Temperature

Tom

I have a good fire going in my egg right now, ribs are smoking and I can't touch the lid of the egg for more than 1 second without pain. But the guage only shows 300 degrees. I tested it in boiling water and it was pretty close to correct. I am beginning to believe my guage is bad, anybody have any other ideas.

Basselope

You can buy a new guage if you want, but try this experiment first. Heat you oven to 300 degrees, then open it up and grap a hold of one of the racks with your bare hands. How long can you hold it before pain / burns set in? I'm guessing about 1 second or LESS.
The ceramic on the egg is an insulator for sure, but it does not stop the conduction of heat. The longer the egg is running the hotter the outer surface gets.
I have fired up my egg from cold straight to 700 degrees and the outer surface is cool (relatively) as the heat has not had time to penetrate to the outer surface. After an hour or more of cooking ribs @ 225 the outer surface is too hot to touch for more than a moment. This is due to the heat has had time to soak all the way through to the outer surface.
This slow heat conduction has its uses in cooking with the egg. If you are first starting the egg and the temp goes past what you desire, it can be brought down fairly easily. This is due to the fact that the ceramic is still cool. When cooking steaks, we use the stored energy in the ceramic do do the dwell.