BillywannaQ
Full Fledged Farker
Damn!! Just what my wife needs; another darn cooker!
I'm really surprised to hear that temps respond rather quickly. I'm wondering if your initial higher heat or the fact that you lit your lump at the bottom has anything to do with that? Or maybe your maverick is more sensitive than stem therms..
I'm curious what the footprint LxW is with the tables folded down? Is it heavy to load it in back of a pickup? I have no intentions of getting rid of my kegs, but this is why I ask..
I stopped by Lowes the other night to check the CGK out. It weighs about half what the BK weighs.
What makes the BK so heavy? At 90lbs that would put the BK at over 150? Thats about what the large egg weighs.
I had a keg for several years and I can tell by your video that there is a LOT to like about your new cooker. They took a lot of the ideas that In-zone had with the keg and expanded on them even further. I'm afraid that you will eventually have to seal off that lower gasket. It's a great concept but I just can't see it going the long haul. I hope it does though. If it that happens, just take a pie pan and use it to pull the ash out the top. It's nice that the flanges are their for the diffuser to sit on because that would make great "handles" for pulling the fire box out. BK doesn't have that so it can be a little awkward to pull out.
I think you are going to be really happy with that cooker.
What makes the BK so heavy? At 90lbs that would put the BK at over 150? Thats about what the large egg weighs.
When I need to get rid of ash in my Keg, I just use an old vacuum cleaner with a hose, Sucks it right up in less than 30 seconds. Easy. :wink:
I use a grill pan (basket) to hold the charcoal (the kind sold at Lowes for ~$10.00) and an aluminum pan in the bottom of my BK. All I have to do is empty the pans and I'm done cleaning up the ash.
For maintaining a lower temp for low and slow, I start with fewer hot coals. If I start with too large of a fire in my BGE, then the temp likes to climb up higher than what I was wanting, but if I start with a smaller fire initially, it keeps the temps lower for a longer period of time. If you're using a chimney to start the lump, you might try reducing the number of coals in the chimney by 1/4 to 1/3.
I've been using the BGE starter cubes, and for a lower running temp, I just use 1/2 of a cube to get the lump going.
By the way, a box of the BGE cubes is $6.99. Tractor supply recently had the same thing (without the BGE name on it) for $1.99.
I'd be curious to hear why you make this supposition. Is it based on observation of another cooker?
I hope I am wrong. I just think the fact that it's already leaking air when the vents are closed is not encouraging. With it being so close to the lump and being removed so often, I can't see it getting better with time. Also, the fact that the vents were closed down so much to keep the temps at 275 makes me think it's already effecting the cooker temps.
Just curious... why wouldn't you think it's the vent itself where the air leak is? When I did the positive pressure test on the unit during the seasoning burn in the second video test, the vent is where the air leak showed up mostly.