egg shell fragility? vs hail and cold

coHoser

I'm trying to decide on buying a demo egg next week or a big steel keg... the price diff is only $50+ for the egg.

I live at 7500 feet in Colorado and will be firing up 12 months a year, quite often below 0F and in snow.

I just had 10K of hail damage to my home roof and cars and am a bit concerned as to how fragile an egg might be to (1) cold firing in winter and (2) to ice cubes falling out of the sky that might smack the outside pretty hard...

Any experience with those questions?

Thanks coHoser

Little Chef

co: Welcome! Hopefully people will post some great pics for you to see. We have eggheads in Canada and such as well. You really won't have to be worried about your Egg. One of the vinyl covers is also a cheap investment.

Fidel

The weather isn't going to hurt the egg. Worst thing that you're going to experience will be the possibility that it will freeze shut. Nothing a little fire in the bottom can't fix though.

pci

As you can see gets a little cold here in Iowa but no problem with the egg

cookn biker

No worries! I've had my first egg for over 3 years and I'm in Colorado Springs. I have no cover over my patio and all 3 of my eggs have indured pleanty of hail, sun, wind and snow. I've got pictures of 4 inches of snow on the top of my large, at 3 am, with 30 pounds of pork inside.
Make sure you come by and say hi at the fest. I will be cooking and will be glad to answer any questions you have.

cookn biker

During the real cold temps I put a small piece of parchment paper between the dome and base and it opens with ease.

coHoser

That's exactly what I'm wondering about - scraping the snow and ice off and firing that puppy up - ceramics are an amazing thing, but from say 0F to 800F in a 1/2 hour or so concerns me - maybe more than it should - but it does seem a big differential that would make one of those steel eggs go PING!

thanks everybody, coHoser

Little Chef

coHoser: Remember this is the BGE forum, so pretty much all of us already made the decision to buy the BGE. But seriously, you don't have to be worried. We have many eggers here that cook in Sub Zero weather. No problem for the Egg, just for the cook.

Carolina Q

No idea how a "steel egg" handles in cold weather. Might "ping" indeed. I live in New England and I egg all winter long. Lots of Canadians on the forum too - so do they. Year after year. Don't worry about the cold - you might consider wearing a coat when YOU are outside. The egg won't care.

Mainegg

From the coast of Maine here. Winters with the wind chill we can have -10-20 with a small breeze :( let it pick up a little and you have the reason we winter in FL now first time I saw -21 on my cars temp gauge I was not happy. But the eggs could careless... just me going out to light and shovel a path to them

RRP

it was -14° when I took this picture a couple years ago. The BGE scoffs at cold weather!

"Sparky"

What picture? :laugh:

Bacchus

We have a forum member in Edmonton which is the northern most populus area on the continent. He Eggs all year. I believe he mentioned temps of -30 this past year.

RRP

see!!! That proves once again that staying 100% sober doesn't prevent dumb moves on my part! :laugh:

"Sparky"

Here's a shot of my XL in a hailstorm.Not only did it survive just fine,the food I was cooking also came out great :laugh:



The other two eggs were'nt cooking,but they were under a roof anyway.Here's a shot of one of the hailstones from a later storm.The eggs held up just fine

"Sparky"

:laugh: Just messin with ya man

cookn biker

Here you go.

FlaPoolman

But Julie,,, your eggs winter in Florida :laugh: :laugh: :laugh:

cookingdude555

Check the bubba forum, good people over there that might be able to answer how fragile the shell is:

http://bubbakeg.com/bboard/index.php

I think its been established that the egg will have no issues in the winter due to the cold. The BSK will be the same. From my experience with the BSK, it has wonderful heat retention like the egg (cool to the touch at nuke temps too). My brother purchased one, and it was delivered with a dent on the side. Hasnt seemed to altered performance, but a big hail storm might give it a 'egg' finish as I am sure the metal would dent a little if you had big enough hail. I would compare it to the finish of a car, if your car is going to get dented in that storm, so will the keg. I dont know how the egg would handle it, I dont get much hail here in utah. Good luck.

Mainegg

not all of them Pat LOL 4 are here in Maine :( they are hardy things for sure! the others are down there waiting

field hand

I don't worry about the egg, but I do use a cover to protect the table from the weather.

Barry
Marthasville, MO

Humphrey Chimpden Earwicker

the thing loves snow. we have cooked overnight pegged to 250 in literal blizzards (once about 27 inches of snow). the egg could care less what the outside temp is.

just as there is no issue of the metal gas grill crumpling when hot and exposed to frigid air, the egg won't crack or explode.

no issue.

next question.

Little Steven

Here's one

Celtic Wolf

If you are talking about that bubba keg that $50.00 difference isn't worth the lack of warranty and the cooker not being designed for smoking. The EGG is a smoker/grill and warranted for life.

I watched 3 kegs in action last week-end back to back with my eggs. I slept while the other person tended to his kegs ALL night. Which actually made it hard for me to sleep. :blink:

Though the warranty doesn't cover hail damage I would think you'd get it indoors (cold) if hail is threatened.

I see st!ke covered the cold for ya :-)

coHoser

Thanks - that makes me happy to see!!

I put down my 50% down payment to reserve a demo large today - pick it up on Saturday... now I just need to figure out what to cook on it Saturday and Sunday and Monday and ... and ... - LOL

coHoser

Little Chef

You made the right choice. Read lots on this forum, the recipe section, etc. You will learn a ton here! The search feature is also a great help! Welcome to the addiction... :laugh: