Looking for tips and tricks with a Small Egg

QBabe

Hi Everybody:[p]I probably will not have the patience to wait for BGE to roll-out the spring assist hinge for the small egg, since my 17th anniversary is less than two weeks away and can't think of a better way to celebrate...good man, good food, good drink...![p]So, if those of you who currently have small eggs would chime in with some hints, I would be most appreciative. How do you deal with the current hinge system? How do you cook indirect, i.e. where do you get a raised grid that small, or if using fire bricks, how is it done that way? What about pizza stones? Rib rack or v-rack for roasts, butts, etc.? What eggcessories would you recommend? Which ones did you get that I should not bother with? [p]I'm in north-Florida/Jacksonville area, but have family in both the Daytona area and in the Orlando area, so I will be looking at several dealers to find the right price and incentives...anyone in these areas who has a dealer who likes to bargain?[p]Any tips on cooks, i.e. do you have to do anything differently on a small than you do on the large? [p]What about transporting your small for camping? Any tips for keeping it protected while in transit? We are tenters, not RV'ers, but any and all tips would be great. [p]Can't wait![p]QBabe
:-)

Tim M

QBabe,[p]Converting recipes made for a large or small egg is needed sometimes. The max temp a small will reach is about 550 deg which does a steak very easily. I don't do much lo&slo on mine, I leave that for the bigger cookers, so mine does mostly grilling.[p]Tim

Wardster

QBabe,
Email me and I will send you the name and street of two dealers in orlando. Sorry, don't have phone numbers though.

Spin

Tim M,[p]I own and use all four Egg sizes and (regretably) must disagree with your description of the maximum temperature capabilities of the small Egg. All Egg sizes are equally capable of attaining a cooking temperature well beyond the limits of the BGE temperature gauge.[p]Spin

Puj

QBabe,[p]Just go buy the Small -you won't regret it. The Small can do everything the Large can do, adjusting for the reduced capacity. As a matter of fact, the Small is put to use more often than the Large or Mini at our house.[p]... and as for the hinge, the Small's hinge is of the same design as the original hinge used for the Large and Medium.[p]Happy Anniversary,[p]Puj

Spin

Tim M,[p]I must certainly be luckier than you as I have been able to achieve 750+ (beyond the BGE gauge) any time I wish since the day I first obtained my small Egg (late '98).[p]Disagreeing with you aside, the small Egg is much more capable than you (or maybe even Nature Boy) can understand.[p]Spin

RRP

Tim M,
550 max??? Man I can wrap my thermometer in my small! I always sear at 700 to 750. You must have something wrong if you redline at 550!

The Naked Whiz

Puj,[p]>... and as for the hinge, the Small's hinge is of the same
> design as the original hinge used for the Large and Medium[p]...and thank God we don't have to suffer them any more. [p]TNW

Puj

TNW,[p]and as it is common to say "to each, its own".[p]Puj

Tim M

RRP,[p]Measure the opening in you small and let me know what it is. My vent has always covered some of the opening but I have always wished it was wider to allow more air in. [p]I have used the ceramic grate, steel mesh and now the bge steel grate -- 600 maybe in 40 min. I did get 700 ONCE with a heavy breeze hitting the vent head-on but that was the only time in 3 years.[p]Tim

RRP

Tim M, using a straight edge from the ceramic hole edge to the metal door is 1 7/8" and yes some of the ceramic opening is restricted. In fact from that same metal edge to the opposite ceramic edge is 3/8". I use a cast irom floor drain and I always place my Weber cube under the grate so as to get the benefit of the up draft. I just have no problems nuking with my small.

The Naked Whiz

Puj,
Indeed....
TNW

Judy Mayberry

QBabe,
Funny you should ask. My small Egg was delivered this afternoon and I was ready and waiting with a tri-tip roast and a raised grid newly made (I ordered an extra grid for that purpose). I had superb coaching from Old Dave via e-mail. He should be enshrined in the Smithsonian as a national treasure! Here's what I personally can tell you about cooking on the small. [p]The hinges on each side must be worked to either hold the dome upright or to close it from that position. It definitely takes two hands, so you can't be holding something in one hand like you can with the large. You work the hinges by pulling or pushing with the ash rake. You CAN lift and close the top without fastening it open or closed, and use the other hand to do something inside the Egg. But you have to hold onto the handle while doing this. The bottom vent door is extremely hard to slide and maybe the metal lips can be pulled out a little. I tried that at each end but it didn't help at all. Teflon didn't help either. I will keep thinking. [p]The roast was delicious, by the way. I cooked at 350° for the roast and a small potato, and then went up to 425° to cook the potato some more while the meat rested. I don't know how much hotter it will get, but I plan to try that out with a steak during the coming week. Sure takes a lot less lump!

QBabe

Judy Mayberry,[p]Thanks...Yes, Old Dave is wonderful...he is waiting in the wings for me too. Soon as mine is here, I'm sure the emails will increase...! I'm looking forward to it.[p]On the topic of raised grids, you mentioned "a raised grid newly made (I ordered an extra grid for that purpose)"...by that, do you mean you ordered an extra 13" one and have used firebricks or something to lift it up? [p]BTW, yesterday, I was in Bed, Bath, and Beyond and found a small adjustable v-rack that looks like it will be perfect for a small...am now looking for a drip pan it will fit. The standard 9x13 is too long, 8x8 is too small, 10x10 would be just right, but I've never seen anything in that size.[p]Thanks
QBabe
:-)

Puj

QBabe,[p]9" and 10" pie pans are perfect for the Small. Just wrap the pan in foil.[p]Puj

Tim M

RRP,[p]That is what mine measures as well. Hmmmmmmmmmm, now to figure out why I have never been able to get high temps. I use the bge steel grate and start all my fires in the small from under the grate too. Unless I face it into the wind (not uncommon here in Kitty Hawk) I have a max of 550-600. Others emailed me a few years back that they too could not reach as high of temps on the small - odd.[p]Tim

QBabe

Puj,[p]Sounds just right![p]Thanks,
QBabe
:-)

Steve-O

Judy,
It will get MUCH hotter than that. I did a NY strip and a ribeye earlier this week - 650 for 3/3/3. Steaks were great,, but I wanted to burn off my grate to clean it, so left the bottom vent and top wide open and went in to eat. I forgot about the egg until 2 hours later when my wife came in and said that the temp was still at 500 degrees! I am only guessing here, but I imagine, given the amount of lump that was remaining when I took off the steaks, that the little puppy went up to 1000 degrees or so before the lump burned down and it started cooling off. I wasn't there to see it hit that temp, but I could smell the paint on my nest from the heat. The next day when I cleaned it out, the lump was almost entirely burned up and the grate was very clean! Fortunately, the felt gasket did not burn or melt as has happened to others.

Steve-O

Hmmm - Tim, my experience does not match yours. The first time I fired up my small earlier this month I ran it up to 700 degrees just to see if it would get there. I have done steaks twice now at 650, and even at that temp it wants to creep up higher. I accidentally left it burning after a cook this weeks and could tell that it had really rocketed up there by the smell of paint from the nest. Mine seems to take a little longer to get up to 400 than my large, but once it hits 400 it is only a matter of moments until it is flying along at 600 or better.

Steve-O

Tim,
Like yours, the opening in the lower vent of my small is partially covered by the slide. I thought about taking it out and trimming the leading edge, but then concluded that in the fully closed postion it might not cover the opening on the back side. In comparing the degree of opening relative to my large, it is exactly the same. The slide on my large does not completely uncover the opening on the body of the egg. It's just that the opening on the small is sooo small, it is more noticable. I still get temps above 750. I know that you would have checked this, but I'll suggest it anyway - is your firebox lined up properly with the bottom vent?

Steve-O

QBabe,
You will not regret getting a small to go with your large. I have had mine for almost three weeks, now, and find that I use it far more than my large (somewhat regrettably, since I paid so dearly for my large!). And while the hinge is not as convenient as on my large, I have not found it to be all that much a problem. You just have to remember to lock it on both sides when you are going to leave it open. I cook just my wife and I, so almost everything we cook is more convenient on the small. I still do my pizzas on the large, and plan to do all roasts and ribs on the large. And, of course, when you have company, the large can't be beat. In fact, Labor day weekend I am doing 6 slabs of baby backs on the large and a pot of beans on the small followed the next day by a large pork loin on the large and potatoes and onions on the small. Having two of them adds a great deal to the flexibility you have in cooking outside.

Judy Mayberry

QBabe,
I used the same method to make the raised grid as I did for the large, from a really old post of Dave's on the Forum. It goes toegther in a few minutes. If you don't get an extra 13" BGE grid like I did, Dave said a Weber Smokey Joe replacement grid would work. It's a lot cheaper, too. I got stainless steel hardware at a marine supply store. Send me your e-mail address if you want more specific info.

Steve-O

Judy,
The bottom vent on my small moves with more difficulty than the one on my large as well. In comparing the two S.S. vents, it appears to me that this might be due to the sharper radius of the small compared to the large BGE. Both vents look like they are stamped out of flat S.S. and then bolted onto the shell of the egg using the bolts to force the vents to conform to the shape of the shell. I imagine that they will loosen up and smooth out over time and with use.

Nature Boy

Tim,
I have had my small egg maxed out.[p]I do agree that as close as the grate is to the coals, you don't really need much more than 5 or 6 hundred. But that little guy is capable of screaming much hotter than that.[p]Seems to take longer for me to reach high temps...but it'll get there. Just what I have found.[p]Beers!
Chris

Nature Boy

QBabe,
I picked up that same adjustable rack, and it is just right for the small. I wish the wires were a little fatter so it didn't dig into the meat as much, but it fits perfectly.[p]Old Dave is a good man, and loaded with experience. If you are fortunate to receive one of his "textbook" emails, you are blessed indeed![p]Cheers!
Chris