Big Green Egg’s new 3 grate contraption

okesmokie · July 2006

Friday night I am Going to try the Big Green Egg’s new 3 grate contraption that they are making now and have some questions from you experts. Going to cook 2-thirteen lb briskets on the bottom two and an 8lb butt on the top. The briskets seem ok. The butt on the top looks to pretty well fill up the top, looking down from the top there is probably ½ inch between the egg and butt. My question is, what about the air circulation with the butt taking up most of the top space and I don’t think its touching anywhere.
Thanks in advance
okesmokie

Unknown · July 2006

okesmokie, I ought not reply since I have no relative experience, but common sense tells me the cooker will be overcrowded for proper heat circulation. Others very may well not agree. If you go ahead with all three items, please post your results as it will be interesting to know the outcome.

Chubby · July 2006

okesmokie,[p]Sounds crowded to me as well!![p]Evans[p]

AZRP · July 2006

okesmokie,
I think I would be more concerned with what is going to happen to all the grease. Can you use a drip pan with that setup? -RP

Unknown · July 2006

okesmokie,[p]I would be concerned with anything past the part that is casug the indirect cook, be it a plate setter or drop pan. You may dry out that area of the meat. Personally, I would do two cooks. But that's just me, just another reason to buy another case of beer...LOL[p]Howard

okesmokie · July 2006

AZRP, yes but it will have to be down on the plate setter below all the meat. i mean whats this good for if you cant load it up?

Unknown · July 2006

okesmokie,[p]Trust the egg, we tested this new system for more than 16 months. During testing I cooked 65 chicken thighs at one time, 8 butts on a different cook, then one level of country style ribs one level of pork tenderloins and one level of spare ribs....never had a problem, all worked well. You will have a lot of fun with this new system, enjoy.[p]John Creel
R&D Big Green Egg

okesmokie · July 2006

Howard, i will ask you the same question i ask azrp whats this thing good for if you cant load it up and if it dont work i will be asking BGE the same question

Grill With Bill · July 2006

Where can I get myself one of these? They sound interesting.

Bill

fishlessman · July 2006

<p />okesmokie,
is the butt boneless, can you squash it flatter or open it up more butterflied like. the big problem is temp control. first there is no place inside to get a good temp reading so you need to make sure that the temps are well stabilized and maybe consider starting at a higher than normal dome temp. dont believe dome or grill temps for a few hours as the cold meat just gives you false readings. you may find later you have to have your vents open to all the way to maintain cooking temps, and then you will have to close them a little at a time hourly as the meat shrinks causing airflow to rise. this was my hardest cook in the egg, not the same config as yours but very similar. didnt get any sleep on this one, and i really dont think a guru could help much as it would be chasing false temp readings. the cook came out great, though, a little stressful

okesmokie · July 2006

John Creel, thanks John no complants what so ever. if i had to right this thing off i would still say the Bge is still the best.

fishlessman · July 2006

John Creel,
posting some of those cooks here would go a long ways to selling those grills

Unknown · July 2006

okesmokie,[p]The thing about the egg is that wow factor. Have you ever seen a product that really does what it is made to do and do it so well? I wish we could get all our customers more involved with our testing but it would be so hard and who would we pick to help? I hope to see you all this year at Eggtoberfest and if you can make the Friday night event please do, we have a good time. I'll try to do a better job at keeping everyone up to date with what we are doing and what we are testing. See you at Eggtoberfest.[p]John

thirdeye · July 2006

<p />okesmokie,[p]I can't comment on the design of the new grate system, but I'm curious about the length of your briskets. I do a lot of them at #13 to #14 and they are usually too long for my Egg unless I drape one over the V rack for several hours until they shrink. The one above was 23" and only weighed #13. Will yours fit on the Egg?[p]~thirdeye~

fishlessman · July 2006

thirdeye,
ive only done a few big briskets, i put the thick side toward the rear and just pushed it in scrunching it to fit, after they shink i didnt see much problem. some might put a little clean foil along the inside edge of the egg if it bothered them much.

okesmokie · July 2006

fishlessman, the butt is not bonelss but, i feel sure its not toching anywhere. i thought i would attach the guru to the middle grill one of the brisket and my et73 to the butt at the top and and set the guru at about 140 until the egg tablalizes and then trend it down to (guru) about 210 or 215 until the meat it out of danger of spoiling
thanks for your response

AZRP · July 2006

okesmokie,
Absolutely, post the results, pics if possible, I gotta get me one of those. -RP

okesmokie · July 2006

fishlessman, thats good advice. you guys are the best and i ment in my other post set the guru at 240 not 140

fishlessman · July 2006

okesmokie,
what i noticed with this cook is that i was holding about 225 at the second grill level, but the fire underneath looked like a 500 degree fire to maintain temps with all that cold meat. i was concerned with burning the probe wires so i changed over and maintained temps thru the dome for a while. the dome reading was not even close to accurate, so i just maintained things for a while until the meat started to shrink. the briskets were done at about 12 hours and the pork was about 14 hours so my temps couldnt have been as far off as they read. all pieces were close to 8 pounds each. it wasnt much of a concern, just better to be aware, have fun

okesmokie · July 2006

AZRP, guys i am sorry i dont do pictures and i enjoy pictures as much as anyone and i guess i need to get into the picture business as i might be able to help someone else sometime. but i will post the results and i am determend to try this.

drbbq · July 2006

thirdeye,[p]I cook 14-15 pounders all the time. Just sqiuish them up and they'll shrink to fit. I once had an 18 pounder that wouldn't fit but I had an XL to cook it on. Man that baby was good too and it didn't win diddley.

KBuck · July 2006

okesmokie, FWIW I've crammed two butts into a Medium using a platesetter below. This tight fit might be similar to what you will be attempting. I take a little extra time to stablalize and the cooks go great, really good crust too. And watch out for the thermometer when you close the lid.[p][p]This is my first attempt at a photo here, fingers crossed.

Why1504 · July 2006

okesmokie,[p]As we speak I am waiting on my 3 tier grate. However, I do many large cooks, (45lb of butts in one load or 8 slabs or ribs). The key thing when cooking large amounts is to rotate the food. Now, it is my understanding that the 3 tier rack will minimumize the the need for food rotation. I plan to give a full review once it arrives. I will be cooking chicken wings and my smoked salmon

okesmokie · July 2006

KBuck, thanks and i was wondering if the grese was a problem and it look as crowed as your picture is you would know and you did great on the photo.

okesmokie · July 2006

thirdeye, all i cand find in the packer trim here is the 12-15 and i try for 13 and they touch the egg on both sides but that hasnt bothered me as they are great when done. i dont cook them on a v rack but flat on the grill

61chev · July 2006

okesmokie, Jump right in with both feet on the pics if I can do it anybody can all these good people will help it's alot of fun
Gerry

thirdeye · July 2006

okesmokie,[p]I drape long briskets over a V rack or a rib rack, to shorten it a couple of inches on each end. This prevents any crispies on the ends that stick out beyond the plate setter. After a few hours when they have shrunk a little, I take the rack out and lay the brisket flat. [p]I was just wondering if you were planning anything like that or if you just stuffed them in. Sounds like DrBBQ does them the same way you do.[p]~thirdeye~

AZRP · July 2006

okesmokie,
Hope it goes well, I just called and ordered one. -RP

kjed · July 2006

I feel like I'm the last one to the party; I had no idea there was a new 3-tiered grid setup available. Is there a picture and/or product info and price available anywhere?[p]Thanks,
Keith

drbbq · July 2006

thirdeye,[p]If I see that an edge is teking a heat beating I just move the brisket a little to get it in the safe zone. If you angle it and look at the plate setter it usually works out. Shrinkage is your friend.

okesmokie · July 2006

kjed, they cost $45 plus another $35 i think for the 2 inch fire ring that you have to have. the total cost was a few pennys over $101 shiping and all and you purchase them from big green egg.[p]

Big Green Egg’s new 3 grate contraption

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