Large Egg for sale

SaintLo

Two Thanksgiving turkeys ruined and I've had enough. BGE recipe cook times versus results are WAY off. I never had any problems like this with a simple Weber kettle. Worst $1,800.00 investment of my life. 

Hotch

Yep, clearly it is the Eggs fault. 
2 posts in one year including this one. 
Moving on...............

Mickey

Sorry you are having trouble. If you are using the BGE Recipe Book PLEASE only use it to start fires, IMO (and others) it SUCKs. 
Where are you? Before selling get to an Egg Fest. Invite a fellow Egger over. Hell, call me and I will talk you thru it. 
Just get rid of that Book. 
Also get involved on the forum. Lots of good people here. 

Pridnjoy

Did my first turkey on my 4 month old large BGE. Excellent results and happy diners. Couldn't have been easier. Sometimes it's the Indian and not the arrow, Kemosabe. 

SaintLo

Thanks Mickey. Appreciate the kind response. Illinois. Been grilling a long time successfully. But don't think this is for me. 

Hotch

Ok I apologize for that. 
As Mickey said ask and you will get more help than you can use.
It is not that difficult once you get the basics down. 
We all have had setbacks.
I always try to to a trial run on cooks that will be critical on timing. 
Also it's not a bad thing to be early as long as you know how to maintain the protein till serving time. 
I don't know the last time I tried to time a cook to a serving time.

clifkincaid

Without research or asking you will have trouble. 

Hotch

SaintLo said:

Thanks Mickey. Appreciate the kind response. Illinois. Been grilling a long time successfully. But don't think this is for me. 

If you like to grill, Mickey,s raised direct spatchcock chicken and or turkey is the best. 
Do a search follow it and you will cook the best barn turkey you ever had.

Terrebandit

How much do you want for it?  It's not for everyone. 

Hotch

Terrebandit said:

How much do you want for it?  It's not for everyone. 

lol

lousubcap

The BGE becomes a "fire and forget" cook but only after an investment in the prep work.  Should you cook to temp, then about the only hose job you will get is that the cook runs long or finishes early.  That's the key whenever you cook, on any gear.
I would ditch the BGE cook book and cruise around this site-ask and you will get an answer or a few, any of which will work.  FWIW-
Happy Thanksgiving.
BTW-welcome aboard and enjoy the journey-and you should give it another go.  

WeberWho

Ask away with questions. All kinds of heads here willing to help out. What was wrong with the turkey? Once you get the hang of the egg it turns out fantastic grub! 

leemschu

How much you selling for?

Chubbs

All you have to do is ask questions. If you are a seasoned outdoor cook I am sure you know to cook to temperature and not time. How did you ruin it? Overcook? Describe setup and we can tell you where yu went wrong 99.9% of the time

slovelad

After I learned to cook to temp instead of time... It changed my world 

SaintLo

Thanks all. After tossing the $50 overcooked bird and downing a couple beers I've calmed down. Plenty of non-turkey stuff to eat. Last year I followed the book and the twenty pounder finished 3 hours early. This year I prepped, cooked to time (my mistake) at 325 deg. and an hour early the bird was at 190 degrees. Shame though. Couple of charcoal adds on the Webber always produced good results. 

SteveWPBFL

$1800 for a large???

RRP

Direct or Indirect? Sounds like your dome thermometer needs to be calibrated for SURE!!! Where in IL? Though I assume it must be southern near St Louis - right?

chrisc133

slovelad said:

After I learned to cook to temp instead of time... It changed my world 

This. 

SaintLo

Indirect, Ron. I'm about 50 west of Chicago. Calibrated the thermometer last cook so should be good. Just not checking temp on the bird often enough I guess.

badinfluence

Come on over to Clinton Iowa. I will give you a hand on the basics if you would like.

Eggaroo

Try using a probe thermometer you can monitor throughout the cook. This gives you a good indication of how fast the cook is going. I use the Maverick 732 but there are many others. 

henapple

My 11lb bird was 1.5 hours early. Luckily I happened to thermapen it. Do you egg anything other than Thanksgiving dinner? I promise if you get involved here.. You'll gain weight. 

pgprescott

I feel just about everything cooks faster in an egg due to the moist and radiant environment. Need to stretch it out, start with a lower temp and definitely check the thermo. Sometimes with a large item such as a turkey, the thermo can be obscured. I am not in the majority, but I like to monitor grate temp too on long cooks. I don't freak out over the differences, or the temp in general, just like to know. Is that QA or QC? Keep your chin up. Practice practice practice. It gets easy after a while. 

SaintLo

Thanks Bad. Looks like you know your way around a grill or ten. Thanks Egg, Hen. New to this. Used to Genesis and kettle. I had probes but went with time instead. My mistake. Just getting time to use the Egg and I don't quite get it yet.

DMW

Like mentioned, cook to temp, not time. It seems from times others have said, things cook faster in a large than my XL. I'm guessing it's because the dome is closer to the food and the closer radiant dome heat is contributing to a faster cook time.

luckyboy

Sleep on it. Get yourself another bird and see whereby you went wrong, odds are you did something clearly wrong. I'm not prefect, he'll i've screwed things up. Don't QUIT !!!

smbishop

Just checking, but do you have a way to raise your grid above the gasket?  Unless I am searing something, 90 % of my cooks are raised direct or indirect with the platesetter.  If you haven't already, check out the Ceramic Grill Store site:  http://ceramicgrillstore.com/

Also, some very informative information can be found from these two sites:  http://playingwithfireandsmoke.blogspot.com/  and http://www.nakedwhiz.com/ceramic.htm 

Don't give up just yet.  This site will support you!

SaintLo

Appreciate all the helpful comments. Thanks all. With the amount of enthusiasm/expertise displayed here, looks like I better keep at it.

TrailRunner

I just got my large Egg a couple months ago. I've cooked a few steaks over the years on a gasser but not experienced at all. I've done a tri-tip, turkey, wings, and steaks in that past couple months. I showed up with the turkey tonight and even my BIL that doesn't like turkey went for 2nds and thirds. Said its best he's ever had. I threw a steak on and rushed it while I was getting ready to leave and the old lady couldn't believe how good it was. Just do some reading on here and listen to the members. I used Mickey's recipe on the turkey  and a few things of my own and it's great. I suggest getting an I grill or  something similar. It makes it so easy. Good luck and don't give up. 

phil28

Also struggled for a while. Best thing to try to develop an appreciation of the BGE are NY sirloin steaks, about 1 1/2 inches thick, cooked at 700 degrees direct. Heat the fire to 700 degrees (about 30-40 minutes on a Large). Be sure there are no ashes blocking the grates and the side holes on the firebox. Add a dry rub (such as the BGE rub) and cook the steaks about 2-3 minutes on each side. The results are better than the best steak house. Much better than on my Weber gas grill that only gets to about 450-500 degrees or less.  I also struggled, but the key was getting the ashes cleaned out to allow a full flow of air. BTW both the bottom vent is wide open and the top is wide open with the lid rotated away to allow the full opening exposed.