Big Green Egg worth the admission price?

[rahimlee54]

Guy pulled his eggs there is a kamodo joe listed though.

 

[SmokinTiger]

I have two Big Green Eggs (a large and a mini). I use the large the most and if something happened to it, my wife would go buy another one without hesitation. We use it 2-4 times a week depending on our schedules. Not an insignificant investment, but well worth it in my opinion.

 

[JMJones]

Cabelas has a knock off.

http://www.cabelas.com/grills-accessories-river-grille-ceramic-grill-cart-1.shtml

Thoughts?

 

[SpikeC]

They don't tell you how big it is.
It looks rather small......

 

[UnConundrum]

Also, BGE is known for it's warranty. Not sure about a knock off....

 

[trevt777]

Anyone that has experience with more than one of the ceramic cooker companies? There are a number around but it's difficult to find real comparisons online....

 

[rahimlee54]

Just found a used one for a decent price now to get some meat together for next weekend and read up on how to use the thing. Large BGE that is.

 

[Doug Seward]

Another Kamado owner chiming in. I own two and have cooked on them both at home and for competitions and love them. They are efficient and very even heating - especially for low and slow. I strongly recommend round ceramic cookers including the BGE. I just wish I could still get the high quality Extruded Coconut charcoal Kamado used to sell. It burned super clean and lasted more than twice as long as briquettes. -Doug

 

[Kyle]

Anyone that has experience with more than one of the ceramic cooker companies? There are a number around but it's difficult to find real comparisons online....

Well, I use a Comet Kamado, which is a BGE knockoff, I got it for dirt cheap used so I snapped it up. It cooks just like a BGE, but the fit and finish is pretty weak. All of the ceramic cookers will cook like a champ, but if you stick with BGE or Primo, you know you're buying a quality product from a company that will stand behind their product.

Someone mentioned the warranty on the Egg and that is a great point, I've heard of people getting a new firebox from BGE 25 years later. They certainly back up their product.

 

[mikemac]

As long as we are talking egg is there a local Hard Lump Charcoal available ...

Local means ????
My local (Suburban Los Angeles) Smart Final always has 40lb. sacks of mesquite hardwood chunk, and used to have 40lb sacks of hardwood chunk - a combo of hickory & oak...this is the Royal oak product but it wasn't packaged as royal oak (IIRC), and this is chunk wood, not compressed briquets.

If you have any restuarants locally that cook over hardwood (and most mid size cities and larger do...) then there is a distributor somewhere in town

In L.A., it's Calif Charcoal, off the 5 in commerce...

 

[rahimlee54]

I am local to Greensboro and Raleigh NC so I have access to most stores.

As far as temp probes is there a certain setup you guys would recommend for the BGE setup?

 

[UnConundrum]

Assuming you're referring to temp control units, there's two available, the BBQ-Guru and The Stoker. They are both fine units with different strong points. Most folks I know prefer the Guru, and their customer support is great. They have a team that competes in KCBS and they always do well. The Stoker is stronger in networking capabilities for us techies out there, but he's not known for his support. If you're not worried about adjusting the temperature while you're at the grocery store, go with a Guru.

 

[wenus2]

another good (slightly cheaper) option
http://www.auberins.com/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=14&zenid=dd8e96c957b5a3cc54e8aaf26745c9f9

 

[StephanFowler]

i've gone through literally hundreds of pounds of lump charcoal doing iron smelting projects and always hated cowboy brand charcoal.

most bags would have chunks of fiberglass insulation, uncooked wood pieces, nails, etc.

 

[Kyle]

i've gone through literally hundreds of pounds of lump charcoal doing iron smelting projects and always hated cowboy brand charcoal.

most bags would have chunks of fiberglass insulation, uncooked wood pieces, nails, etc.

That's the general consensus with Cowboy lump. I've only bought it a couple times and only because I literally had no other option.

 

[rahimlee54]

I got the BGE man that sucker is heavy. The guy that had it used to cook for the troops when they got back from tours so that was pretty cool. He had around 9 BGEs and I saw all kinds of neat stuff at his place. The guy now travels extensively for work so I talked with his wife. She helped me load up the egg and even gave me a 20 pound bag of weekend warrior lump to mess around with. It was dirty since the husband wasn't around to clean it so I lit it with some kingsford I had here, saving the good stuff, and it got to 600 without breaking a sweat. The top cap had been sealed shut by fat so a quick placement on top and it is no mobile again. The hardest part is deciding what to smoke tomorrow. The pizza stone had literally 1 inch of grease on it which is now carbonized, tomorrow I'll sweep and incinerate anything that is left. Fat was even coming out of the main seal, should I worry about the felt gasket or just keep on trucking for now? It doesnt appear to be leaking smoke.

Thanks
Jared

 

[SpikeC]

You should have a backup gasket in stock. They don't cost much and are easy to install when needed. The briquets won't get it up to temp, so a good heat blast with lump will probably burn off the old grease best.

This is an untrimmed slab of pork ribs.

 

[rahimlee54]

I did a burn out and it worked really well, then I did another one which is just about done just to be sure. I'll go ahead and order another gasket and have one on hand sounds like a good idea. when it cools I'll be ready to throw on some spatchcock chicken, shrimp, and chuck eyes that were on clearance just a bit ago.

Thanks
Jared

 

[SpikeC]

Sounds like a good plan! Do let us know how it all comes out!
:grilling:

 

[rahimlee54]

Chicken=awesome. Thanks for the enabling guys. Next week I think pizza is order. Also a new gasket as this one is coming off and fried. That royal oak from walmart worked out well I use that a couple weeks then try the weekend warrior stuff that the lady who sold me the egg gave me.

 

[SpikeC]

I really like Lazzari Mesquite lump. I get it at a local food service supply for around 13 bucks for 40 pounds. It doesn't overpower with the smoke, butt does provide enough for a nice subtle flavor.

 

[rahimlee54]

I am not sure where one here is, I'll have to look a little more to see if I can find a supplier of something.

 

[SpikeC]

Around here the restaurants tend to use it, so you could ask someone in the business, but grocery stores carry it also.

 

[mhlee]

I'm an EGGhead. I paid for a "once-baked" XL BGE. I'm picking it up at the SoCal Eggfest this Saturday.

Pictures to come of my first cook.

 

[Kyle]

I'm an EGGhead. I paid for a "once-baked" XL BGE. I'm picking it up at the SoCal Eggfest this Saturday.

Pictures to come of my first cook.

I really wanted to go this weekend but money is tight and $25 admission is a bit steep. Unfortunately I just sold my knockoff BGE yesterday. I'm going to miss it but I needed some cash. Oh well!

 

[mhlee]

I'll preface the results of my first cook with this: unfortunately I don't have pictures because my cell phone sucks at pictures and I'd rather spend my money on knives and barbecue stuff, so technically, my first cook never happened. :slaphead:

So, for my imaginary first cook on my BGE XL, I slowly got the BGE up to 300 with the vent open half way (damper open completely) then closed the vent to 1/4 and it continued to rise in temp to 325. I closed the vent to literally 1 cm., and it stabilized between 275 and 300. The damper was open completely this whole time. I used the daisy wheel (completely open) and got the BGE to be steady at 275. I put about 4 pounds of large Barbecues Galore Hardwood Lump Charcoal and two small chunks of cherry wood. It had no problem going for six hours.

However, I used two frozen racks of ribs and except for the meatiest center portion of the ribs, they came out dry. I had read that BGE's run a little dry when cooking, but did not use a water pan since I hadn't noticed much a difference when using a water pan in my Weber. I also used a plate setter, put a double thickness large sheet of foil and a rectangular cake pan for a drip pan. The flavor was mild and the smoke ring was not pronounced (I did not keep the ribs ice cold before putting them in the BGE), but I think that, again, this is the result of frozen ribs. I did not wrap them after partially cooking them because I wanted to see how the BGE cooked.

Next time, water pan, wrap and FRESH RIBS! But man, it's nice to not have to check charcoal or temp every hour and a half. I saw that I still had a good amount of charcoal left as well.

 

[watercrawl]

Congrats on your first imaginary cook on the BGE.

 

[Kyle]

Michael, congrats on the Egg and on your first cook. Definitely go with fresh ribs next time!

I'm already regretting selling my kamado last week. I've been pinching pennies lately and I've saved the cash instead of spending it and now I think I'm going to end up buying a new Egg. Oh well, live and learn!

Anyone wanna buy a Konosuke HD 240 with Stefan handle so that I can have enough to buy a L BGE w/ Nest??

 

[mhlee]

Thanks Kyle.

I'm actually going to give some Danish ribs a shot this next time. I got them dirt cheap at Vons, and since they're from Europe, they're hormone and antibiotic free - Yup, they have higher standards than we do here.

I'm definitely not a fan of frozen ribs. I hate to wrap them because it's such a waste of aluminum foil, but it seems like the only way to keep them moist. I had great results on Mother's Day for my gf - smoked three racks of baby back ribs on the Weber for 3 hours, then put them in a half sheet pan, sprinkled raw sugar all over them, put a little water in the bottom, wrapped them in foil and cooked them for another three hours at 250 in the oven. I finished them by taking the juice on the bottom of the pan, mixed with my gf's favorite sauce, basted the ribs again and finished them on the grill at 300. They came out super tender, sweet, and sticky, but slightly missing the smoke flavor that I like.

However, since we have metalworkers here, I might try to come up with a design for a permanent steaming pan (rib shaped that is).

You might want to check out if there are other Eggfests that are close and try and get a once-used Egg. You'll save like 40%. I know there's one in San Jose up north; maybe there's one in Vegas or Arizona.

 

[Kyle]

I just called a guy on CL and it looks like I'm going to be picking up a used L BGE with nest, plate setter and some other accessories tonight! It's not the best CL deal I've seen, but it appears to be lightly used and I'm paying way less than new or even EggFest pricing.