ccarter
Full Fledged Farker
I've been having problems with my BGE taking a LONG time to get to temp for cooking. By a long time I mean that 90 mins after lighting I was barely reaching 300-350*. I've been doing the best I can to keep the pit clear of ash, but it just couldn't get up to temp anymore.
So, for my birthday I got BBQ Guru's Turbo Grate. It seemed good in principle, but after I ordered it (while waiting for it to arrive) I managed to convince myself that it probably wouldn't make any huge difference. Afterall, there's no such thing as a magic cure. Well, it arrived and I started installing it. It doesn't take much time, but I did take the time to remove all the inner pieces of my BGE and insure that all the ash was cleaned out of the back areas of the bottom. There really wasn't much back there, it seems like I've been doing a good job of getting back there when I scrap out the ash, but I figure that once a year it's probably good to get back there.
So I did all this 2 nights ago. I installed the grate, and poored fresh lump into the BGE, then poored about 3 softball-sized scoops of the old lump on top of that. I put a BGE firestarter brick right next to the top of the grate and went inside to prep chicken. I came out 30 minutes later to an inferno in the pit. I closed the lid, choked down the air intake, and watched as the dome temp climbed like a bat out of hell straight up to about 800*. I was able to bring it back down to the 350-400* range for my chicken without too much hassle and away I went with cooking.
Last night I went out, topped off the lump and cranked her up for some salmon. I watched the fire a little closer this time, and settled her down at 400* for the cook. It probably took 20 mins to get to temp.
There's no such thing as a magic cure, and I know that if I took the time to sort pieces of lump for each cook instead of just dumping more in the pit I could've probably solved my problem without the additional part. But honestly, I'm fairly lazy and I'm more than happy with the way the grate is working so far.
So that's my testimonial for the Turbo Grate. I'm not associated with BBQ Guru, or any other company for that matter. I just wanted to share my findings with the group... it's at least worth thinking about if you're having any trouble like mine.
So, for my birthday I got BBQ Guru's Turbo Grate. It seemed good in principle, but after I ordered it (while waiting for it to arrive) I managed to convince myself that it probably wouldn't make any huge difference. Afterall, there's no such thing as a magic cure. Well, it arrived and I started installing it. It doesn't take much time, but I did take the time to remove all the inner pieces of my BGE and insure that all the ash was cleaned out of the back areas of the bottom. There really wasn't much back there, it seems like I've been doing a good job of getting back there when I scrap out the ash, but I figure that once a year it's probably good to get back there.
So I did all this 2 nights ago. I installed the grate, and poored fresh lump into the BGE, then poored about 3 softball-sized scoops of the old lump on top of that. I put a BGE firestarter brick right next to the top of the grate and went inside to prep chicken. I came out 30 minutes later to an inferno in the pit. I closed the lid, choked down the air intake, and watched as the dome temp climbed like a bat out of hell straight up to about 800*. I was able to bring it back down to the 350-400* range for my chicken without too much hassle and away I went with cooking.
Last night I went out, topped off the lump and cranked her up for some salmon. I watched the fire a little closer this time, and settled her down at 400* for the cook. It probably took 20 mins to get to temp.
There's no such thing as a magic cure, and I know that if I took the time to sort pieces of lump for each cook instead of just dumping more in the pit I could've probably solved my problem without the additional part. But honestly, I'm fairly lazy and I'm more than happy with the way the grate is working so far.
So that's my testimonial for the Turbo Grate. I'm not associated with BBQ Guru, or any other company for that matter. I just wanted to share my findings with the group... it's at least worth thinking about if you're having any trouble like mine.
