"Small Egg" disapointment

I have had my small for 2 1/2 years and when I am doing high temp cooks on it 555-600F, I light it in 4-5 spots with MAPP and leave the top off and the bottom wide open. 15-20 minutes later it is roaring.

you need to touch base with grandpas grub he is having similar problems and doing some investigating and some measuring.. i will send him an e-mail and alert him to your problem
bill

I wouldn't use 'compulsive'..anal retentive maybe but not compulsive.. :woohoo: ..j/k..really I do clean my small regularly as it does fill up with ash quicker.. as for sears..I sear on mine all the time..but I do it around 600 or so..there really is no need for these 700 plus sears...what you are trying to do is get the surface temp of the meat above 300d where the Maillard reaction can occur and create the wonderful flavors this chemical reaction creates...I don't take any special care about sorting and stacking lump either.. I pour it in str8 out of the bag, stir it around a bit with the ash tool and fire it up with the MAPP torch in 4-5 places when I want to get to high temps...leave the bottom vent wide open and the daisy wheel off..hang in there..the small is a wonderful mate to the large and once you figure out its peculiarities compared to the large you will be glad you have it

Where are you located?

GG

I have a small had the same thing ,then read G Grub deal ,just put a tin foil rope in the gap between the egg wall and the fire ring ,you will have 550-600 in 20 min
Dave

I am really interested in this as I was just about to buy the small also. I like the portable part of the small. Taking it to the lake once a year would be great.
I will watch this thread with interest.

Rick

Plug the gap and you will have a new Unit

CNL,, I have 2 larges and a small is coming soon but I have not tried one yet, aside from watching egret and AZRP and Spring Chicken at Ocala. It's coming soon but if your in Fla. I'd be happy to talk to you about taking it off your hands even though I'll have no warranty. Followed the forum for a bit and I prefer a dealer or demo but would would be glad to assume liability if your that unhappy with it.
Pat (I can fix it) Poolman

Absolutely a noticeable difference..Have had my small for many years and have no problems getting to 550 - 600 degrees...

CNL,

Where are you located.

I have to read you post a couple of times. I thought I wrote it, I even had to go out and see if you stole my small and that is what you were posting about.

My firebox is exactly the same. Either there is a high spot in the base or the fire box has a high spot. The fire ring has some issues.

I bot the large and have been really happy. I have some gasket issues but I am not all convinced it is the egg's fault. Something I am still working on.

Anyway, I was so happy with the large, I got the medium didn't use it much, then bought the small didn't use that very much, then bought the mini and have used the heck out of it. I probably hadn't touched the medium or small for 30 or more days and only cooked on the large once or twice since I got the mini.

I have always had slow starting times with the medium and small and unless I am very careful with cleaning and setting up even after an hour with bottom vent & screen wide open and nothing on the top of the egg couldn't bet much higher than 450° to 550°.

I happen to focus on the medium and have done a lot of testing on that trying to understand what and why.

In one of the tests I burned the gasket and since have ordered new gasket set. So far 3 different dealers have sent me large gasket sets, told me they are the same as the medium gasket sets, which they are not.

I am going to need to go into the large gasket set selling business out here.

Like you for the most part the large will get to any temp in a fairly reasonable time.

I will jump over the the small, here on down...

with the testing I have been doing I have come to realize what performance I think I am getting out of any of my eggs is not exactly the reality fo things.

I began to time the burns and see how high I could get the temps of my eggs. I have only done one or two tests on the small.

it took 30 minutes for the small to get to 350° and at 49 min. the temp maxed out at 550°. Held that temp for another 6 minutes. Absolutely no indication of the temp going higher so I closed down the vents and completed a cook and then shut the small down.

All I can say with regard to the small is that I am in the same boat as you.

I am getting simular results with the medium. I have some theories and some ideas on how to get past this but I want to do so without causing further problems.

One idea was to close off the air flow up and outside the fire box & ring. That gave me a increase in performance but I am thinking that is what caused the gasket to fail. Plugging that gap on the medium also caused enough heat on the outside of the egg to physically burn, not blister, but painful for about 20 minutes. Not something I would want to have going when young kids were around.

There has been some really good suggestions from some forum folk. I just need to get the medium fixed so I can continue with a couple of more tests.

Don't forget to let me know where you are located. I am wondering if some of this is altitude.

GG

Ric,

Don't let this post stop you from getting a small. It is a great egg.

I think what we are experiencing is something we are doing different than other eggers and we just need to identify what is going or not going on.

If you put up a post 'Do you like your small', you had better plan on a long, long read.

Kent

I agree with egret and the others the vents on the small and mini should be bigger.

Now for the cart & horse. My medium is still apart as I am waiting for some parts and a proper size gasket. Three dealers have told me the large is the same as the medium. But we all know better.

I wanted to complete my testing of the medium and move on to the testing of the small so I would have some data to substantiate what I am about say.

I think this will be the same for the medium and small and is somewhat common sense. My tests have been in the medium, clean egg, lump loaded to the top of the fire box. I have kept the larger pieces to the bottom and gone smaller as the fire box is filled. I haven’t used really small lump. Lighting with paper towel/napkin in two spots. Right and left of center.

When doing my tests it takes a relative long time for the medium to reach 500°. When I have looked at the at that point in time it seems to have burned down the fire box about 1/3. The fire box on the medium and small have a taper down to the fire grate. That is les lump surface as the lump is burned and the lump level is lower and further away from the dome thermometer (and cooking grid).

In my case except for a slower ramp up time for normal cooking that is fine. I am thinking normal cooking is between 250° and 425° dome.

As I have said I have not tested this but it sounds logical. Goal is quicker light times and higher temp cooking.
Change the set up. Clean egg, larger lump on the bottom, load the lump to the mid or top of the fire ring and light with MAPP.

At this point I am not sure using MAPP or napkin/oil is going to be much difference. In theory MAPP should be faster and use less lump to get to the higher temps. If it does test to be faster, then less lump will have been used. Resulting in a higher burn level inside the egg, wider surface of burning lump, lump heat level closer to the thermometer & cooking level and longer cook times.

Some of the answers I do have.

The air going into the lower vent will take the path of least resistance. Some air goes up the outside of the firebox & fire ring. That outside of the fire box air does very little to help build the fire other than insulation to the lower egg shell and possibly a ‘vacuum’ effect for the air that does go into the fire box.

In all these test the orange glowing lump was between 1080° and 1107°.

One test, my medium got to a maximum temp of 520° in 36 minutes. The temp started to decline down to 460° at 67 minutes and held. I opened the dome, with gloves I plugged the gap between the fire ring and outer inner egg wall and closed the dome. At 72 minutes the egg was at 500°. In 8 minutes the dome temp raised 80°. Some will say opening the dome would could have been the result of building the fire.

I decided to test that possibility also. Next test. Gap plugged before lighting. 500° at 21 minutes (15 minutes quicker than above) Max temp an held at 660° in 28 minutes. 200° higher than above and 1 hour and 4 minutes quicker than above.

We all know a hot burning egg will spike in temp when there is flame then as the flame goes out the temp will drop. This next test is interesting.

Nest test, I packed the air gap better.
500° in 11 minutes
690° in 15 minutes (I thought flame spike)
700° in 20 minutes (I was watching for a drop in temp)
700° holding 25 minutes.
700° holding 31 minutes – At this point I am getting worried about the gasket and I got burned just under the lower band 459° on the outside of egg
I shut down all vents at this point.
At 33 minutes 600° I began to smell the adhesive/gasket burning
At 40 minutes 530° I opened the dome and gasket was burned, I had posted the pictures last week.
At 400° I got a putty scraper and cleaned the adhesive/gasket off of both surfaces in about 5 to 8 minutes. I used gloves and it was hot.

I will continue the testing once I get the egg back together – just waiting for the parts.

Anyway that is what I am working on…

GG

Probably very good advice Walt...

Thanks, Kent

I think what many fail to realize is there is a lot of mass that gets heated up initially. During this heating stage the dome temperature remains fairly low. Think about how many hours it takes for the egg to cool down after a cook.

I have a medium and can get to over 700 degrees within 30 to 40 minutes.