Cold weather use of an Big Green Egg

miragemanVT · February 17

I live in a cold climate (Vermont) where winter temps on the deck can be 0-20 degrees at the time when I want to cook. Obviously, the temps have an impact on my ability to attain or maintain temperatures. Has anyone tried wrapping their Egg in a space blanket or some other wrap to keep cold winds and temps from adversely impacting the Egg' s performance?

jaydub58 · February 17

I live in a more moderate area, Willamette Valley of Oregon. However, I have not heard of eggers in much colder areas covering their eggs for performance. I'm sure you'll hear from others about this.

tgkleman · February 17

I have not had an issue with maintaining temperature, or getting the egg very hot for pizza in winter weather. In fact I just pushed the snow off our egg this evening and it fires up and holds temp just like always.

SmokinDAWG82 · February 17

What can I say, I'm in Atlanta

AlbertaEgger · February 17

I have had no issues maintaining steady temps at cooks in -22 F or so.

canegger · February 18

I too have cooked in -22f / -30c. weather and don't have issues cooking steaks at 700 or smoking for hours at a constant temp.

Ragtop99 · February 18

29* and windy as we speak. Ribs will be coming off in 10 minutes. No temp control issues with the egg. in fact cold weather BBQ is the best feature of the egg. Is it easy to do good BBQ on a calm summer day on my Weber, but winter options were limited to high heat grilling.

pgprescott · February 18

It sounds to me as if you might just need to clean out the egg and possibly even take the fire box out to see if ash got between the box and the walls of the egg. Disrupted airflow is really the only detriment to achieving and maintaining temps. This is a huge sales point to the Egg in cold climates in fact. The heat loss through the ceramic Egg is minimal. There will be negligible heat up and cool down time differences.

MrCookingNurse · February 18

SmokinDAWG82 said:
What can I say, I'm in Atlanta

What he said. 40 is cold grilling in Mississippi, 0-20 we are all hiding indoors with milk and bread.

jeroldharter · February 18

I live in Wisconsin. No problems. The egg is much better than my other grills at maintaining temperature in cold weather. It does seem to take a little more oomph to start the fire when its cold but that's no big deal.

hoofaloos · February 18

I cooked pizzas in below zero temps a few weeks ago in Alaska. Fried my gasket at roughly 950° but was easy to maintain 650°. Have done many slow & low overnights in both cold and >50 mph winds and held dome temps of 235° with no problem. This was the main reason for my purchase.

YEMTrey · February 18

I've cooked on mine all winter long and haven't had a problem. It does take a while to get the egg up to temp because the ceramic is the same temp as the outside ambient temp. Which has been on average of 15 degrees last few times I've used it.

ChokeOnSmoke · February 18

No noticeable difference running the egg in the winter versus the summer. I do everything the exact same way...

MrCookingNurse · February 18

@chokeonsmoke

really? cause my vent settings are definitely different when it is hot outside as opposed to when it is cold outside. pretty sure thats to be understood.

daffy1909 · February 18

I live in canada, where the average temp is -25C!!!!with out wind! ive never had a problem with temps!!

:-&

ChokeOnSmoke · February 18

MrCookingNurse said:

@chokeonsmoke

really? cause my vent settings are definitely different when it is hot outside as opposed to when it is cold outside. pretty sure thats to be understood.

Really don't. But I guess I don't pay attention to EXACT vent settings. I just have a good idea where 250, 400, etc are.

bboulier · February 18

One of the nice things about the Egg is that you can cook in any weather. There are wind conditions that preclude a gas or kettle grill, but present no problem for the Egg.

Bear 007 · February 18

°-20 no problem

YnT · February 18

I live at the Eastern side of Siberia Russia, -25C no exception: net problem!

jlsm · February 18

I don't have problems getting screaming hot or holding low in the cold, either, but like @MrCookingNurse my settings are a bit different.

AD18 · February 18

Southern Ontario, Canada here. Did steaks Saturday and ribs/chicken Sunday night with outside temperature hovering around 10F. Maybe took a wee bit longer to get to temp, but not much. I heard one trick once the person used a welders blanket to shield their egg. Supposedly they have high temperature ratings and won't catch fire.

Ragtop99 · February 18

ChokeOnSmoke said:

MrCookingNurse said:

@chokeonsmoke

really? cause my vent settings are definitely different when it is hot outside as opposed to when it is cold outside. pretty sure thats to be understood.

Really don't. But I guess I don't pay attention to EXACT vent settings. I just have a good idea where 250, 400, etc are.

Same. I'm sure the difference on the bottom vent might be 1/8" more open at 250* on a very cold day compared to a hot summer day; just like on a windy day it might be 1/8" more closed than on a calm day. I just work the vents down to where I know they are close and fine tune from there.

J_Que · February 18

MrCookingNurse said:

@chokeonsmoke

really? cause my vent settings are definitely different when it is hot outside as opposed to when it is cold outside. pretty sure thats to be understood.

I live in PA and also use differen't vent settings for winter vs summer.

hondabbq · February 20

I just got my egg last October I hae only used it about 10 times before the cold Canadian winter hit. I am scared to use it in the dead of winter, heat and cold dont mix, or so I thought. Didnt want to crack it.

tgkleman · February 20

MrCookingNurse said:

@chokeonsmoke

really? cause my vent settings are definitely different when it is hot outside as opposed to when it is cold outside. pretty sure thats to be understood.

Since cold air is denser, I would think that the vents would need to be shut down more in winter than in summer to achieve the same temperature. Denser air has more oxygen per unit volume, thus you need less of it to (compared to warmer air) to maintain the combustion.

U_tarded · February 21

tgkleman said:

MrCookingNurse said:

@chokeonsmoke

really? cause my vent settings are definitely different when it is hot outside as opposed to when it is cold outside. pretty sure thats to be understood.

Since cold air is denser, I would think that the vents would need to be shut down more in winter than in summer to achieve the same temperature. Denser air has more oxygen per unit volume, thus you need less of it to (compared to warmer air) to maintain the combustion.

true but to heat the thermal mass of the ceramic and maintain it at temp when your ambient is less you need a bigger fire to get it and keep it at temp.

FlashkaBob · February 21

hondabbq said:

I just got my egg last October I hae only used it about 10 times before the cold Canadian winter hit. I am scared to use it in the dead of winter, heat and cold dont mix, or so I thought. Didnt want to crack it.

If the space shuttle's heat shields can handle the temps from space, enter into the earths atmosphere and go from 100* below 0 to 1000* above 0, I don't think our cold Canadian Climate is gonna mean squat to the egg. They are made of the same material. Besides, you have a lifetime warranty if it does.

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Cold weather use of an Big Green Egg

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