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Q-talk *ON TOPIC ONLY* QUALITY ON TOPIC discussion of Backyard BBQ, grilling, equipment and outdoor cookin' . ** Other cooking techniques are welcomed for when your cookin' in the kitchen. Post your hints, tips, tricks & techniques, success, failures, but stay on topic and watch for that hijacking. |
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10-22-2012, 08:10 AM | #1 |
Full Fledged Farker
Join Date: 07-05-12
Location: Acworth, GA
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Big Green Egg Turbo Grate
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.
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18.5" WSM, Large BGE, Backwoods Party [COLOR="Blue"]Blue[/COLOR] BBQGuru DigiQ DX2 [COLOR="Blue"]Blue[/COLOR] Superfast Thermapen |
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10-22-2012, 10:36 AM | #2 |
somebody shut me the fark up.
Join Date: 10-27-06
Location: Bothell WA
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This is the first review I've seen on the Turbo Grate, glad it worked out for you.
I was at the PNW Eggfest a couple years ago and they gave away one as a raffle prize. The guy that won it doesn't own an Egg and when I asked him what he does with it he replied that he hung it up and made a wind chime out of it!
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Brian - Left Hand Smoke BBQ PNWBA 2010 Team of the Year BGE's/WSM's/Pellet Pro WSM/BWS Gater/BDS Clones/Cookshack 008/Weber Performer w EZ-Que/Cajun Bandit/Rib-O-Lator Test Pilot/La Caja China/BBQ Guru/Weber 1000 RK Drum Coffee Roaster Follow Left Hand Smoke on Facebook!http://www.facebook.com/pages/Left-H...462391?sk=wall KCBS CBJ/PNWBA CBJ www.pnwba.com |
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10-22-2012, 11:00 AM | #3 |
somebody shut me the fark up.
Join Date: 01-24-08
Location: Southern Arizona Desert
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Sounds to me that you are having issues with Fire Management. I have no problem getting my Egg to 700º within about 30 minutes, it all depends on how you light your Lump, what brand you use and Air Flow.
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************************** *** Terry ~ aka Pork Smoker *** ** XL-BGE Hatched 06/20/2008 09:42 pm ** * Couple Weber Kettles, CharGriller, UDS * * Ultra Fast Red Thermapen * Projects Kamado Restoration Bandera Restoration |
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10-22-2012, 11:07 AM | #4 |
somebody shut me the fark up.
Join Date: 04-02-07
Location: Warren, Vermont
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Sounds to me that the charcoal you use is full of fines and charcoal dust. Dumping straight from the bag then clogs the intake holes. Perhaps the turbo vent will allow you to do that and not stifle the fire.
You could try a better brand of lump, even with the turbo grate, to get a cleaner burn.
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Jim - Another transplanted Texan Former KCBS CBJ Large and Medium Big Green Eggs , Black 18.5" WSM, Blue Weber Performer - Stainless, Green Weber OTG Kettle , Brinkmann SnP Pro, and a Stainless UDS. One retired Portable Kitchen grill. Red Thermapen, Maverick ET-732, EdgePro Apex Sharpener. Avatar is the original 1951 Weber Kettle |
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10-22-2012, 11:12 AM | #5 |
Full Fledged Farker
Join Date: 07-05-12
Location: Acworth, GA
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Agreed. It's a problem of airflow with variable laziness. No matter how much time I have, I'd rather not sort charcoal.
I'm still using BGE's lump, which is supposedly provided by Royal Oak. There's plenty of big pieces. The problem is that over several cooks more and more small pieces end up down at the bottom clogging the grate holes. I'll probably lose some if those smaller pieces now, but as long as it doesn't end up being excessive I won't cry over it. If it continues to work this well the price will be worth it for me. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
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18.5" WSM, Large BGE, Backwoods Party [COLOR="Blue"]Blue[/COLOR] BBQGuru DigiQ DX2 [COLOR="Blue"]Blue[/COLOR] Superfast Thermapen |
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10-22-2012, 11:29 AM | #6 |
somebody shut me the fark up.
Join Date: 02-07-08
Location: Framingham, MA
Name/Nickname : George
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I have heard good reports on the tubograte and have see Guru use them in their cooks Take the time to build the fire- big chunks in the bottom to cocver the vent holes then med size chunks to cove the holesleft by the large pieces. I do mine this way and it works wel Also Ross from Ventura posted a site a while ago of a stainless grate givef to him by his wife I got one and it work great Allows for a lot more air flow the the BGEs Grate
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Large BIG Green EGG- Hatched 8/17/09 Backwoods Extented Party- sold Weber Genesis Gasser Mid Atlantic BBQ Association KCBS Back Porch BBQ Competition BBQ Team Proud Member of the Zero Club When all else fails ask yourself WWGALD |
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10-22-2012, 12:11 PM | #7 |
Full Fledged Farker
Join Date: 08-22-09
Location: Littleton, CO
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I live at 5400 feet in elevation. Plus, where my BGE sits, not optimal for aif flow until winter when we get north winds.
I had similiar problems getting a good fire built and sustained as well. Been running a LG BGE for about 3 years now. Anyway, I simply bought the stainless grate to replace the stock grate at the bottom of the fire box a year ago. It's simple and easy. Made a world of difference and does not interfer with coals or wood. Takes a little more cleaning as smaller burnt pices will fall through buy it's no bother to me. You can find them on Ebay: http://www.ebay.com/itm/NEW-Stainless-Charcoal-Fire-Grate-Large-Big-Green-Egg-Grill-Free-Shipping-/271037524029?_trksid=p3284.m263&_trkparms=algo%3DS IC%26its%3DI%26itu%3DUCI%252BIA%252BUA%252BFICS%25 2BUFI%26otn%3D21%26pmod%3D230802740949%26ps%3D54 I paid around $30 so this is too enpensive but you get the idea.
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Pepperhead, Large BGE, Char-Broil Commercial Infra-red |
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10-22-2012, 12:34 PM | #8 |
Knows what a fatty is.
Join Date: 04-11-12
Location: Mililani, Hawaii
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You could probably use a Weber charcoal grate as well, they are available everywhere that sells Weber kettles...
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10-22-2012, 12:57 PM | #9 |
Full Fledged Farker
Join Date: 08-22-09
Location: Littleton, CO
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A 9" grate? Cool, you find a link and I'm sure that will help a lot of folks. It would have helped me.
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Pepperhead, Large BGE, Char-Broil Commercial Infra-red |
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10-22-2012, 02:17 PM | #10 |
somebody shut me the fark up.
Join Date: 01-24-08
Location: Southern Arizona Desert
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Home Depot
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************************** *** Terry ~ aka Pork Smoker *** ** XL-BGE Hatched 06/20/2008 09:42 pm ** * Couple Weber Kettles, CharGriller, UDS * * Ultra Fast Red Thermapen * Projects Kamado Restoration Bandera Restoration |
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10-22-2012, 05:31 PM | #11 |
is One Chatty Farker
Join Date: 10-06-08
Location: wading river, ny
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i've never had a problem lighting my egg and getting to temp quickly. Low temp cooks electric starter till I have a nice little fire going in the middle. In a rush for low temp cooks, weedburner inserted into the bottom air intake for a minute, quick blast of the top after that, insert guts and it's almost 200. High temp, blast the lower air intake with the weedburner. I like doing this because i know I'm also clearing out all the air holes in the process.
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L trailer spicewine, webers, 2-26.75's, performer, heineken 22 1/2, 7 level pro-q 20 excel |
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Tags |
bge, big green egg, Grate, Turbo |
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