BGE maintenance - what do you do?

tarheelmatt

Some of these guys would seriously cringe at me and my ways.  

lousubcap

Maintenance-just like cooking methods, many ways to get there and all will work.  Just depends on your preferences.  

theyolksonyou

You guys really should look into a dog. 

tarheelmatt

theyolksonyou said:

You guys really should look into a dog. 

Jason's way to maintience: 

1 - Get pedi. 
2 - Find strapy sandals.   
3 - Remove cooking grid
4 - Whistle for dog 
5 - Dog cleans grid
6 - Jason placed grid back on Egg
7 - Jason cooks.  

bigegger

tarheelmatt said:

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bigegger said:

I do my maintenance "as-I-go"

Before every cook I don on the neoprenes then:
-open the BGE, access the coals shuffle the coals around to make ashes drop down then bring out my little shop vac and suck up all the ashes from the bottom vent.. then i make sure all the vents aren't clogged..then i vacuum up or give the chimney a rub down along with the dome lip where the chimney top rests on just to loosen up any soot and particles that have accumulated so they wont drop on anything cooking

During every cook:
-I check  dome alignment and bracket security every now and then i open and close the BGE

After every cook when BGE has cooled down:
-clean griddles with nylon coated ceramic bristles and spray with oil
-close vents and slide cover on

Dang.. You start cooking dinner first thing in the morning?  

suuuure I would like to finish any cooking  between 11am - 1pm.. by this time enough liquor,lack of sleep and being stuffed with food will ease me right into an afternoon nap

blind99

does anyone actually check the torque on their bolts?  when I looked into this, the manual specified less torque than any easily available torque wrench I could find.

pretty much no maintenance for me.  I might let it run at 450 for a few hours if I've done a bunch of really greasy / smoky cooks, and i'll flip the place setter a few times to help clean it off.  otherwise I just stir and remove ash as needed.

nolaegghead

If I'm almost out of lump after a cook, I'll just open it up and let it self clean. 

DieselkW

first: grab a piece of smoke wood and use it to scrape the crud off the iron grill. Remove grill and marvel at all the crud that is off the grill and on the lump and the smoke wood, enhancing the taste of a future smoke. 

Light a home made firestarter in the lump pile, get it going and add some lump to make up for what was used a couple hours ago last time I cooked.
Go inside and check the BGE Egghead Forum and get involved in reading about the bestest lump ever until I realize I lit the egg I don't know how long ago.

Put the iron grill back on to lower the dome temp, adjust the vents and go back to the fascinating lump discussion.

Cook dinner, eat dinner, accept hearty congratulations and pats on the back for another outstanding protein performance. Skulk outside to "clean the Egg" until the dishes get washed by those that don't understand there is no need to be outside cleaning the egg.

While I'm pretending to clean the egg, I wonder what the dome would look like if I actually gave a sh*t about cleaning it. 

Grab some cast iron pans, grease them, put them on the grate bottom side up and close the vents to season my indoor iron while the beast cools down from 700º where it got to while we were eating. No need to waste all that heat.

1voyager

ColtsFan said:

Check band bolts quarterly and have never done a clean burn. Disassemble and clean out ash semi-annually. And yesterday, for the first time, I wash the exterior of the BGE and KJ with some Dawn dishwater...Now they shine with the exception of the Smokeware cap

That's what I do also. The only difference is that I am a Broncos fan...Boilermakers as well. 

RRP

I'm a low maintenance guy. Oh, I do scrape my grill with that wooden paddle, but I don't call that maintenance. Maintenance to me is checking my bolts which I haven't done in years since I'm a fan of double nutting. Then when needed - say every other year I'll take this scraper I made from a cheap 4" Red Devil brand putty knife and knock the flakes off the dome.

tarheelmatt

RRP said:

I'm a low maintenance guy. Oh, I do scrape my grill with that wooden paddle, but I don't call that maintenance. Maintenance to me is checking my bolts which I haven't done in years since I'm a fan of double nutting. Then when needed - say every other year I'll take this scraper I made from a cheap 4" Red Devil brand putty knife and knock the flakes off the dome.

DoubleEgger

tarheelmatt said:

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RRP said:

I'm a low maintenance guy. Oh, I do scrape my grill with that wooden paddle, but I don't call that maintenance. Maintenance to me is checking my bolts which I haven't done in years since I'm a fan of double nutting. Then when needed - say every other year I'll take this scraper I made from a cheap 4" Red Devil brand putty knife and knock the flakes off the dome.

Aren't we all a fan? 

tarheelmatt

I'm not spring chicken anymore, but I must ask, what's your secret, Ron?  

RRP

tarheelmatt said:

I'm not spring chicken anymore, but I must ask, what's your secret, Ron?  

??? 

RRP

DoubleEgger said:

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tarheelmatt said:

RRP said:

I'm a low maintenance guy. Oh, I do scrape my grill with that wooden paddle, but I don't call that maintenance. Maintenance to me is checking my bolts which I haven't done in years since I'm a fan of double nutting. Then when needed - say every other year I'll take this scraper I made from a cheap 4" Red Devil brand putty knife and knock the flakes off the dome.

Aren't we all a fan? 

What did I do now?

Hans61

not much

theyolksonyou

tarheelmatt said:

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theyolksonyou said:

You guys really should look into a dog. 

Jason's way to maintience: 

1 - Get pedi. 
2 - Find strapy sandals.   
3 - Remove cooking grid
4 - Whistle for dog 
5 - Dog cleans grid
6 - Jason placed grid back on Egg
7 - Jason cooks.  

My mom will be proud you like her feet. 

DoubleEgger

RRP said:

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DoubleEgger said:

tarheelmatt said:

RRP said:

I'm a low maintenance guy. Oh, I do scrape my grill with that wooden paddle, but I don't call that maintenance. Maintenance to me is checking my bolts which I haven't done in years since I'm a fan of double nutting. Then when needed - say every other year I'll take this scraper I made from a cheap 4" Red Devil brand putty knife and knock the flakes off the dome.

Aren't we all a fan? 

What did I do now?

Double Nutting.... Put your mind in the gutter to get it. 

Thrilla_in_my_grilla

Stormbringer said:

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Thrilla_in_my_grilla said:

New egger here, first few cooks went well.  Had some conflicting opinions on what to do with the convector.  One person told me to wrap it in foil to keep it clean.  Another told me use a pan and let any other drippings burn off.  Other than cleaning out he ash is there anything else that needs to be done with the ceramic pieces?

Welcome to the forum. On the convector (most folks call it a platesetter), you can wrap it in foil to keep it clean, put a pan on it to keep it clean and stop the drippings going onto the coals or leave it naked and let it get dirty. And then clean it. I've done all of those, doesn't really matter.

Other than that, the ceramics just look after themselves. I do a controlled clean burn every six months or so in the MMX but only because of the very specific way I use it ... cooking meat (specifically spatchcock chicken) raised into the dome a LOT and never cooking pizza in it. Doing this causes a lot of fat to accumulate in the dome (pic below), a clean burn sorts this out.



There's probably other ways of doing it, but a clean burn works for me. To put into context, I cook pizza in our LBGE and never need to do a clean burn.

Thanks for the info.  Sounds pretty low maintenance.  Clean out the ash, cook pizza.  

RRP

DoubleEgger said:

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RRP said:

DoubleEgger said:

tarheelmatt said:

RRP said:

I'm a low maintenance guy. Oh, I do scrape my grill with that wooden paddle, but I don't call that maintenance. Maintenance to me is checking my bolts which I haven't done in years since I'm a fan of double nutting. Then when needed - say every other year I'll take this scraper I made from a cheap 4" Red Devil brand putty knife and knock the flakes off the dome.

Aren't we all a fan? 

What did I do now?

Double Nutting.... Put your mind in the gutter to get it. 

Double nutting is NO gutter talk! It is an OLD mechanics trick of running a second nut up against a tightened one and THAT will secure them both! 

theyolksonyou

DoubleEgger

RRP said:

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DoubleEgger said:

RRP said:

DoubleEgger said:

tarheelmatt said:

RRP said:

I'm a low maintenance guy. Oh, I do scrape my grill with that wooden paddle, but I don't call that maintenance. Maintenance to me is checking my bolts which I haven't done in years since I'm a fan of double nutting. Then when needed - say every other year I'll take this scraper I made from a cheap 4" Red Devil brand putty knife and knock the flakes off the dome.

Aren't we all a fan? 

What did I do now?

Double Nutting.... Put your mind in the gutter to get it. 

Double nutting is NO gutter talk! It is an OLD mechanics trick of running a second nut up against a tightened one and THAT will secure them both! 

Of course we all know what double nutting is. C'mon Ron...