Help Mini BGE

chashans

My brand new Mini's ceramic cap is a sloppy fit on the chimney. With the felt gasket installed there is 1/4 slop. The inside of the ceramic cap measures 3 3/4."  Did they ship the proper cap?

Jeremiah

Is the neck angled like in the large? If so can you move the felt down so as to make for a tighter fit?

RickyBobby

Man your batting 1000 with that thing! You should just package it up and send it my way. That would free you of all your troubles.

chashans

Jeremiah said:

Is the neck angled like in the large? If so can you move the felt down so as to make for a tighter fit?

It is angled slightly like the large...but the cap bottoms out on the top of the chimney before it can reach the top of the dome. Even then it would still have a lot of free play. The cast iron daisy wheel measures 3 1/2" ID. The ceramic cap measures 3 3/4" ID.  Thanks. Hoping that someone else might chime in with a Mini, snug fitting, cap measurement.

chashans

RickyBobby said:

Man your batting 1000 with that thing! You should just package it up and send it my way. That would free you of all your troubles.

Roger that!  Broken fire-ring and now this.  :(

Hotch

You may also want to check and see if your DFMT is rocking on the bottom of the damper pivot bolt. Mine was, the pivot bolt was 1/4" to long and I had to add a washer to make it flush.

waegger

i bought my mini about a year ago and cap is 3 3/4" also , has not been a problem.

chashans

waegger said:

i bought my mini about a year ago and cap is 3 3/4" also , has not been a problem.

Mine interferes with the thermometer.  

chashans

Hotch said:

You may also want to check and see if your DFMT is rocking on the bottom of the damper pivot bolt. Mine was, the pivot bolt was 1/4" to long and I had to add a washer to make it flush.

No bolts anywhere near this. Ceramic cap to ceramic dome.

R2Egg2Q

chashans said:

waegger said:

i bought my mini about a year ago and cap is 3 3/4" also , has not been a problem.

Mine interferes with the thermometer.  

You might want to put your thermometer through some kind of spacer so it gives you a little more clearance from the ceramic cap and to give you more room inside the Mini/reduce the likelihood of skewering meat with the thermo.



This was while cooking a small butt in my Mini so the thermo is pulled out pretty far:

wraith81

Chashans, I recently bought a mini and have the same problem with my ceramic top. I took it back to my local dealer and checked it against the cap for the small and it was definitely smaller.

They claim they called and verified the cap size was accurate but I'm not sure they did because I had to go remind them they were supposed to call me back about it.

chashans

wraith81 said:

Chashans, I recently bought a mini and have the same problem with my ceramic top. I took it back to my local dealer and checked it against the cap for the small and it was definitely smaller. They claim they called and verified the cap size was accurate but I'm not sure they did because I had to go remind them they were supposed to call me back about it.

That is what I thought. My dealer does not have one on display for me to compare to. I have a call into the Mothership now. Thanks a ton for this info!

wraith81

Unfortunately at the time they didn't have another mini for me to compare it's cap with. 

I'm thinking I'll just have to wrap a few layers of gasket in the cap to actually make it sit snugly.  Please keep this post updated though if you find something out as I would love to know as well. 

chashans

wraith81 said:

Unfortunately at the time they didn't have another mini for me to compare it's cap with. 

I'm thinking I'll just have to wrap a few layers of gasket in the cap to actually make it sit snugly.  Please keep this post updated though if you find something out as I would love to know as well. 

Ok...I think that I mis-read your first post. So comparing your Mini cap to the Small that they had on display, your's was smaller...indicating that it was indeed a Mini cap. Sad that they would make something that sloppy as compared to the quality of the rest of the line. If that is the case, I will have to make adjustments with the depth of the thermometer no matter what I am cooking as the cap will interfere with it.

Carolina Q

Top of the dome opening is 3 1/4". Inside of cap is 3 3/4". No gasket. Works fine.

Thermo fits fine as is too (unless you have a big chunk of meat in there). No spacer.

chashans

R2Egg2Q said:

waegger said:

i bought my mini about a year ago and cap is 3 3/4" also , has not been a problem.

Mine interferes with the thermometer.  

You might want to put your thermometer through some kind of spacer so it gives you a little more clearance from the ceramic cap and to give you more room inside the Mini/reduce the likelihood of skewering meat with the thermo.

This was while cooking a small butt in my Mini so the thermo is pulled out pretty far:

Good tip...thanks. What is that made of and where did you purchase it?

revolver1

Mine is the same way, no problem.  I did trim the screw that holds the top adjustment, it was too long.  

R2Egg2Q

You might want to put your thermometer through some kind of spacer so it gives you a little more clearance from the ceramic cap and to give you more room inside the Mini/reduce the likelihood of skewering meat with the thermo.



This was while cooking a small butt in my Mini so the thermo is pulled out pretty far:




Good tip...thanks. What is that made of and where did you purchase it?

The spacer on my Mini came with my Small. It seems to be some kind of dense foam that is heat tolerant as it has held up on pizza cooks. I've seen folks use wine corks or a slice of a wooden dowel before.

chashans

Lit said:

My first egg was a small that a PM I worked with gave me that he didn't use anymore. I will never get rid of it. Pretty sure it is more sturdy than the newer eggs. I had an original mini and its ceramic was thicker than the new models also.

This might explain why my new Mini's ceramic cap does not fit properly...old style cap on a new and thinner Mini. Still hoping that the Mothership will return my telephone call regarding this.

 San Diego, CA    Large, Mini     “ Your first 10,000 photographs are your worst." - Henri Cartier-Bresson