Cooking without Daisy Wheel ???

Philicious

My brother has a medium and I have a large.  We live in different states.  He called me today and asked if I ever heard of cooking without the daisy wheel.  Some guy who sells eggs and whose son is a champion BBQer on the BGE told my brother that leaving the daisy wheel off gives a cleaner burn and reduces the carcinogens from the fire.  Initially, my brother suggested that the guy would not be able to maintain a low heat or otherwise control the temperature.  Well, at this party, the guy had an XL cooking some ribs and a beef tenderloin and the dome temp - without a daisy wheel - stayed at 250.

Anyone hear of this before?  I have not.

Dan4BBQ

Tell me more.  The DW is a pain.

Eggbertsdad

Tell me more.  The DW is a pain.

This!

I would love to do away with the DW.

Mudhole

I leave the daisy wheel off, except for low cooks. 225*-250*. I have a LBGE. I like the fine tuning it provides for the low and slows. I crack the bottom damper an eighth of an inch or so, (after the fire is going good)and fine tune from the top.

pswarren

For the most part it is possible to control the temp with only the bottom vent. Most people that I have heard cooking this way are running 350 plus though, not to say 250 would not be possible. Discussing this same topic today at lunch today with a friend we thought that there may be less of a smokey flavor to the food when not using the daisy due to the easy exit.

lousubcap

I'm sure stike (the resident eggspert on BGE and temperature control) will weigh in...but to make it simple-the volume of air flow controls the size of (and thus the temp of) the fire.  So by restricting the "goes-in" you can maintain the temperature-or on the reverse-you could run wide open on the bottom vent and restrict the "goes-out" and get the same effect.  And here's a great intro link that may make using the DW easier-

http://www.nakedwhiz.com/ceramic.htm 

 

Ragtop99

if you choke the airflow at the lower vent sufficiently, you don't need the daisy wheel.  I find it easier to control the heat with the DW and for fast cooks will leave the lower vent wide open and control the fire with the DW.

As for a cleaner burn and less carcinogens, I'd like to hear his story on that, complete with air current diagrams.  Whether you use the DW , the lower vent, or a combination, the process is all about regulating the amount of oxygen in the grill.  Without forced induction or a source to create an air current, the regulating factor will be size of the smaller opening whether its the input or exhaust.  That's not precise because the input air is one temp and the exhaust is another temp and the exhaust is of a different chemical composition, but you can visualize the issue.

So my understanding is that's a combination of the size of the input and output openings, the pressure drops, and air (or convection) currents.  I certainly could accept that the shape of the grill effects how spent gases travel, but I need a good explanation on his theory.  Besides, the whole point of a smoker is to expose the meat to the very carcinogens he is apparently trying to avoid.

Hi54putty

I don't use the DW over 300.

Mighty_Quinn

I don't use the DW over 300.

That's the way I do it too.

Little Steven

I measured the opening with the daisy off and with it swung open. The difference is like less than 100 mm or say .025" Can't see it making a difference no matter what stike (the resident expert) says

Ragtop99

I measured the opening with the daisy off and with it swung open. The difference is like less than 100 mm or say .025" Can't see it making a difference no matter what stike (the resident expert) says

Makes a big difference on my XL in terms of max temp.  About 450* - 500* is max with it on.  Not only is it a smaller diameter, but the top does not slide all the way out, and it disrupts the edge flow of the air column rising out of the grill.

There is a typo in your measurements.  100mm is just under 4".  1mm is about .0397. 
I have not measured the difference in size on mine.  What size grill do you have?

Mighty_Quinn

Same for my large ragtop. I really can't go above 500 with the thing on and have no trouble wrapping the thermometer around again with no daisy wheel.

twlangan

I have been burning wood for heat all of my adult life. Most of the same concepts for wood burning apply to the Egg. Although my indoor boiler has a draft fan, I never use it - I open the bottom ash removal door and control air to the fire with that. That bottom door acts in the exact same way as the bottom vent on the Egg. Since clean burning wood fires are critical to helping to prevent chimney fires, the goal is to get the fire burning as hot as possible - which means the maximum air flow possible. I have always built "flash fires" in my furnace. As the house temp drops, I build smaller fires (less wood) and always allow max air flow. I let it burn fast and hot, house warms up, and let the fire burn out. When temps drop again, repeat the process. Enough on the wood burning lesson - how does this apply to this thread? Although I agree that you could control the Egg with bottom vent only (harder on low temp cooks), I disagree with the "cleaner cook" idea. If you are constricting air flow in ANY way to keep temps under control, the fire is not really burning clean. About the closest you will get to a "clean" burn is a high temp clean-out burn - one where both top and bottom are wide open and charcoal is allowed to burn extremely hot. One way I always gaged my wood fires is looking at the chimney outside - if there is no visible smoke, it is burning hot and clean. Any smoke at all (once fire is established and burning well) is a sign something is up - either a draft (air flow) issue or wood is not dry enough. Same applies to the Egg - any smoke at all and it is not "clean". Not sure about the rest of you, but I rarely see my Egg cooking with absolutely no smoke.

Little Steven

I measured the opening with the daisy off and with it swung open. The difference is like less than 100 mm or say .025" Can't see it making a difference no matter what stike (the resident expert) says

Makes a big difference on my XL in terms of max temp.  About 450* - 500* is max with it on.  Not only is it a smaller diameter, but the top does not slide all the way out, and it disrupts the edge flow of the air column rising out of the grill.

There is a typo in your measurements.  100mm is just under 4".  1mm is about .0397. 
I have not measured the difference in size on mine.  What size grill do you have

Sorry arithmetic was never my best subject but I grew up with imperia. Missed a decimal place there. 1 mm approximately = .039" I measured in Imperial fwiw. I have attained 1200* Farenheit without removing the daisy

Mighty_Quinn

Did you hit 1200 without any help of some sort...like a leaf blower or hair dryer?

JEC23

One concern my manual states only to use the Egg with the dual function metal top in place, I wonder if not using it could constitute missue under warranty terms?

hoffmand

I'm a recent convert from the Weber smoker and the consensus with that is to leave the top vent wide open all the time. The lower vents do all the temp control. Most people can keep the WSM at 225 for 8+ hours with the top vent 100% open.

I thought it was strange when i first read that the daisy wheel was used for temp control on the BGE. The Weber forums imply that restricting the top vent leads to "stale" smoke lingering in the cooker. I have no idea if that's true since I've alway run the top vent wide open.