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Did I clean my egg or ruin it?

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Wally_Wabash_03
Wally_Wabash_03 Posts: 95
in EggHead Forum
So I've been cooking with the egg for probably 20 cooks, including 3 overnighters.  With winter coming, I thought I'd try and clean it a bit, so I let it run it approximately 650 for 90 minutes.  When I opened it up, there was a very thin layer that flaked and peeled towards the top of the dome (pic attached).  Is that the fat that has burned and is coming off, or did I damage the inside of the dome?  
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  • SMITTYtheSMOKER
    SMITTYtheSMOKER Posts: 2,668
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    No damage done, I would take a soft (brass) brush and get all the flakey stuff off while you are at it.   I would not clean the Egg in the future unless you start to get flakes dropping on the food.

    Seasoning in the Egg is nice, don't be such a clean freak!

     

    -SMITTY     

    from SANTA CLARA, CA

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  • Deckhand
    Deckhand Posts: 318
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    Looks like this?  3 yrs. worth of creosote, carbon and fat... gone in 30 min.  No damage to Egg.  First time it's been white since I bought it!
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  • lousubcap
    lousubcap Posts: 32,337
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    +1 with Smitty-after all, it will take on the same color the next cook.  You apparently dodged the "ruin the gasket" event that usually comes along with the high-temp cooks.  Fear not, the gasket will go soon enough.  You may want to contact the BGE Mothership (HQ) about a replacement gasket-people have been getting them "gratis" within a year of purchase.  FWIW-
    Louisville; Rolling smoke in the neighbourhood. # 38 for the win.  Life is too short for light/lite beer!  Seems I'm livin in a transitional period.
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  • gdenby
    gdenby Posts: 6,239
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    Your Egg is fine.

    What you post is, ahem, eggzactly what you want. Aside from the gasket, no one on the forum has ever had  a problem from a cleaning burn that I've read.. The ceramics are very heat resistant. As your pic shows, the coat of gunk just turned to ash.
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  • Little Steven
    Little Steven Posts: 28,817
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    As everyone else has said you are fine. Just to add you can clean the flakes off with some balled up tin foil too. Gdenby..."eggsactly"...ahem :((

    Steve 

    Caledon, ON

     

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  • henapple
    henapple Posts: 16,025
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    Your egg is ruined...message me and I'll come pick it up.
    Green egg, dead animal and alcohol. The "Boro".. TN 
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  • ribmaster
    ribmaster Posts: 209
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    hry deckhand ...how did you clean it? just a hi temp burn?
    I grill therefore I am.....not hungy.
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  • Deckhand
    Deckhand Posts: 318
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    ribmaster said:
    hry deckhand ...how did you clean it? just a hi temp burn?
    Yup... Removed the daisy wheel and opened the lower vent... Intended to burn the grease and gunk off the cooking grid... Got caught up in TV ... 20 min later I remembered... flames shooting from the top.  Closed the lower vent and let temp drop to 400° before replacing ceramic cap.    Had a nearly full load of fresh lump when I started... Checked next day... lump nearly but the Egg was CLEAN!  Rutland/Permatex undamaged except for a small place at the back where the dome was misaligned allowing the hot gas to toast the Permatex.  Still works, though.  Have done at least 2 dozen clean burns with no damage to the Rutland/Permatex... This was the first one where I used a full load of fresh (makes a big difference) lump.  Temp maxed out at 1,200°
    Have the Permatex and the Rutland gasket material to replace everything...whenever we have a warm afternoon and I feel energetic... Next summer, probably.  Will continue to do cleaning burns periodically...  

    :) 
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  • gte1
    gte1 Posts: 379
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    I have a nearly full bag of Cowboy that I did not like the flavor of. I think this is a good use for it.
    George
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  • Skiddymarker
    Skiddymarker Posts: 8,522
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    When I do a clean burn, I take my dome thermo out, calibrate it while the egg is in full after-burn. To my mind, no sense spinning the needle for the sake of spinning the needle. I also put my setter in legs down, grid below the setter. As noted above, I just burn enough to get the worst off.  
    Delta B.C. - Whiskey and steak, because no good story ever started with someone having a salad!
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  • MJQ8
    MJQ8 Posts: 43
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    "Your egg is ruined...message me and I'll come pick it up." HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!
    Any cook you can walk away from is a good one.
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  • njl
    njl Posts: 1,123
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    Worst that can happen in a clean burn is you burn up the gasket and ruin the dome thermometer.  I keep my dome thermo loose now (no clip) so it's easy to remove when I do a clean burn.  BGE sent me a new (new style, I think) gasket after my first clean burn totally destroyed the original gasket.
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