Temperature above 600 degrees

Gio

Just finished assmebling an XL Egg this afternoon.

Lots of questions.

How do I get the temperature above 600? Want to get dome temp to 800+ Tried to do a pizza on BGE stone - burnt the bottom, top was underdone. Also looks like I may have burnt the gasket.

Any experts out there?

Thanks.

Gio

jeffinsgf

You didn't by any chance have the pizza stone sitting on the cooking grate, did you? You should have the plate setter in there, isolating the pizza stone from the fire.

As for melt-down temps, all I've ever needed was a good load of lump, mostly large chunks and wide open bottom vent with the cap completely off.

Gio

Thanks for the response.

I had the stone on top of fire bricks to keep them away from the cooking grate and flame.

I also had the top cap and lower damper wide open.

I saw someone else's post about regulating the space arond the fire ring - evenly spacing it all the way around to drive up thge heat.

Any ideas about the burnt gasket?

Thanks.

Grandpas Grub

 
Heat = Fuel + Oxygen. Make sure the fire box is aligned up with the vent opening and that all the air holes in the fire grate are clear.

To get to higher temperatures you need a wide (side to side) burn in the lump and as important a clear path for air to feed the lump.

Any mass that will absorb or radiate heat at gasket level is going to put stress on the gasket. Flashback is also going to put stress on the gasket.

High temperatures are great and easy to obtain however, you need to be aware that you will be putting stress at the gasket level. There are some things you can do to accomplish the same results without taking the dome temperature to extremes.

I am not too clear about your set up, but think about your pizza cook.

You said "burnt the bottom, top was underdone". Doesn't that tell you that you had too much heat under the pizza and not enough heat from the top of the pizza.

You either need to allow the egg ceramics, specifically the dome to get hot in order to do some more cooking from the top down.

OR

You could lower the heat being radiated from the lump at the bottom of the pizza, thus the heat cooking from above will be more equal to the heat below.

Sometimes a different setup will accomplish a more equalize heat to cook your pizza.

A popular set up for pizza is to use the plate setter, legs down then a spacer and the pizza stone.

I use a lower lump level, Adjustable Rig with the pizza stone on top and I allow the egg dome to get well heated before cooking. Doing this will get the pizza stone between 500° & 600° and the dome thermometer somewhere between 450° and 550°.

GG

Semolina Pilchard

Two things may be at play here as to why your gasket toasted on a new egg. There have been some new eggs that have below par adhesive. Get a nomex gasket and some 3M Super 77 adhesive. The mothership had been sending new eggers a free nomex to replace the fried ones, I don't know if that is till the case, call Atlanta. The other problem could be the height of your pizza stone. If I understand correctly, your pizza stone was right at gasket level. I believe that at that height the fire comes up, hits the stone, and then heads straight at the gasket. I used to cook pizza with my plate setter in legs down and the pizza stone on top. That put the plate setter at gasket level, and it really gave my gasket a beating. It did not melt it, but it thinned it out pretty well. Since then I put the setter in legs up, food grid on top, and then the pizza stone on top. Now when the fire passes by the gasket it is traveling straight up, not horizontal and pointed at the gasket. I believe if you have a very good seal then the setup does not matter. Many have done it for years the way I suggest you don't and they have not had a problem. With just a food grid, firebricks, and stone you are setting it up the only way you can without the stone being too low to get the pizza out of the egg on a peel.
There have been tons of posts on how to change a gasket, the search engine will probably find what you need. I heard that Fred of Fred's Music and BBQ has a good instructional video on his website about changing a gasket. Pre shrink the gasket on high heat in the dryer beforehand, or it will shrink after installation and leave you a gap. Good luck.

Gio

Thanks for the advice.

New gasket is on its way from Atlanta.

Gio