Wood Tables and Hot Eggs Do Not Always Mix

Principal Cook

In order to promote safety and cooking, I will make a confession regarding a “dumb” egg stunt. I recently built a beautiful cedar table for my large egg. Well, after grilling a steak last night using the traditional egg method, I took the steaks off and went into the house. I did not check the grill as I should have. This morning, I noticed that three of my cedar boards under the egg were the consistency of lump charcoal. The egg was just about ready to fall to the deck. I am lucky I did not burn the deck deck and house down as well as lose my large egg. The moral of the story…make sure you put some type of paving bricks or metal underneath the egg to protect the table.

Steve-O

Principal Cook,
YEP!!

Unknown

Principal Cook,[p]Tim-M is gonna really have a field day.

Spring Chicken

Principal Cook,
You must have had it sitting directly on the wood. I have a cedar table and my large Egg sits on the three little ceramic feet directly on the cedar 2 X 4's underneath. I used to check it often but haven't in months. Never a sign of board buring and I frequently take mine up to the 600° to 800° range. I believe ventilation is more important than another layer of mass. If it makes you feel better though you may want to cut out the boards and lay a very strong steel grid in its place. You will get both strength and ventilation.[p]Good luck[p]Spring Chicken
Spring Texas USA

Principal Cook

Spring Chicken,[p]No, I had the green feet under the cedar. What happened was a small piece of hot lump found its way under the egg. It was enough to make the cedar smolder.

Shelby

Principal Cook,
I used to have my egg sitting on the little feet but it wasn't exactly right, so I got a round concrete stone. What I do for the little ember shooters is to put a piece of tin foil in front of the bottom vent. If one of them shoots out, it does no harm. I do have some burn marks before I realized what was happening. Some others here use a concrete mat or some other flame resistant. mat.

Basselope

Principal Cook,
You don't want metal. Metal conducts heat, you want an insulator, not a conductor.

Spring Chicken

<p />Principal Cook,
I thought there may be a problem with burning embers popping out so I fabricated a metal plate for the area immediately under and in front of the bottom vent. I did not mount it to the boards so I can use it to rake the ashes onto and dump in the trash. Works fine. Cost me about a dollar to make.[p]Spring Chicken

Wise One

basselope, you're right for continually applied heat. For the sparks and embers though, the metal will protect the wood long enough for the heat of the spark or ember to dissipate. As you noted, you do NOT want to sit the BGE directly on the metal however.

Charcoal Mike

<p />Principal Cook,[p]I ended up using a ceramic Kiln Shelf. I broke a couple of porcelain tiles, and a 1" thick stone, while still using the feet, due to the heat under the egg.[p]Best advice I got regarding reducing the heat was to leave an inch or so of ash in the bottom of the egg as an insulator. I still purchased the Kiln Shelf, which is supposed to withstand something ridiculous like 2500 degrees, and it has held up great.[p]Cheers -[p]Mike

Principal Cook

Spring Chicken,[p]Simple is always better. Thanks for the advice.[p]

Principal Cook

Charcoal Mike,[p]Thanks Mike. Great looking table!