FIRE IT UP!

TheEasyLife · February 4

I received my XL BGE New Years Eve and the store prodly placed it in the table I made for it out of my neighbor's old workbench. I had incorporated a tile and the table nest into the plans so the egg should sit just perfectly. I was about a quarter of an inch off on the shelf height and the hinge would just touch the back of the table but that wasn't going to prevent me from firing it up. I would takle that little mishap later.

I used the 12 times over the next few weeks. No high temp anything. A few low and slows some chicken, hot dogs etc. When it came time to fix my table for the hinge problem, I had my neighbor help me lift the egg out of its hole in the table. Its a heavy son of a gun. I removed the table nest and pulled up the tile and the shelf was discolored to a deep brown, obviously from the heat. I thought the tile may be retaining heat and causing the burn instead of helping to reflect it. I made my adjustments to the table and put the egg back in without the tile, just the tablenest. I ran the egg for another two weeks give or take a night or two. I noticed the table was getting black/burnt underneath. Remember my egg has not been above 550 yet.

At this time my egg was at 450F so I decided to get some readings with an IR Thermometer. I shot the outside of the egg just below the thermometer and got a reading of 283F. I shot the table below the egg and got 305F. I shot the shelf from the underside directly below the egg and got 105F. I put firebrick under the egg which meant pulling out the egg again and put the egg back in on the table nest and fire brick. My next reading was when the egg temp was 425 and the firebrick was 285 and the shot from under the shelf was 95F.

I know its a grill and I know its suppose to get hot but I think that these temps on a 450F grill seem high. How do people use theirs at 700F for pizza. My table would be on fire. Does anyone else experience these extreme temps? Do I happen to have a defunct egg? Just dont want to burn the house down.

Sorry I have no pictures and lifting the XL out to get some is a big pain in the arse. I will take some the next time its out. (On a side note - the food has been phoenominal.)

Any suggestions?

Michael

gdenby · February 4

I heard the newer Eggs don't come w. the little green "feet." And if I'm reading your post correctly, it seems your Egg is sitting directly on tile or fire brick, not on the spacers/feet on the tile/fire brick. If so, that would be the problem. There needs to be a gap between the bottom of the Egg and the stone under it.

henapple · February 4

Imho and I'm not being a smart #&@...if it's burning the table it doesn't matter what the temp is...you need something under it. I've seen pics on this forum before. You probably need air between the table and egg. For brick will transfer heat. Good luck...maybe a table nest.

SmokinDAWG82 · February 4

He said he had a table nest which would give him 2-3 inches between the bottom of the egg and the fire brick, so something does not add up. As with cooks I think we need to see a picture of his setup to determine a course of remedy

TheEasyLife · February 4

SmokinDAWG82 said:

He said he had a table nest which would give him 2-3 inches between the bottom of the egg and the fire brick, so something does not add up. As with cooks I think we need to see a picture of his setup to determine a course of remedy

I will try and get one tonight. Thats what I thought - something does not seem right. You cant even hardly touch the outside of the egg without burning the crap out of yourself.

As for qdenby and hanapple - if you read my post I already have it on a table nest which raises the egg much higher than the little green feet. And the XL does not come with feet anymore..

nolaegghead · February 4

I have the air gap (little green feet) and under that a big-ass 18" x 1.5" cement paver. Seems to do the trick. I started out with an old pizza stone (maybe 1/2" thick). Fortunately that broke and I noticed I had a burned spot on the shelf. Glad I checked.

You can put a radiant barrier over your brick (on top of it) - simple as a couple sheets of aluminum foil, a piece of sheet metal or you can buy some. That will reflect most of that radiant heat away from the shelf.

U_tarded · February 4

Check your dome thermo too, I know at like 500 and below I can touch mine without being burnt. Only thing that gets really hot to touch is the lower stainless vent.

cortguitarman · February 4

Like Nola, I have a big paver under mine with no problems. As for the feet, the XL didn't come with feet even when they came with the rest of the eggs.

TheEasyLife · February 6

I purchased a reflective heat fabric highlighted in yellow here: http://www.firesleeveandtape.com/AB-Thermal-catalog-F-RHR.pdf. It is suppose to reflect 95% of heat and withstand temps up to 1000F. I asked the rep if I could place it under my tile (kinds ugly looking so I wanted to hide it) and she said that it would be fine and should have no problems protecting the shelf from the egg as long as it is not exposed to direct flame.

Below is a picture of my setup. from the bottom up I have: shelf, protective fabric, tile, rubber feet (to prevent nest from sliding on tile), table nest, then egg. I have not fired up the grill since the addition of the fabric but would imagine that the temp on the tile should be a bit higher since the fabric is reflecting the heat from the tile instead of being absorbed into the wood.

I still have concerns on how hot everything is though. Utarded said he can touch the outer dome at 500 with out being burnt and there is no way I can do that. Also BGE recommends a table nest or a paver under the egg. For added security use both. I have both and my wood was burnt and the temp readings were very high.

Does anyone else have this problem? Do I have a defective egg? I dont have another to compare it to but do know that this past weekend I did a brisket at 215F and the dome was too hot to touch. It just seems odd to me. Anyone have any temp readings they can shae?

Michael

U_tarded · February 6

Have you calibrated your dome thermo? 212 in boiling water

Mickey · February 6

@henapple

"Imho and I'm not being a smart #&@... " I just don't have anything to add to those words.

SmokinDAWG82 · February 6

1. Calibrate the Dome Thermo - 212 in boiling water
2. That's a fairly thin tile under your egg - Take a look at some other table pics and compare

Look at this one, he has a 2" paver and 2" of Limestone http://eggheadforum.com/discussion/1148184/stonecedar-table#latest

Skiddymarker · February 6

Two things. First the table nest should provide an adequate "air shield" against charring your table, that's why BGE makes it. I haven't checked mine, but the tile under my MBGE on a table nest is just warm to the touch no matter what the cook. (granted a medium has considerably less fire in it than an XL) I'll check it with the infrared next cook. I can touch the dome without hearing a sizzle as well. If I understand your post, with a dome thermo of 450, the dome exterior is at almost 300. Seems hot to me, but then I've never checked mine.

Secondly, do you clean it out after every cook? IMHO, you should have a bit of ash in the bottom, under the fire grate, maybe as much as 1/2" to 1" thick. The ash acts as an incredible insulator and will not affect airflow for the cook.

Maybe others with an infrared can advise what the temp is under the egg when raised on a table nest.

TheEasyLife · February 6

Dome thermometer was calibrated. I also had a probe on the grate that was within 5 degrees of dome temp.

I think with the heat protective fabric my wood should be fine from here on out. I will have to take some temps from under the shelf the next time I fire it up which will probably be this weekend. :(

I tried a 1.5" firebrick under it and it made little difference on the shelf temp (shot from underneath) If I go four inches (Like smokinDawg82's link suggested) my egg will be too high and I am raising it with the table nest 2" anyway.

I just think it should retain heat better. I did notice during my brisket cook that the first few hours it stayed at 215 then it started jumping around from 207 to 238. At these themps dome was too hot to touch.

I would be interested in any temp readings from others with the egg and preferrably an XL. It seems odd to me that whatever I set it on will be faced with 300F heat after raising it on the nest. I would expect those temps on a 700F + egg with a full firebox but not at the lower temps I am cooking. My shelf should be reading the same as the ambient air temp.

So if anyone can give some temp readings from under a nest so that I may compare my findings to see if I am out a whack or just following the norm, I would appreciate that.

Michael

TheEasyLife · February 13

Secondly, do you clean it out after every cook? IMHO, you should have a bit of ash in the bottom, under the fire grate, maybe as much as 1/2" to 1" thick. The ash acts as an incredible insulator and will not affect airflow for the cook.

I dont clean it out every cook. Probably clean it every 4-5 cooks. I can try your idea leaving some in there

TheEasyLife · February 13

Here are some new temp pics. The temp under the glowing coals was 174 on the tile. You can see the temp on the dome thermometer vs the infared one. Outside is very hot. This was taken with a 1/2 full XL lump reducing ring burning. Not a full load.

Anyone elses read like this?

Solson005 · February 13

Wow, I have a large and its in a nest not a table nest so I can't answer your exact questions but I don't think mine ever gets that hot outside of the dome. I will use my IR next time I cook and report back.

I know that is way hotter than my small gets. I had the IR out checking temps of my eggCARTen to make sure I could keep it on a wooden stool and it was fine for a 375° 3 hour turkey cook. But can also fit it inside the firering of your XL..

Have you called or emailed BGE headquarters and asked them if that is normal for the XL? Their customer service is awesome and could probably point you in the right direction.

TheEasyLife · February 13

I havn't yet. I did not know if this was normal or not. So I thought I would check here first. I was actually surprised it was about 70F lower than before but it also wasn't running as long as before. I shot it almost right after it stabilized close to 450. I did not shoot one after the cook to see if it went up. I'll try that next time.

paqman · February 14

Maybe it's because you have an XL but you seem to have way more glowing embers underneath the fire grate than I usually have with my large!?

U_tarded · February 14

paqman said:

Maybe it's because you have an XL but you seem to have way more glowing embers underneath the fire grate than I usually have with my large!?

i noticed the embers too, i only get that when i am going nuclear. and i wiggle rod the grate a lot. but i only have a large

nolaegghead · February 14

TheEasyLife said:

I purchased a reflective heat fabric highlighted in yellow here: http://www.firesleeveandtape.com/AB-Thermal-catalog-F-RHR.pdf. It is suppose to reflect 95% of heat and withstand temps up to 1000F. I asked the rep if I could place it under my tile (kinds ugly looking so I wanted to hide it) and she said that it would be fine and should have no problems protecting the shelf from the egg as long as it is not exposed to direct flame.

Below is a picture of my setup. from the bottom up I have: shelf, protective fabric, tile, rubber feet (to prevent nest from sliding on tile), table nest, then egg. I have not fired up the grill since the addition of the fabric but would imagine that the temp on the tile should be a bit higher since the fabric is reflecting the heat from the tile instead of being absorbed into the wood.

I still have concerns on how hot everything is though. Utarded said he can touch the outer dome at 500 with out being burnt and there is no way I can do that. Also BGE recommends a table nest or a paver under the egg. For added security use both. I have both and my wood was burnt and the temp readings were very high.

Does anyone else have this problem? Do I have a defective egg? I dont have another to compare it to but do know that this past weekend I did a brisket at 215F and the dome was too hot to touch. It just seems odd to me. Anyone have any temp readings they can shae?

Michael

Michael, it sounds like that is a radiant barrier. They're lousy insulators - they're designed to reflect heat. To do that, they need to have an air space on the hot side - so you should move the barrier above the tile. It will make a HUGE difference. I'm a total geek on insulation, trust me here.

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