Raised direct

Raised direct is when you use something to lift the grate higher above the coals, usually near the felt line or above it. There are a number of ways to achieve this. I happen to use 3 fire bricks in my large for a raised direct cook.

fence0407 said:

Raised direct is when you use something to lift the grate higher above the coals, usually near the felt line or above it. There are a number of ways to achieve this. I happen to use 3 fire bricks in my large for a raised direct cook.

Could you please post a photo of this set up? Thanks.

Thank you-wanted to see how you balanced the bricks.

I'm using 3 cheap metal angle brackets I found at Lowes. 

Until I get a PSWOO2-CI

I use the Woo on my XL.  Here is my custom grid for raised direct on my medium

I use two cooking grates. I lay the bricks on top of the bottom cooking grate, then put the bricks on in a triangle configuration, then put a grate on top of the bricks. The bottom cooking grate prevents the bricks from accidentally falling onto the lump.

question about cooking chicken raised direct.

Before I owned a BGE, I tried cooking 4 leg quarters once on my gasser.
I wasn't babysitting it, so when I went out to check on it and turn them over, I discovered I had massive flaming action going on under the hood.  Chicken fat had become an auxiliary fuel source, so regardless of my grills turned down to medium, I was burning dinner.  Needless to say, we had a change in dinner plans that night.

So, I'm guessing that the BGE doesn't have this problem.  With burn rate being controlled by air flow (aka oxygen flow), that the drippings while becoming additional fuel upon landing on the coals, the big flame up can't happen due to oxygen starvation.  You just end up with charcoal & chicken fat being the fuel source.

Can a more experienced Egger comment on my thoughts please?

I used three bricks for a while.

So I am guessing with raised direct, the meat cooks quicker?

DMW said:

@Zmokin

You are correct. The egg is an oxygen controlled fire. Same deal with burger drippings.

One thing to note...When you remove the chicken from the grill and shut down the egg, the chicken fat that dripped into the lump will be there for next time. Don't go bake bread or dessert or anything else you don't want to have a smokey flavor with that leftover fuel.

Don't ask me how I know...

After I pull the chicken or cook anything really fatty, I'll open up the egg and let the fire burn off some of that crap.  2 or 3 minutes at 500 - 600* normally gets rid of the grease that dripped and cleans off the grate too.  

Raised direct gives a great and even cook as the meat gets radiant heat without getting directly burned by flames.  Chicken skin does particularly well with this at 375-400.  When the grid is lower, whatever is facing down has a tendency to get charred and cook unevenly depending on where the flare-ups occur. 

News2u said:

Point well taken, Michael.

I was just jerkin' Mickey's chain.

@Carolina Q‌ I was thinking the same thing.

@Chetscapes‌-Direct= Grid is directly on the fire ring. Raised Direct= Grid is raised or elevated to gasket level or higher. Direct does well for searing and very short cooks. Examples- Searing steaks, thin pork chops, kabobs, skewered shrimp etc, etc..... Things that will be cooked very fast or just seared. Raised direct is great for longer cooks as it helps prevent scorching. Examples- Spatchcocked chicken, thicker chops, cedar planked salmon etc.... Raised direct also makes it much easier to access your food.

Raised direct is a great option as stated above. I used bricks from Home Depot for a while to go raised but after one fell in the fire and clanked on my firebox when I was adding wood chips, I decided maybe I should try something that wouldn't damage my egg. I made a couple of these out of Weber grates and stainless bolts, nuts, and washers for a few bucks from Home Depot. I think the stainless grid for $6 (was on closeout) and the hardware cost me $8 or something like that. (Please pardon the spatchcock chicken still stuck to the grid) The nice thing about this one is that it's still small enough that I can cook on two levels (nice for apps like ABTs and wings) on my MBGE with the platesetter in place or I can just put it on top of the stock grid for raised direct. I would like to have a Woo for my MBGE but I get by with this just fine. Hope this helps.