Whole clearance?

Rafter R

How much space between the egg and table does the 21" hole give you? For high temp cooks what is recommended clearance? 1/2 inch?

Capt Frank

It is kind of tight, I made mine a little larger, 22" if I remember correctly. Also if you intend to cover your egg w/ a BGE cover, you cannot get it down through a 21" hole.

Rafter R

I just realized I misspelled hole w/ a W. sorry.

Capt Frank-- what kind of spacing did the 22 inch hole give you? Have you had any wood scorching problems with High Temp cooks? say 500 - 600 range ( which all the Pizza folks are recommending)

Capt Frank

I have about 1/2-3/4 inch all around, no scorching and I cook a lot of pizzas.
I just went out and measured and my hole appears to be 21 1/2 inches [a little hard to figure with the Egg in place]. The distance from my bottom shelf to the top is 17in, the egg is on a 2in paver, so the net distance is 15in. This put the fire ring [inside the egg] just about flush with the table top, so you have a double thickness of ceramic at that point.
My small has much less clearance around it, less than 1/2 inch all the way. I sear a lot of steaks on it and have never had a problem. I cook all my pizzas on the large, 500-550 degrees, the small gets cranked to 700 frequently, no problems with either one
Hope this helps