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No High Temp for Small BGE

Chief
Chief Posts: 154
edited November -1 in EggHead Forum
Can't get my small egg to get over 400???? I have tried everything.
Could my alignment be off? What is the proper alignment?????[p]
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Comments

  • RhumAndJerk
    RhumAndJerk Posts: 1,506
    Chief,
    Make sure that the opening in the fire box lines up with bottom vent door. I usually do this by sticking one hand through opening in the firebox and the other through the vent door and make sure that they meet.[p]Next, use larger pieces of lump near the grate. Lots of small lump leads to lower temperatures. Next, Load up the lump. I regularlly load my small up to and in to the firering.[p]If you are going for High temperatures, put the firestarter close to the grate and place the lump around it.[p]If you let the bottom be open all of the way and do not use a top, your small BGE will soon take off into High temperature land.[p]It is always possible that something could be wrong with the lump. Try a different bag or brand of Lump, All lump is not created equal.[p]Hope this Helps,
    RhumAndJerk
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  • J Appledog
    J Appledog Posts: 1,046
    RhumAndJerk,
    ...and if all else fails, get out the hair dryer and shoot it toward the bottom vent. Just make sure there's no food on yet. JCA

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  • RhumAndJerk
    RhumAndJerk Posts: 1,506
    J Appledog,
    A little ash never hurt a steak. :)[p]R&J[p]
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  • Chief
    Chief Posts: 154
    RhumAndJerk,[p]Some good information...thanks

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  • Chief
    Chief Posts: 154
    J Appledog,
    Thanks......
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  • Unknown
    Unknown
    J Appledog, hair dryer works I know, but I rely on a little 2 AA battery driven "personal fan" I got from Walgreens. Brand is Topaz and ran about $3.99, but I found them on close out a month ago @ $1.99 and bought 3 more. The blade is about 2.5 inches and proves just the right amount of umphf to do the trick without blowing ashes all over, though if you tried hard enoung you might be able to. Often if I know there is a potential ash problem I just use it directly on the coals from the top and by the time you get a good flame restarted and close the top then humpty is suckin wind like a 5k sprinter!

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  • KennyG
    KennyG Posts: 949
    smgrate.jpg
    <p />Chief,[p]A couple of bucks worth of HD 1/4 grid hardware cloth from Home Depot, etc will buy you enough material to build a lifetime supply of my famous el-cheapo turbo grates. People laugh at me but I can make junior show me 1000* on command.
    They last about 6 months with heavy use.[p]K~G
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  • Tim M
    Tim M Posts: 2,410
    Chief,[p]Even with my expanded metal grate, my small has a hard time going past 550 deg it seems. It will get up to 650 but I have never gotten it past that and I see no reason to go that high very darn often. The small has a very close relationship to the food and fire - more so than the med or large. A searing fire of 500 in the small would probabably equate to 700-750 in my large (don't quote me professors out there)because the fire is so much closer to the meat. It has been my finding that the small can do with much lower temps than what is used in the med and large Eggs. [p]Tim
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