Using big stones

Deadbird80

Hey guys. Have any of y’all used a 15-16 inch stone in your large eggs? I’m wanting to maximize my indirect cooking space. If I get the large spider to use with my ps woo will it lift the stone up high enough off the firebox? Does it cause any temp control issues? Sorry if this is posted in the wrong place. 

GrateEggspectations

Good thinking posting your question about “big stones” ahead of the weekend. 

I don’t have any experience with the spider or woo and am not sure I understand the setup you are seeking info about, but I routinely use a 15” baking stone placed on the grill grate of my LBGE with no adverse effects. 

fishlessman

if you do a big indirect cook with a 16 inch stone, put an extra effort into stabalizing the temps in the egg before adding meat.  trust that its stabilized and do not chase temps. the stone reflects heat down into the base, the cold meat fools the thermometer, if you try and chase temps the fire will get way to hot trying to hold a 250 dome temp. dont chase the temps and wait it out trusting that you set the thing up and stabilized it properly.  thats the only problem ive had with a big 16 inch sized stone, 34 pounds in the large, a 1000 degree fire below, and pit temps of 170/190f, it took 6 hours after shutting it down to get the dome temps back on track.  now i just wait it out

Photo Egg

Using the Spider "with" the Woo means you would be using it within the fire ring so you could do multi level cooks. (cook food at upper and lower level at same time)
The 15" stone is as large as you would want to go. The 16" stone would not give any airflow. Even using the 15" full stone might be tough.
Check out Tom's link and watch the video towards the bottom. He shows a 15" half stone in place on the Spider. Not a lot of airflow around edges but I have used it this way for low and slows. As @fishlessman said above, give your set up at least an hour to stabilize and hold at your target temp. Don't adjust your vents and try to bump the temps after you add your cold food. Let the Egg do it's thing. It will take some time to recover.
https://ceramicgrillstore.com/collections/big-green-egg-large-accessories-by-ceramic-grill-store/products/large-3-and-5-leg-spider-bge-1

trout1

I use the 15” on the adjustable rig on the large for the indirect stone with no problems.  I feel like the 16” would not give me enough air flow.  I could be wrong though.

SonVolt

fishlessman said:

if you do a big indirect cook with a 16 inch stone, put an extra effort into stabalizing the temps in the egg before adding meat.  trust that its stabilized and do not chase temps. the stone reflects heat down into the base, the cold meat fools the thermometer, if you try and chase temps the fire will get way to hot trying to hold a 250 dome temp. dont chase the temps and wait it out trusting that you set the thing up and stabilized it properly.  thats the only problem ive had with a big 16 inch sized stone, 34 pounds in the large, a 1000 degree fire below, and pit temps of 170/190f, it took 6 hours after shutting it down to get the dome temps back on track.  now i just wait it out

I'm having trouble visualizing what you're talking about, but it sounds interesting. Do you mean your egg went nuclear even though the temp was only reading 190F?

fishlessman

SonVolt said:

fishlessman said:

if you do a big indirect cook with a 16 inch stone, put an extra effort into stabalizing the temps in the egg before adding meat.  trust that its stabilized and do not chase temps. the stone reflects heat down into the base, the cold meat fools the thermometer, if you try and chase temps the fire will get way to hot trying to hold a 250 dome temp. dont chase the temps and wait it out trusting that you set the thing up and stabilized it properly.  thats the only problem ive had with a big 16 inch sized stone, 34 pounds in the large, a 1000 degree fire below, and pit temps of 170/190f, it took 6 hours after shutting it down to get the dome temps back on track.  now i just wait it out

I'm having trouble visualizing what you're talking about, but it sounds interesting. Do you mean your egg went nuclear even though the temp was only reading 190F?

inferno below my 3/4 inch thick soap stone,  enough cold meat above that the upper temps were cold (170/190 f)  i had this setup over the stone, egg was maxed out. for several hours you could place your hand over the top vent which was fully open.  two major factors, 32 pounds cold meat, and radiant heat forced down under the stone back into the lump.  the fire was well over 1000 degrees glowing before i noticed something was wrong

.

Foghorn

The way I envision this is that when I pack the kamado full of cold meat (e.g. 2 briskets or 4 butts) and the dome temp probe ends up sitting about 1/2 inch from the cold meat, the dome temp probe is going to read some low number that I shouldn't pay attention to.   If, as @fishlessman points out, I try to get that thermometer to read 250 or 275 or whatever within 30 minutes of putting the meat on I'm going to have to open the vents all the way and it still won't happen until the flames are coming up the sides of the egg and touching the temperature probe.  

So, the two options are:

 1) place a temp probe on the grate - away from the meat and in the silhouette of the platesetter so that it doesn't have direct heat rising onto it allowing it to give you the most accurate reading possible.

or

2) Trust the vent settings and ignore the dome temperature reading until later in the cook when the meat is warmer and has shrunk and moved away from the temp probe.

I go with #2 - but only because I did a few #1's and learned what to expect.

GrillSgt

It’s almost Friday. 

Ive got big stones. In fact if my little man had grown as much as my boys I could have a career in porn. 

littlerascal56

I have the XL Woo with 19” half stones.  Hard to get enough airflow for cooks over 350.  Should have went with 17”.  Only have 1” gap around the 19” stones!