Initial burn in LG BGE

Hansm

Howdy,  My LG BGE is being delivered Wednesday from ACE hardware. I want to do a quick burn to get used to it before I do a cook. I have about 1/2 a bag of jealous devil.  I do not like the taste it puts in the food, well at least with a Weber Kettle. Would this be suitable for the first burn? Will it leave a taste in the grill or should I use some FOGO or Blueshog?

Foghorn

"I have about 1/2 a bag of jealous devil.  I do not like the taste it puts in the food, well at least with a Weber Kettle. Would this be suitable for the first burn?"

Yes.

"Will it leave a taste in the grill or should I use some FOGO or Blueshog?"

No.  It will only leave a taste in the egg if you use lighter fluid or gasoline to light it.  (Note:  Just to be clear, if you do that, it still won't be the charcoal that leaves a taste, it will be the lighter fluid or gasoline).

The only thing that I can think of people commonly burning out of their egg to improve flavor on the next cook is the drippings from a particularly fatty cook that was cooked low and slow so the drippings didn't burn - like 2 pork shoulders.  Cooking poultry when the egg is full of pork fat can impact the taste.

Welcome aboard and enjoy the journey.  Show us some pics of your first cook!

hoosier_egger

I don't use JD, but it will be fine. It won't contaminate the egg so to speak. It is important to let any charcoal burn off the VOCs before you start cooking and get rid of that "bad smoke".

caliking

The most critical element of this first burn will be an ample supply of your preferred beverage. 

Pour the lump in. Light it up. Set the top and bottom vents at whatever positions. Turn on some tunes. Pour your beverage. 

Then, sit back, and let it go. Every now and then change a vent position a bit, and see what happens to the temp. That’s your learning curve. 

Enjoy!

fishlessman

big thing with the bge is getting the lump to burn clean, it has to smell clean before food goes in. use the jd lump, get it to 300 dome temp, smell it, let it burn another 20 minutes, smell it again. if it smells clean, throw some chicken on. the fire is smaller in the egg than in the kettle, those stinky VOC's need to be burned off. dont even google jealous devil, your inbox will be full of their sales adds

TideEggHead

All great info above and welcome! Might want to check the dome thermometer just to make sure it's calibrated. Also, BGE suggests running at a lower temp for the initial burn 350 or so. I think that is more for the gasket than anything.

RyanStl

Sounds like the perfect use for charcoal you don't like anyway.

Hansm

I will give the JD a spin and take recommendations from all on the clean smoke and no VOC. I am thinking that the Weber Kettle is meant more for briquettes than lump. Will try some wings, burgers and dawgs ..

Hansm

This may be a 3 or 4 beer experiment 

fishlessman

Hansm said:

This may be a 3 or 4 beer experiment 

that plan will work. you want to waft the fumes from the upper vent with your hand and smell it, it should smell clean. without smoking wood in there you shouldnt see much smoke if anything coming from the top vent

Mark_B_Good

TideEggHead said:

All great info above and welcome! Might want to check the dome thermometer just to make sure it's calibrated. Also, BGE suggests running at a lower temp for the initial burn 350 or so. I think that is more for the gasket than anything.

Exactly what I was going to say ... the first burn or two should be low temperature ... so my first few cooks were ribs at 275F! 

lousubcap

Regarding adult supervisory beverages and the BGE: house rules- light the fire, time for a beverage.  Food on-time for a beverage, then as wanted/needed to maintain proper hydration throughout the cook duration and FTC.  All above are time-of-day independent.  

Hansm

LG BGE delivered,  doing a burn right now at 300 

sumoconnell

Are you following BGE house rules? It's early but...

Enjoy!

Hansm

yepp .... had a few ....

Gamecockeggman

Enjoy the journey…….      Hide your wallet!  Just saying.

oh and pics or it didn’t happen

FATC1TY

My egg doesn’t even work without a beer. It’s simply won’t light. 

Hansm

Hansm

I ran some Jealous Devil for 5 hours at a 300 degree burn for break-in. I dumped out the JD and replaced with Blueshog to cook. I just do not like the smell of the JD  , I stoked it up to 450 briefly, the smoke was white/clear. Just do not like it. Blueshog worked well in the kettle. And is far less expensive than JD or Fogo. Although Fogo is expensive,  I will buy again.

https://blueshog.com/ 

WeberWho

Here's a good website to bookmark:

http://www.nakedwhiz.com/lump.htm

Hansm

WOW .... thanks. So much charcoal, so little time

Langner91

@Hansm, have you tried Rockwood?  Great lump, very neutral, and the guy is a member here.  Depending on where you live, your ACE store may have it.

Hansm

Rockwood is on my next list. I have started bags of FOGO, Blueshog. The Jealous Devil is going in the fire pit tonight. I have full bags of BGE Maple and oak/hickory. The only way out of this is grill grill grill ... 

Langner91

That's an awful problem you have there!  But, after seeing your first cook, I am betting you will work through it.  If you need a support group, we are here for you!