open bottom vent completely and remove daisy will to help decrease the sudden rush of oxygen into the fire

Eller · August 2012

I have a dumb quasi newbie question. If you want to do a direct cook like chicken for instance, how do you catch the fat drippings without the place setter and a drip pan?

lousubcap · August 2012

I have a dumb quasi newbie question. If you want to do a direct cook like chicken for instance, how do you catch the fat drippings without the place setter and a drip pan?

Basically you don't-so most go raised grid direct and then the occasional flare-up really has no impact on the cook.

Eller · August 2012

I seem to be getting a soot or burned smell and taste to my direct cooks. Lou can you explain a raised grid?

nolaegghead · August 2012

You can always throw it on direct for a while at the end to get crispy skin. You want to do it the easy way - first indirect, catch most of the fat and don't worry about it, then when it's 15F or so below your target internal temp hit it direct and babysit it.

Most of the fat will be sequestered in the drip pan (which you'll have removed) and you'll have less of that bad fat fume taste. Water in the drip pan keeps the drippings cool and in the drip pan.

njl · August 2012

I cooked burgers tonight and made the usual mistake of thinking "its not running that hot, I don't need the pit mitts just to check on how the fire's going" while I was getting it up to temp. I was careful to burp it anyway...just in case. As I did that, I got a puff of smoke out from between the egg halves, and I held it cracked for several seconds. As I opened it further, I felt the back of my hand burning, looked at it, and saw the hair on the back of my fingers curling up and burning. :(

I lost some arm hair during yesterday's cook...didn't notice that one until later.

Is lack of arm/hand hair a badge of egg owners, or noob-sign?

lousubcap · August 2012

I seem to be getting a soot or burned smell and taste to my direct cooks. Lou can you explain a raised grid?

Raised grid is the term used to elevate the cooking grid above the "normal position " atop the fire ring. The grid generally ends up at felt level or above-means to accomplish can include buying another (usually weber) slightly smaller grid and then placing fire bricks, empty beer/soda cans or using bolts and nuts with washers on the main grid and putting the other on top. This gets you into the raised grid cooking style-there are after-market products the will achieve the same thing for major $$ which you may want to explore down the line. You may try the search function to see pics of some of the set-ups described above. Really makes direct cooking a whole lot easier to control.

njl · August 2012

I cooked burgers tonight and made the usual mistake of thinking "its not running that hot, I don't need the pit mitts just to check on how the fire's going" while I was getting it up to temp. I was careful to burp it anyway...just in case. As I did that, I got a puff of smoke out from between the egg halves, and I held it cracked for several seconds. As I opened it further, I felt the back of my hand burning, looked at it, and saw the hair on the back of my fingers curling up and burning. :(

I lost some arm hair during yesterday's cook...didn't notice that one until later.

Is lack of arm/hand hair a badge of egg owners, or noob-sign?

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