New Large joins the family--gasket question

stevethegreat

On Saturday I made a trek to La Crosse, WI (~3 hours) to pick up a demo egg that was used the previous weekend for a rib contest.  I do need to shout out to the people at Midwestern TV and Appliance (http://www.midwesttvandappliance.com/) who hooked me up.  I initially was going to get the once used egg but when I informed them I wanted to take out all of the ceramics, grill, left over charcoal etc. so I could travel more safely they told me that they would have to clean up.  I offered to clean it up myself and get my hands dirty but they insisted on taking it in the back and doing it.  Well they came back a few minutes later with a brand new egg and said that it was too much of a hassle to clean it.  I, of course, accepted that proposition and was very thankful.  They helped me load it up to my truck:

So getting to my question.  The egg I just got was already assembled and the dealer put the dome neck gasket on for the DFMT/ceramic cap.  I already have the smokeware SS cap on my medium and was planning on using it on both eggs, depending on the cook.  I'm guessing I should try and take off the gasket off of the dome neck? And if so, does anyone have a good method of doing it? The egg hasn't been lit yet so I'm thinking it may be easier to take off now than later, maybe?

Here are the two eggs together:

keepervodeflame

Looks like it's wrapped in a blankie in a car seat. I have a smokeware cap and have it installed with the nomex gasket that came with it. I placed the gasket around the dome neck like yours is. It fits great and works will with the Smokeware as well as with the BGE stock cap and the ceramic stopper. If you want to take it off. I suggest that you brush it with acetone ( 2 coats) and let it sit for 15 or 20 minutes to soak in and soften the adhesive. Without being exposed to heat I would think it would come off easily. Mine works great set up exactly like that, but I have seen some guys place the nomex gasket inside the smokeware cap  and not on the dome neck. I would use one of those nylon scraper blades made for cleaning non stick skillets.  Good luck.

stevethegreat

Well it is my new baby

Ratchet straps and a moving blanket, I wanted to make sure that thing wasn't moving at all.

CarolinaCrazy

Burn the gasket off. Do a good hot, 500 degree cook, it will melt right off.  A little alcohol will clean up and residual glue.

I got a new egg in March and put the gasket on. First good hot cook, it was history.

stevethegreat

Thanks @CarolinaCrazy‌

I know it's not recommended to take it above 400ish for the first few cooks for fear of toasting the dome gaskets. Also, I do want to start with a low and slow rib cook, so I'm not sure I want to do a hot burn my first time out with this egg.

RRP

Personally I prefer to have my SmokeWare gasket inside my SmokeWare cap. That way when I do a burn out to clean my egg's inside then the gasket is out of harms way since I remove mySmokeWare cap. Removing that gasket from the dome NOW will prevent cleaning up a crappy mess later.

stevethegreat

@RRP‌ I think you're right. I did forget to mention that my gasket is on the inside of my SS cap already. Any suggestions on best way to remove it from the dome neck?

RRP

I would just take a dull blade like a putty knife and scrape most of it off. Then using acetone, a rag and a small amount of elbow grease and the gasket will be history! Just make sure your egg is NOT hot, nor has a fire going! Acetone is ok to use cold, but never use it near flames.

stevethegreat

Great, I'll give that a shot tomorrow. Thanks.

stevethegreat

@keepervodeflame‌ @RRP‌ @CarolinaCrazy‌ thanks again for the advice. The gasket actually mostly peeled off and the rest was taken care of with acetone and elbow grease