searing temperature

David · June 2002

How do you get your eggs up to the high temperature that some people claim - like 700 degrees. The highest I can get mine is about 450 degrees. I use lump charcoal and follow the standard egg lighting directions. Thanks.

Mr Beer · June 2002

David,
Basically you need a lot of air flow to get the high temps. Larger pieces of lump will work better than smaller ones. Make sure that you have most of the ash out of the old lump that you are reusing. Keep some ash down below, about 1/2 inch thick seems to work well. Add fresh lump to the old lump.[p]A problem that I have had which caused me to not be able to obtain temps higher than 450 was wet lump. It didn't look wet, it didn't feel wet and it would light up just fine - just could not get high temps. Switched to a different bag of lump and problem went away. Now I store my open bag lump in a sealable rubbermaid trash can and have not had a problem. I guess lump has an affinity for humidity.[p]You will also find that different types of lump will allow you to get higher temps. Sugar maple seems to get a lot hotter in my egg than oak.[p]Beers,[p]Mr Beer

Unknown · June 2002

David, have you done the usual such as checking alignment of your fire box opening with the bottom vent? How about calibrating your dome thermometer...done that? Are you perhaps being impatient? Each size BGE takes a different time to get to nuke temps. Last night my small got to 700° in about 25 minutes un-intended. Once the fire gets established in the bowel of your egg the temp esculates rapidly.

Shelby · June 2002

David,
Also, make sure when you are loading up on fresh, larger pieces of lump that you fill the fire box. You won't get there on just a little bit of lump.
If you're intending on searing some steaks, the cook won't last long and the bulk of the lump will be reused so it's not like you're going to waste a bunch for one cook.

searing temperature

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