I know a lot of people have gotten a new BGE for Christmas and there might be some questions. The DVD that comes with the Egg is helpful and can answer some of the questions you might have. However, I would like to go over a couple basics with you.
Lighting your Big Green Egg
1- The first time you use your Egg fill the entire firebox up with lump charcoal. You want a nice large bed of lump all the way to the bottom of the fire ring.
2- Remove the Damper top and open the Draft door completely (Slide vent door in pic)
3- Take a fire starter stick and break it in half.
4- On the top of your bed of charcoal create a small troth. Light the ½ starter stick on both ends and place in troth. Cover the fire starter stick with a couple pieces of lump coal.
5- Close lid of Egg.
Setting the temperature of the BGE
This is where the lighting process varies from your traditional charcoal grills. Watch the temperature gauge on the BGE. When you are about 10 degrees away from your desired temperature put the Damper top back on top make sure the daisy wheel is open and close the bottom draft door partially down. The more you close it the less air gets to the fire thus leaving you with a cooler temp. On average if you wanted to cook at 350 you would close the draft door a little more than half way. If the temp gauge starts to drop or the temp doesn’t go up to where you were trying to set it, open it a little more. It is important to try to stop it from getting much hotter then you wanted originally because it can take a while to get it cooled back down. Also it is not advised to get the whole bed of charcoal going and then damper it down because at that point you are going to be too hot and it is better to shut the Egg down and start over. Plus this wastes a lot of Coal.
Shutting down the grill
This is the simple part. Close the daisy wheel and shut the bottom draft door completely. This starves the fire of oxygen and snuffs out the fire. It takes about 30-45 minutes to cool the Egg down to a safe temp to put a cover on it.
Cleaning and relighting the grill
1- Remove the cooking grid.
2- Take the ash tool and stir the charcoal that was left from last use. Stir until all ash has fallen through the bottom holes. Make sure there are no little pieces of coal stuck in any of the holes.
3- Add charcoal back to the bottom of the fire ring.
4- Open bottom draft door. Use ash tool and rake ashes out into a receptacle.
5- Light as before
Important info & general care
1- When cleaning cooking grid never use wire brush. The wire brush will etch away the protective coating on cast iron or porcelain coated cooking grids.
2- It is always easier to clean your cooking grid when it is hot.
3- At least once a year get your egg up to 600 degrees and let it burn for at least 30 minutes. This will burn out any grease and gunk that is built up on the inside of the egg
4- At least once a year take all the internal pieces out of the egg (generally done after last tip) and clean out all ash that has fallen around the fire box.
5- Always remember that the staff at Outdoor Home is here to help answer any other questions you might have.
