The downside of BGE heat

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Furyous

Knows what a fatty is.
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Grilled a "beer can" chicken yesterday, just after i loaded up the chix, my fire stalled so I opened up the vent a little and removed the cap. I got distracted for maybe 10min and when I came back the grill was at 700 and pouring out chicken fat smoke. I burped the lid and opened it, chicken was still ok, though the drippings were frying up a storm on the platesetter. As I closed the lid, I got a volcano-like flare up and blistered all four fingers on my left hand and obliterated my gasket.:doh:

On the happy side, the chix turned out awesome once I got the temp down. I used chardonnay and lemon slices instead of beer and covered with Simply Marv All Purpose. Sorry no pics, it was gone too fast and no one wants to see my blistered rib holders. May consider bringing the welding gloves to the bbq table
 
Wow ...as an inexperienced BGE owner I appreciate stories like these. It reminds you of the hazards. While seasoning my wok yesterday I got a big flair up from the oil, some dripped out of the wok before I noticed it, just missed "the girls"! It pays to pay attention!
Sorry you got hurt but very happy the food came out so tasty.
 
Yeah - you gotta keep an eye on that and make incremental changes. Glad the chicken turned out OK.
 
Yes. The insulated cookers (I have a Backwoods) are known to hold heat. This can be a double edged sword if the heat ever gets too high (that happened to me and it took me forever to finally get the temp under control).

Upside still outweighs the downside, though.
 
When the temps get that high, it can get out of hand quickly. Glad it was not worse, please be careful.
 
One HARD rule I have. Whenever I open the vents up on my Oval, I always set the kitchen timer for 5-10 minutes (depending on the adjustment). It is way too easy to forget what I am doing and let things get out of control. I'm sure setting that timer has saved my butt countless times.

Also, if the temp gets up too high, you all know how long it takes these ceramics to drop in temp. What I often do is put a pan of water on the grates. This really soaks up the extra heat and can drop the temp down pretty quickly.
 
Sorry about the fingers and gasket!

What do you mean when you say the fire stalled? It's normal for the temp to drop when you put a chunk of cold meat in there. It will recover without changing the vents in about 15 minutes (depending on the size of the chunk of meat).
 
Yep, we were at a comp this weekend and fired up the egg for direct. Got distracted by a few jello shots at she was at 500.
 
After cooking on a bge for a few years I've given up on ever having hair on my hands. :hand:
 
I have a large BGE and always have the welding gloves next to the cooker. The flare backs are infrequent but very dramatic!

Glad you just got a couple blisters and still have your eyebrows and hair.
 
thillin said:
Yep, we were at a comp this weekend and fired up the egg for direct. Got distracted by a few jello shots at she was at 500.
Click to expand...

Those darn jello shots! They should be required to be nearer your cooker.
 
In the fire service we called that condition a backdraft.
You have the superheated fuel source, the heat and just lacking oxygen.
That's why you always see firefighters opening the roof's of burning buildings.
First you have the smoke then the fire via the roof vent.
Then it is safer for the firefighters to enter at the lower level.

That is why the Naked Whiz and others state to open the lid about 2 inches for a few seconds before opening the entire way.

I recommend wearing long sleeve shirts and welders gloves if doing a high temperature cook.
Might save you a trip to the hospital.
 
What surprised me was that it happened while closing the lid, I always "burp" the lid to avoid a backdraft when opening a hot cooker, but in this case, I was closing the lid and had it within 3in of closed when "whooof" out comes a jet of hot fire.

That kitchen timer idea sounds like the ticket, I'm going to be adopting that habit.

Regarding the stall, it was climbing above 300, I put in a 4lb chicken, set the vents for what usually keeps 350 and 10min later it was at 200 and falling, I figured I had closed it up too fast and so I opened it up. I forgot how fast they react to air when there are already coals and should've stayed right there until I had the heat where I wanted it. Lesson(s) learned (or at least observed, we'll see next time if I actually learned anything)
 
Two summers ago I was making a pizza on my egg and made the mistake of peaking at it through the top vent. What I didn't know is that the fire had gone out even though it was probably 600 degrees inside. Right about the time I peaked inside the air ignited again and flamed out the top. I ended up going to the ER and later to an eye specialist to make sure my corneas didn't get damaged (all tunned out fine). I'd singed my arms before but never anything like that. Needless to say I've never looked inside that top vent again.
 
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