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Newbie questions, just bought brand new XL

easygoinjay
easygoinjay Posts: 29
edited November -1 in EggHead Forum
Howdy all. My name is Jay and I finally took the plunge and bought an XL a couple of days ago. I've been BBQing for a couple of years on the Weber Smokey Mountain and needed a new grill. I decided on the BGE for a number of reasons. I've been researching it for a long time and love it so far. I have a couple of newbie questions for you.

1. I want to cook 3 pork butts on the egg. I can see that they will easily fit on the grate, and I will use a platesetter. I plan on doing a test cook with one butt just to practice low-temp control first. My question is this: Do I need a separate drip pan for each butt? The instructional recipes I've seen have all been for one butt and invlove using a v-rack and drip pan. I don't have 3 of these. Suggestions?

2.Does the XL take longer to heat up than other BGEs? I've heard about how quickly these cookers come up to searing temps, but have to admit that it took longet than I expected the other day. I'm sure I'll get the hang of it, but I'm not sure what to expect.

Thanks in advance,

-Jay

Comments

  • Scott
    Scott Posts: 28
    1. Do I need a separate drip pan for each butt? The instructional recipes I've seen have all been for one butt and invlove using a v-rack and drip pan. I don't have 3 of these. Suggestions?

    I put a large drip pan on the platesetter (legs up), put the grid on the legs above the platesetter, and put the butt(s) on the grid. No v-rack, no seperate drip pans.
    2.Does the XL take longer to heat up than other BGEs?

    I don't have XL only Large, but usually by the time my smoke is clear the egg is up to temp.
  • Avocados
    Avocados Posts: 465
    The V-Rack is not needed to do three butts on your XL.

    You want a large enough drip pan to cover most of the area under the meat so you don't get drippings into the coals as the fat renders. That could mess with your temp control and create a greasy, silty, smoke wich might give unfavorable flavors to the pork. (smaller pans under each work as well)

    The plate setter for the XL is not as deep as on the large. Just make sure that the side of the drip pan aren't so high that it blocks airflow under the grid and around the meat.

    About and inch to and inch and a half depth should be deep enough to easily hold all the grease from three or four butts.

    I like to use large disposable aluminum pans. You can easily trim, bend, and flare the edges wider if needed.

    When bringing your Egg up to temp, start closing down the bottom damper to regulate it about 50 degrees before your desired cooking temp.

    It is much easier to slowly raise the temp than to lower it and fight temoerature swings.

    I do not like to wait long when I want to get up to grilling or "T-Rex" temps so I use one of the big gas weed burner torches to get all the coals glowing within minutes. For low and slow and general cooks a small MAPP gas torch works great.
  • We cook on a Large and an XL (and a Mini) almost every day ..the XL does not seem to take any longer to heat up than the Large ... Just light your fire-starter and close the lid (vents completely open of course) and you'll be up to temp in no time ..don't let it overshoot too far or you'll have a heck of a time getting it down. We use 300 dome for butts with great success.
    Happy Eggin .
  • Tommy
    Tommy Posts: 116
    I'm a fairly new XL owner myself.
    If you put the plate setter on top of the fire ring and then set the grill on top of that you only have 1/2" between the two. I haven't found a drip pan that shallow yet but when I do it will defiantly restrict air flow under the food.
    I just put aluminum foil on the plate setter and let it drip.
    I have tried placing the plate setter under the fire ring to give more room but I don't like it that way, IMP it's to close to the charcoal.
    I think we need a shorter fire ring when using the plate setter.
    Shorter fire ring, plate setter with longer legs.
    Just my opinion though.
  • Hi... We sometimes use an aluminum pizza pan ... it has about a 3/4 " high rim on it ... so it fits nicely ... Also, if you use a Model GX Extended Grid (BGE 's ) on top of the regular grate, you can put an aluminum drip pan under your cooking ... if you go to our website (www.fredsmusicandbbq.com) and click on "RECIPES AND COOKING" and check out "Using your Grid Extender" article and scroll down , you will see our XL in use with the "above the grid" drip pan when we cook chickens w/ potatoes underneath! It works great!
    Fred A. Bernardo , owner of Tasty Licks BBQ Supply in Shillington, Pa. 
  • Thanks for all the answers! So quick, too. I think I just need to practice with how to light lump correctly. I was previously using Rancher lump briquettes, so I'm fairly new at using the chunky stuff. I just cooked some buffalo burger tonight and they were great.
  • WessB
    WessB Posts: 6,937
    Here's a shot of 30# on an an XL

    DSC00030cr.jpg

    If you check out the "pulled pork on the XL" cook in the cooks section of my website, linked below, you can see all of the details of the setup I use....

    And here's 45# that I did recently.....

    xl45.jpg
  • WessB,

    Was this the first cook on this EGG?

    Look at that gasket and the grill. They look brand new.

    Greg
  • WessB
    WessB Posts: 6,937
    No, the first cook was ribs, the day I got it at the Waldorf eggfest.....mighta been the second tho....LOL..
  • WessB
    WessB Posts: 6,937
    The lighting of the virgin.....LOL...

    DSC00036.JPG