I went to my local store yesterday (only one in my state)... and negotiated my way into a Large Egg, Plate setter, and some other little accessories.

Setup took about 30 minutes, and was done while watching the setup dvd on the computer.

There is currently a 5# flat brisket in her, slow cooking.

So far, I am amazed how easy she was to get up to temp. I hit two spots of charcoal with my MAP torch for about 30 seconds each, and left it all full open. I was 500* in 6 minutes? Shut her down with top pretty open, and bottom open just a touch, and she stabilized at 225 in no time. I cant believe how easy, and efficient she is... just at start up when hardly 2 coals were partially lit, heat just poured out the top, and the gauge was 100* the moment I closed her up.


I am sure this love affair will run deep, and I will quickly sell off my other smokers (Brinkman, Charbroil Silver SxS).






Hopefully Brisket pics later tonight.

Awesome Ironballs, I am sure you'll take the same course I did with mine, over time I used everything else less and less.

They are awesome cookers for sure, nothing else really comes close...

Bluesin

Dry rub. 225-250 for 6.5 hrs, and she hit 155* inside. Temp dropped at one point, and I had to clear some air holes of ash. I noticed I needed very little mesquite to keep her smoking the entire time. Then, I hit her with bbq sauce, wrapped her up in foil, opened her up good to to 300* and took a nap. I came down 2 hrs later (so 8.5 hrs total) and I pulled her off, temp was 190* in the egg, I did not test meat temp. No resting, I lopped off a chunk and dined with my kids. Awesome!

Ironballs,

I am very impressed, especially since this apparently is your first cook on you bge.

I appreciate that your post not only has pics but also the technique, temps and times you used. Helpful for all of us.

It looks delicious and moist, and hopefully fork tender.

Enjoy.

Shelly

Congratulations on the new acquisition! Your pictures speak for themselves on how good these eggs work! Looks delicious!

What BBQ sauce did you use? Homemade or store bought? Looks like a great glaze! And Shelly is so right - the slices look so moist! Nice!

Mike

Ironballs
Have you tried cooking the same meal on your EP320
It would be interesting to see what difference if any there would be

Thanks all for the support. I am really looking forward to every grill day. What really strikes me how much less charcoal (and wood) is necessary in the egg. I made huge smoke pots to use in my EP320, and it was nice, but not very smokey in flavor result. In the Silver (side by side) I got great smoke, but had to use about 4 feet of 1" mesquite branch. The Egg produced a nice smokey brisket on about 6 inches of 1" mesquite branch.

Don't get me wrong, the EP320 is awesome. A first timer can cook a professional product on it easily and effortlessly. It has never let me down and impressed me with everything,... except in the smoke department. My steaks get a great char-flavor from the flavorizors zapping the drippings. I love it, but the indirect cooking as left me longing for a good smoker. It was just a step ahead of the oven in the indirect department.

The silver sxs is a nice smoker, but very inefficient (lots of charcoal and wood needed, lots of heat loss). But it is huge, and gave a nice result. The egg is simply the smoker I was looking for. Much more efficient.

I figure the EP320 stays, and the Egg stay, and I would love to build in the IR sear, as its a thin burger machine... but the rest are now listed locally for sale.

Cuskit- sweet baby rays is my preferred sauce. It looks like a glaze here as it was wrapped in foil and mixed with juices. My Rubs are all homemade.

I am really looking to the spring lamb that should be around anytime now. I am pretty sure the EP320 will produce the best lamb with Sweet Baby Rays (original)... but a nice rosemary/olive oil or Herb de Provence in the in the egg would be great.

Two tools, each with spectacular ability, with their own strengths and weakness. I think this week I will look into building something to clean up the backyard.

Patty is going to make a fresh picnic shoulder in her crockpot tomorrow, she has been brining one all day today. She wants me to pick up a bottle of the Sweet Baby Ray for a pulled pork. She's following a recipe given by one of her friends. I wanted to smoke the shoulder, but she insists on following her girlfriends procedure. I'll give it a whirl - I'm working all day anyway and will look forward to it tomorrow evening. My first chance to try out the Sweet Baby Ray, many around here rave about it. It sure looks good in your photo!

Costco has a piece this month in their monthly flier (The Costco Connecttion) about their Kirkland Signature Australian lamb:
"Which is raised on grass pastures to produce a natural product that is free of artificial additives and hormone growth promotants. Lamb packed under the Kirkland Signature brand is specially bred and selected for the U.S. market against strict standards, resulting a quality product that is consistently lean and always delicious to eat. It is exported to the U.S. chilled in vacuum-sealed bags. During shipping the lamb undergoes a natural process called aging in which muscle fibers in the meat relax and improve its tenderness. To save time in the kitchen their racks are trimmed and pre-frenched, and bones are removed from the legs, so as to promote easier cooking and preparation. It's lean, packed with nutrients and B vitamins, and contains no artificial additives."

I usually don't eat lamb, but am willing to give this one a try. It looks delicious in their flier.

Keep up the great postings!

Mike

So many ways to play with this lamb. Not gamy, but great lamb flavor, especially in the fat. Shanks are easy to make perfect and you can do them so many ways. The rack, lots of traditional recipes out there (most fruity or sweet or balsalmic reductions) as typically designed reduce gamy taste, but since these are so good, you can get creative and go the other direction. Mustard garlic crusted is one of my favorites on the rack. Shoot for medium rare.





Last night, Pizza, and disaster... I got the egg stabilized at about 620*. My stone was on my plate setter, and ready. I tossed on the first pie,... and I started to smell plastic burning. I opened her up, and the upper gasket (in the 3'oclock position) was drooping down, sagging, melting. I tried to fold just that piece to the outside of the egg, but it was lost. I checked her 3 minutes later, and mush of the gasket was drooping intowards the egg. I pulled the pizza (it was tainted by the burning plastic, so I tossed it.).

The good news, is that I pulled the stone out, and got it going in the oven and made 3 of the best pizzas I ever made.

The bad news is my Egg is without gaskets. When I got the egg, the gasket was not installed correctly, and was basically overhanging into the egg. I reinstalled it and thought the issue was fixed. I have no idea what went wrong to kill the gasket (yes I burp prior to opening). So, I pulled it all off last night, and just opened up the egg vents to burn off and out the plastic residue (I hope It was successful). Today I will read around for a way to install my second gasket set, and look for tricks, like high temp silicone? But last night, surrounded by friends and family, I could not help but think that the second choice I passed on, The Grill Dome (which has no gasket), may have been the better choice.

Any of you have issues with higher heat cooking and the gasket? I have seen some burn the outside a bit, but never melt it off and have it fall into the fire. I would have figured she was fully dry and seasoned, with all the smoking that was done the day b4. Oh well.




grrr-

A bit of research, and it looks like the answer is a Nomex gasket from BGE (I guess sold/free as an upgrade)... or Fiberglass as sold through Rutland.
http://www.nakedwhiz.com/rutlandgasket/gasket.htm

I called BGE direct,... they say it was a bad batch of gaskets that whet out. They are sending me a Nomex gasket (free), and told me to buy 3m Super 77 spray adhesive (on my own dime). Now I need to clean off all the old stuff which I understand is a chore, and stick on a new gasket... and likely wait a week for the gasket to come. Luckily I have the EP320.

Ironballs
Sorry to hear of your troubles.
On the other hand you just made a great case for why you need two grills/smokers

It's good they took care of you for the gasket anyway. I've read, and followed this course, that you shouldn't do high temp cooks for the first 5 or 6 cooks to let everything settle in. You may want to take it easy on the temps for a cook or two after you get the new gasket installed.

I think you made a good call on the BGE. BGE and GD both have their pro's & con's.

I'm going on 4 years with my BGE and have never replaced the gasket, you won't have any problems with the new one if you get it installed properly...

Bluesin

My gasket is flattened out, black and just barely there, but it does not affect the cooking at all.

Shelly

Nomex gasket came. I purchased 3M super77 at homedepot for just under $10. I had a real heck of a time cleaning the surface. Not only fighting off the original underlying tape (which was melted into pores) but also the felt gasket which must be made of some petroleum plastic product, as it too melted into the egg. I finally got it 'good enough'. Then sprayed the glue into a cup, painting it on, and rolling out the nomex... little section at a time and repeating. She is sitting closed now to cure.

This experience sucked. The egg is like a million dollars, and to have it malfunction on day three, and then to receive just the gasket, was simply a piss poor customer service experience. I not only lost a meal, but then spent hours cleaning it up removing the failed gasket, had to run out and buy glue, then install. I spoke with my local dealer, no returns, but I am welcome to come and pick up a new felt liner... they have never herd of the issue or the Nomex upgrade. When I originally spoke to mothership, they said email what happened... I did, and listed a 'future purchase wish list' of their products, mentioning that anything they can do to make up for things would be great... but only the gasket came. I would really expect for my local store to at least come out and install the gasket.

No matter how this thing cooks, I will not recommend it to others based on this experience. There are just too many alternative companies out there, who by the look of things, value their customers more.


Now I am off to heat up my Weber to cook some lamb

I agree that it's a frustrating experience. You have to realize that the time you spent cleaning and installing the new gasket will benefit you greatly. Your dealer wouldn't have put as much effort in, and now you know you have a top caliber job. Each of the ceramics can have their issues. The only advice I can offer you is to clear your head before you use it again. There is a slight learning curve, and if you go in with a negative attitude, you could end up hating this grill without really giving it a chance. They are a pleasure to use and should last a lifetime. On the other hand, if you hate it and want to sell it, I'm sure it would go pretty fast. Good Luck!

Ironballs
I no how you feel. The thing that concerned me in following this thread is that if they admitted that there was a gasket problem and they agreed to send you another gasket. Whey didnt they send you the adhesive for it. What would have happen if you had put it in wrong? Would they no longer honor the warranty ? Are they going to say that any future issues you have if any are because you did something wrong?

Dont get me wrong. Im not knocking Ceramic grills, but that CS you just received leaves me a little cold

I got the Nomex on and let it sit about 24 hrs. I had a bunch of partially burned coals, so I lit them up and set to a max of 400* and just let it sit, closed... The goal is to season, and burn off any remaining glue, or scrapings from the cleaning process, etc. I hope she is good to go tomorrow.


Tonight, the EP320 really showed me perfection however...
http://www.bbqsource-forums.com/invboard/i...?showtopic=4477

pizza again, and top gasket fell. I will try to clean the top (again) and save the gasket, and only keep the bottom on. This design is really questionable imo

The bge works quite well without any gaskets. You may lose a little smoke but the ceramic will retain the heat and enable it to hold temps for many hours.

My gaskets are so blackened and compressed that they may as well not be there but my egg keeps on and on.

Shelly

Ironballs, this appears to be a problem with you creating too much heat using your pizza stone at the level of the gasket. BGE specifically states that the gasket will melt at 1100 degrees.



I also do not understand what is the nomex gasket and why you needed glue, I am local to the BGE Store and have bought a couple of gaskets from them for my smokers I have built and they are self adhesive.

It sounds like you are pretty much blocking the heat flow after building a very hot fire and the temperature at the gasket area is getting up to around 1200 or more degrees and heating the ceramic up much hotter than normal.

As they said it won't melt at temperatures below 1100 degrees so you are in fact creating a temperature at least that hot or hotter. You don't need temperatures that hot to cook pizza, I believe Shelly has done it a number of times and can perhaps provide some more direction on the right temps, etc...

Bluesin

Updating,

I just visited the BGE store to get a replacement firebox for my medium that broke, it was cracked when I got the Egg and they offered to replace it then but I said, what the heck, lets see how long it lasts and it lasted 4 years. Took it back in today and no questions asked out I walked with a brand new one.

As to the above, the Nomex gasket is a brand new gasket that is ceramic. These are lifetime gaskets and are being instaleld on new Eggs as they are manufactured today, however most Eggs out in the market have the old gasket. The Nomex gaskets do not have adhesive on them and because they are lifetime gaskets instaleld at the factory BGE does not sell adhesive for them, thus the reason you ware told to purchase super-77.

The bad batch of gaskets was related to the adhesive on them.

Now here's where the second problem comes in, I can guarantee you that you received bad advice when you ware told to purchase Super-77. There is no way that is a high temp adhesive and I would suspect that somewhere on the can it has a specific temperature that it should not be applied to surfaces that will be exposed to temps above that point.

Sorry you had this problem, I still think you are trying to cook at too high a temp for the pizza and superheating the area below the pizza stone because the stone prevents the natural air flow. It sounds like you in fact did melt the original one and the adhesive was definately a problem there also. The re-occurence is due to bad advice from a store clerk on what to use to apply the nomex gasket.

I have successfully tested Sumo glue to 550 degrees with no loss of adhesion, you can also most likely use pretty much any silicone caulking product up to 500 degrees with no problem either. If you really need high temp glue then I would recommend that you get some from Cotronics.

Silicone will work fine as there really should not ever be a time when the actual outside ceramic and gasket get much above 400 degrees as it takes temps inside of 800 degrees or above to cause the outside ceramic to get that hot...

Bluesin

Bluesin
-temps read 600*
-I have the stone elevated well above the gasket line, as I learned from my own and others mistakes. The gasket still fell. (glue failure on nomex)
-3m Super 77 was advice from Mothership (BGE home) who supplied the nomex, and it is what everyone else uses. not from from a sales lady recommendation at lowes.

The original felt definitely burned up/melted, at under your stated burn point, roughly half that. The nomex did not burn up, but the glue definitely failed at 600*

IB - Was this your first cook with the newly installed Nomex gasket? I know it's been gone over in this thread before, but it's not recommended to go to high heat (over 400*) for the first 6 or so cooks. I believe the lower heat, longer cooks cure the adhesive to a point where the higher temps won't have the same effects. If you've done 6 or so low and slows since you installed the new gasket then.....never mind.

BGE has sales clerks also that answer the phone, that glue will not hold at temps as you have already discovered. Thermometer temps have nothing to do with the temps below the stone, as an example I usually cook pizzas in my big smoker and when the overall temp inside the smoker is 425, the stone, 8 inches from the fire, registers between 1000 and 1200 degrees. I do a high temp clean burn off of my BGE on occasion and my gasket is still alive and kicken after over 4 years...

You definately got bad advice on the glue, I have experimented with a lot of glues at high temps and as a whole none of them hold up...

Bluesin

yes, I seasoned her. Glue failed... again. It is simply a poor design.
I pulled the top nomex off completely... and grilled again, using just the bottom nomex. I think this is the way I will keep her... and maybe go for the Rutland option later.




Threw in a mesquite branch... nice little smoke ring-



I am just way disappointed by the high heat pizza cooking, and that is a place I was expecting her to shine. I think I will try using the Weber and a stone next time.

Try using some silicone adhesive or calk instad of the super-77.

Bluesin

Glue/gasket problems aside - those are some great looking burgers! Thanks for the nice pictures!
Mike

Chicken, marinade garlic, lime/lemon, rock salt. 40 minutes
thrown on the egg with some mesquite,... awesome!