Naked Whiz

chill243

I saw in one of your posts you said instead of burping the egg (at high temps) you open the vents so that the gaskets don't melt.  Do you not lose your temperature stability?  I'm thinking of doing some pizzas this weekend and am curious to know.  TX

The Naked Whiz

Temperature stability is really not much of an issue at higher temps.  Again, I'd only do it if the cooker had been closed up.  When doing pizza, I wouldn't be shutting the vents.

stike

...and when he does open the vents, he shuts them again after closing the lid

after a while cooking on the egg, you'll recognize when it will be more likely to have a flashback.  lots of new lump, early in the cook, especially after choking back temps.  it can happen at 350 if you have a ton of new lump, haven't opened the lid since starting the fire, and the egg has been slowly climbing to 350 or so.  open it, and all the fresh air, plus all the dust and VOCs still in the lump, and FOOM.

or as you noticed, the kind that come from choking back a raging fire, starving it, then opening the lid soon after.

if i had to go thru some ritual each time i opened the BGE, it'd be a p.i.t.a..  Instead, just get familiar with what causes it, and you'll avoid it 99% of the time.

i also have a rutland gasket, so i just turn my head and lift the lid a few inches and let the  bge get its ya-yas by flashing over.  then i open the lid all the way.