Mini Clean Burn

bob.bud

My egg was put into service in May of this year and while I have cooked my share of meals, I don’t believe I have cooked nearly enough to have to do a clean burn. 

My opinion changed when I cooked another batch of bacon this morning on the heels of the mess I made making ribs on Sunday. Long story short, the mess on the foil, the bacon fat dripping, and the mess from my ribs had my egg flashing into fire and smoking excessively. 

With a little bit of the Whole Foods Lump I wanted to burn through so I could start using the Rockwood Lump I purchased this weekend, I decided to do a high-temp run to clean up the gunk. 

I ran the egg at 720 for as long as the lump would last – roughly 1:45, and throughout the process the smoke cleared and I saw what you would expect coming out of the top of an egg running at 720. At the end, the KAB had a handful of rocks and I had an egg that was burning cleaner and ready for the chicken breasts I was ready to grill for lunchmeat for the week.

Moment of hesitation was when I went to burp and open the egg, it felt a little sticky and would not open. A tough tug and I was fine. I have seen others post that a melted gasket should not happen unless you go higher in temp, but it did make me pause for a second. In any case, a PM to RRP has been sent to stage a replacement gasket for when my gasket finally does go.

To the old timers, my apologies for my elementary posts. I post to share my yearling experiences to help those that follow.

SoCalTim

Before and after pictures?

bob.bud

@SoCalTim, my apologies, but I cannot comply. The nasty gunk that was on the side of the fire ring that caused the excessive smoking was not photographed nor was the freight train smoke that was spewing from the egg was I did the 720 run with nothing in the egg but said gunk. Post burn was not captured either, and I have since cooked some chicken breasts. 

RRP

As you well know a replacement gasket is on the way, but here's a suggestion...you wouldn't have known you reached 720 without your dome thermometer in place - right? On a burn out that temp may have warped the spring hidden inside so you 1) Probably should re-calibrate it and 2) Remove your dome thermometer next time...and while you have that spring clip off - throw it in the trash! Gravity will keep your thermometer in place as no clip is needed.

bob.bud

@rrp, thank you on the tip regarding the thermometer and the recalibration. Doing the recalibration will allow me to remove the spring... a tip I read in another post. I do owe you and address for the replacement... I have your note in my inbox and I will get to responding soon.

RRP

bob.bud said:

@rrp, thank you on the tip regarding the thermometer and the recalibration. Doing the recalibration will allow me to remove the spring... a tip I read in another post. I do owe you and address for the replacement... I have your note in my inbox and I will get to responding soon.

ooooh, sorry I sent 2 other M/M to 2 other Bob's today and just assumed you were one on them!

Lit

Tip for your next clean burn. You don't have to go really hot you could have let it sit at 500 for a little longer and got the same effect and your gasket would still be fine.

bob.bud

@lit, my current gasket is fine

Jstroke

Personally if the gasket can't take it it needs to go.