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Two Questions for AR & 2 Tier Swing Rack Owners

I'll bet most people reading the discussion title probably figured this was the usual which one is better question. Well it isn't. While being completely buried with work has kept me indoors for the last three months, it has given me a little extra spending cash. So I solved the which one to get question by getting one of each yesterday. I can see advantages to each and I do have two Eggs. So once I started thinking seriously about actually having and using these Eggcessories one question came to mind. Trying to research the answer here created a second question. My first question is how much temperature variation is there the higher you get up inside the dome and how do you deal with it? For example how do you deal with two pizzas when one is 6" different in height than the other? I've watched the videos for both products and never see this mentioned. Do you swap their positions midway through or cook them for different times?

The other question that came to mind when trying to find the answer to my first question related to cooking methods. Sure pizza you do indirect, but I saw lots of pictures where people had their Eggs almost overflowing with food on multiple levels and I just don't see direct grilling giving you even enough heat distribution to pull this off. So when using these products do you typically cook indirect for large multi-item cooks?

I can't wait to have the time to get back to using my Eggs and I'd like to avoid some beginners mistakes with these products. Thanks in advance for any insights owners of these rigs can provide.

Jim
Website: www.grillinsmokin.net
3 LBGE & More Eggcessories than I care to think about.

Comments

  • I only do one pizza at a time so can't help you there but I can answer your direct/indirect question (as far as  what I do anyway). When I do multiple racks of food, I always cook indirect. As a matter of fact, the only direct set up I ever use is for raised grid grilling. Everything else is indirect either with the platesetter for the swing rack (I actually have the grid extender + extra grid from the group buy but it's the same set up as the swing rack) or oval stone for the AR.

    I do leave my AR in all the time no matter what I'm cooking.....unless I'm using the grid extender/extra grid setup. 


    Keepin' It Weird in The ATX FBTX
  • +1 with Cen-Tex. I have the swing rack in my small and love it! I tried a simple Bubba burger cook on it recently and I was moving those 9 Bubbas between racks all the time. The top rack was relegated to food warming duties due to its indirect exposure. Doable, but performing a direct cook with an indirect set up is not what I would enjoy doing everyday.
    Flint, Michigan
  • Solson005
    Solson005 Posts: 1,911
    I make pizzas all the time on my CGW Swing Rack, what I like to do is have the stone on the bottom rack and start the pizza out there. Then halfway through (3-6 mins depending on the temp) I move it up top to let the toppings cook and throw a new one on the bottom to get a good rotation going. Which helps lump consumption with making 10 plus pizzas for parties. I have used the stone for my small egg on the top rack but it turns out just as well without a stone up top.

    If I do lots of items direct on both levels I will rotate on both levels and usually raise the swing rack with firebricks. But doing burgers like I did tonight I just did the burgers on the bottom level and the veggies up top then toasted the buns on the top as the cheese was melting on the burgers. The swing rack works great with the platesetter which I usually have legs up to get a drip pan in there.
    Large & Small BGE, CGW Two-Tier Swing Rack for BOTH EGGS, Spider for the Wok, eggCARTen & and Cedar Pergola my Eggs call home in Edmond, OK. 
  • 500
    500 Posts: 3,177
    Solson005 said:
    The swing rack works great with the platesetter which I usually have legs up to get a drip pan in there.
    Wait, when I asked a question earlier about the possibility of using the swing rack with the platesetter, I was told it couldn't be done, because of the physics of the thing, it would fit.  I think he meant that the lid wouldn't close because the second tire would be too high.  If I can use the swing rack rack indirect, I'm in for buying one.  My grid extender is about at the end of it's life.  Please enlightn me on how you use the swing rack and plate setter.
    I like my butt rubbed and my pork pulled.
    Member since 2009
  • Black_Badger
    Black_Badger Posts: 1,182
    I only do one pizza at a time so can't help you there but I can answer your direct/indirect question (as far as  what I do anyway). When I do multiple racks of food, I always cook indirect. As a matter of fact, the only direct set up I ever use is for raised grid grilling. Everything else is indirect either with the platesetter for the swing rack (I actually have the grid extender + extra grid from the group buy but it's the same set up as the swing rack) or oval stone for the AR.

    I do leave my AR in all the time no matter what I'm cooking.....unless I'm using the grid extender/extra grid setup. 


    +1, couldn't have said it better myself (so I didn't, haha)
    Finally back in the Badger State!

    Middleton, WI
  • CGW1
    CGW1 Posts: 332
    @500. The platesettet will work with the 2 tier swing grate. Checkout the videos on my site for how to set it up.
    Franco Ceramic Grillworks www.ceramicgrillworks.com
  • My swing rack warped (now unusable) at high heat so I would be careful using it for pizza. I do one pizza at a time.
  • Solson005
    Solson005 Posts: 1,911
    edited October 2013
    @500 The great thing about the swing rack is it is adjustable. it has set screws with a included allen key and you can set the height. Here is the platesetter legs up, drip pan, 3 racks of ribs in a rib rack after a couple hours, and a turkey breast on the top grate. 
    image

    image

    Here is a shot of it raised direct using firebricks. 
    image

    Here is good shot where you can see the platesetter better. Meatloaf on the bottom and Cauliflower on the top rack. 
    image

    Appetizers a plenty done indirect with the platesetter. 
    image

    I have plenty of pictures if you want a different angle or if I didn't answer your question completely.
    Large & Small BGE, CGW Two-Tier Swing Rack for BOTH EGGS, Spider for the Wok, eggCARTen & and Cedar Pergola my Eggs call home in Edmond, OK. 
  • jfm0830
    jfm0830 Posts: 987
    Thanks to everyone who has replied.

    @CGW1 actually you would be the perfect person to ask this question to. My two-tier swing rack arrived yesterday andI am looking forward to doing two pizzas on it. I do have to 14 inch BGE pizza stones and was planning on using one on each rack. I cook my pizza is about 650°. What I am not sure about, and what wasn't answered by the video on your site, is whether I have to stagger the start of the end time for the pizzas because of the difference in height. I don't remember the reason why now, but you ended up not starting the pizzas at the same time on the video. Generally at 650, using the plate setter and a pizza stone set on the stock grate at the gasket level I am cooking my pizzas for 4 minutes 15 seconds.

    I am assuming the pizza on the upper grate might cook faster, do you have any idea how much faster? Also does having a second pizza stone above the first pizza affect it's cooking time at all? I wasn't sure if some of the heat would radiate back off the upper pizza stone onto the lower pizza? Thanks in advance for any advice you might have, and I'm really looking forward to using the two-tier swing rack.

    Jim
    Website: www.grillinsmokin.net
    3 LBGE & More Eggcessories than I care to think about.
  • CGW1
    CGW1 Posts: 332
    @jfm...the upper level pizza in your case could finish sooner. The setup for pizza on the egg is different than the kamado I use. I actually don't bake pizzas indirectly so in my case the bottom one cooks faster. However, the lag is only a couple minutes.

    You will get some reflective heat from the upper stone on the bottom pizza but not enough to really case any issues. The best thing would be to jump in with both feet and see how it goes.
    Franco Ceramic Grillworks www.ceramicgrillworks.com
  • 500
    500 Posts: 3,177
    Solson005, Thank you so much for the real world use of the swing rack.  I want it to be as versatile as possible, considering the coin I'll have to drop for it.  SWMBO saw the CGW website over my shoulder yesterday, and said that could be my birthday present.  My birthday may have to come early.
    I like my butt rubbed and my pork pulled.
    Member since 2009