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How hot can the BGE get?

Unknown
Unknown
edited November -0001 in EggHead Forum
I"m thinking about getting a BGE instead of a pizza oven. Ideally, I'd like to have the pizza stone at around 650F and the air temp above the pizza upwards of 800F.[p]I think the thermometer only goes to 750F but will it heat higher? I'm also wondering if at the same time I would be able to limit the pizza stone temp.[p]thank you
joe
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Comments

  • Smoked Signals
    Smoked Signals Posts: 505
    hottemp.jpg
    <p />JoeS,
    I think this should be hot enough ... but I would be worried about my platesetter or stone at these temperatures. Cold dough and super hot ceramics may not mix. I make my pizza's on the platesetter at 500 ... plenty crispy and real tasty.[p]But yeah .. the egg gets hot. Real hot.[p]Doug
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  • tonymark
    tonymark Posts: 16
    JoeS,[p]A friend of mind build a chimney for his large BGE to get extra draw when T-rexing steaks. He has a non-standard thermometer (check Grangers) which registered over 1100 F. Also, the BGE thermometer just keeps on spinning at higher temps.
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  • chuckls
    chuckls Posts: 399
    JoeS,[p]One thing to watch out for is that at frequent nuke temps, the felt gasket gets pretty much turned to carbon.[p]Lots of eggers have started to use Rutland gaskets. RRP is a good source of info for this.[p]Happy Eggin'!
    Chuck
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  • chuckls
    chuckls Posts: 399
    chuckls,[p]Also, visit the Naked Whiz' web site. He has a lot of guideance there, too.
    [ul][li]The Naked Whiz[/ul]
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  • Grillicious
    Grillicious Posts: 347
    Move that needle on around to almost 15O and it will be where mine was at it's hottest. A blue pointed torch-like flame was shooting out the top. It was both cool and not cool at the same time. Bet you can guess the result.
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  • guavawood
    guavawood Posts: 213
    Grillicious,[p]It cleaned the grate and interior of th EGG like never before?[p]Aloha![p]greg
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  • Crab leg
    Crab leg Posts: 291
    Grillicious,
    New gasket?
    Seth
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  • Grillicious
    Grillicious Posts: 347
    guava wood, a lovely light gray color inside. Unfortunately my grid extender was inside...it did not survive:(

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  • Grillicious
    Grillicious Posts: 347
    Crab leg, yep, and a new grid extender too. It was inside and jsut wasn't right anymroe after it cooled down.

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  • The Naked Whiz
    The Naked Whiz Posts: 7,777
    JoeS,
    I would caution against running the BGE thermometer higher than it's top limits for very long or very often. This will get it out of calibration, possibly in a permanent way. If you want to go hotter, I'd recommend the Tel-Tru model for the BGE which goes to 1000 degrees. Even this model should only be taken above 800 degrees for short periods of time. (However, Tel-Tru doesn't define "short" in their literature.)[p]TNW
    The Naked Whiz
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  • Unknown
    Unknown
    Thank you everyone for your help. Do you have to do anything special to reach 750+? Does it take a lot more coal or something? thx, joe

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  • Unknown
    Unknown
    guava wood,
    With my EXTECH IR thermomrter 1008...just hot enough for anything and much too hot for most food.
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  • Smokin' Todd
    Smokin' Todd Posts: 1,104
    JoeS,
    I believe it was Kenny G who posted a few yrs ago showing his egg geting close to 1100* with a digital device.
    That is HOT!
    ST
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  • Dos Huevos
    Dos Huevos Posts: 368
    Smokin' Todd,[p]I wrapped mine all the way back around to 325 degrees once. [p]Needless to say, the gasket died a quick and painless death.[p]LOL
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  • Smokin' Todd
    Smokin' Todd Posts: 1,104
    Dos Huevos,
    I hope you weren't making brunswick stew(which was delicious by the way) at that temp!
    ST
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  • Unknown
    Unknown
    The biggest difference between a brick pizza oven and a ceramic cooker (which CAN get hot enough) is that in the egg the heat source is directly BELOW the pizza stone. In the pizza oven your heat is shoved against the back wall, then climbs down the dome until it is heating the floor of the oven. [p]In the egg the bottom will be hotter than the air in the dome because the fire is beneath....UNLESS you use a heat deflector such as the plate setter or dual stones.
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  • Smoked Signals
    Smoked Signals Posts: 505
    JoeS,
    Use fresh lump and open the top and bottom all the way. Nothing special. Some lump will burn hotter then others, but the Naked Whiz has that all on his web site. BGE lump will get you to 750 easy.[p]Enjoy.
    Doug
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  • The Naked Whiz
    The Naked Whiz Posts: 7,777
    JoeS,
    Clearly the amount of charcoal will affect the maximum temperature you can achieve. Imagine if you had a single layer of lump pieces on your grate burning cherry read. You aren't going to get a tremendously hot fire. The air passing through the charcoal will only be heated for a short time and distance, so it will only get so hot by the time it gets up to the cooking level. On the other hand imagine a full load of lump charcoal, burning from top to bottom. The air passing through the charcoal is getting heated all the time it is passing from the bottom of the pile to the top of the pile. [p]The other thing that helps nuclear temperatures is using fresh lump. Fresh lump contains volatile organic compounds that burn at a high temperature. If you start a fire with fresh lump and watch it as it grows with the vents open, when your dome temp gets to 350-400 degrees, you should see the VOC's ignite and you should now see the dancing blue flames burning above the charcoal. You will also see the temperature begin to rise more rapidly than before (like "lickity split") as the burning VOC's heat things up.[p]TNW
    The Naked Whiz
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