Big Green Egg

[Mint]

Does anybody use the Big Green Egg for Smoking and gilling? How do you like it?

[el cazador]

I don't have one, but I've seen (and tasted) what they can do.  It's not your traditional Texas style smoker/pit.   A friend of mine has one and he loves it.  He says it's a breeze to keep the temp constant, and it'll cook all day using minimal coals.  The only draw back is size, but I guess they probably come bigger than the one he has.  It looked like you couldn't do more than one chicken on it, and surely wouldn't do a 12 to 14 pound brisket.  I must say though... the one chicken was done right!

[Timbuk2]

Last Sunday I attended a grilling class (my wife signed me up) and they had a Big Green Egg (BGE) there.  They cooked ribs, chicken, steak, and pork on the BGE, a high quality gas grill, and a infrared grill.  All meats were seasoned the same for all three cooking methods.  

The ribs were done first due to the long cooking time followed by the steak, chicken, and pork.  I and most of the people in the class liked the ribs from the BGE better than those from either of the other grills.  However, I preferred the steak, chicken, and pork from the gas grill because the BGE imparted a smokey flavor to these meats that I wasn't fond of.  Other people liked it though.  

The BGE comes in four sizes and with the bench necessary to hold it, can run over $1000.  If you like to grill with charcoal, the BGE is probably your best choice.  If you don't mind using a gas grill the BGE is still a good choice but maybe not the best one depending on what flavors you like.

[Al Dente]

The big draw back is the size.  There are two sizes available.  The BGE is the most recognizable brand, but they originated in Japan, and are known as Kamodo cookers.  all basically the same.  Heavy ceramic chamber that holds the heat and provides a constant temperature.  The one big BBQ guy that always cooks on them is Ray Lampe, aka Doc BBQ.  I beleive he is sponsored by them.  But, he only cooks for competitions, has several going at one time (one for each category), has a helper, and is only cooking for the judges (6), not crowds.  It can be quite a feat trying to maintain 4 fires at once.  I'm still looking for a used 8' pit in good shape because I'm sick of maintaining 4 fires due to lack of cooking space.  

If you're only going to cook for a small amount, a WSM or bullet type smoker might be more suitable for you Jeff.  They're less money than the BGE, and you have 2 cooking levels.  You can do 2 shoulders on it no problem, one on each grate.  I have 2 Bullets, and 2 homemade 55 gallon drum smokers.  I've never had a problem with any of them, except for keeping an eye on all the fires at once.  

In the 55 gallon ones, I line the bottom with fire bricks to aid in the heat retention.  I just did 2 shoulders and 2 butts in one the other day for the NYB BOD meeting yesterday.  11 hours, no problem.

Hope this helps you out Jeff.  E-mail me if I can help you.

[email protected]

[Brian Halbleib]

Yep, the Weber Smokey Mountain Cooker/Smoker does a great job for the money...nowhere near $1000.

-Brian
 www.bowyersjournal.com

[Mint]

Thanks for posting. The reason why I was looking at the BGE is due to the fact that I hear once you stabilize the temp you can basically leave it alone for 10 hours with out messing with it. I have a bullet type smoker, a brinkman that works well but you have to add water every 4 to 5 hours and watch the temperature. Due to this fact I haven't been using it as much as I would like. What I would like to due is start off a brisket at 11:00pm and go to sleep then get up the next day and check it out until it is done then bring it to our archery club for the guys. This might be wishful thinking but from what I am hearing aboutthe BGE is that you leave it alone once the temp has stabilized and the ceramic keeps the temp stable.

[Al Dente]

Jeff, you can line the water pan of your bullet with a double layer of heavy duty foil, then fill it with sand.  The sand acts the same as the water in diffusion of the heat, so that the flmaes below are not in direct or nearly direct contact with the food.  Make sure to line the water pan if you try it, or you'll be buying a new pan.  The Kamado cookers do hold the temps steady and for longer periods of time, but you will sacrifice size.  I don't know if it can hold a full brisket, not poundwise, but sizewise.  The the table goes for close to 500 bucks alone, and the cooker itself is close to 900 bucks.  That's a big investment for not a lot of space in my opinion.

I've  been thinking of wrapping my bullets in some high-temp insulation.  The type powerplants use around their boilers.  I think it's good up to 1350 or 1500 degrees.  

Some guys even make smokers out of old refrigerators, for that same reason.  The insulation on the units is great for holding temps in the chamber.

[Brian Halbleib]

Not sure which model Brinkmann you have but there are several potential problems depending on the model. Most of the Brinkmann's I have seen are made of very thin steel which immediately creates temperature/insulation problems. And most of the ones I've seen have open bottoms which makes it virtually impossible to have any control whatsoever over the temps.

If you are looking to do simple things like brisket, pork shoulders, ribs etc, you can save yourself a ton of money by going with a quality smoker like the Weber Smokey Mountain Smoker or similar. If it's set-it-and-forget-it that you are looking for, take a look at the line of electric smokers with digital temperature controls.

Good luck with whatever you decide on.

-Brian
 www.bowyersjournal.com

[Jarrod Feiner]

My pop got me into these things. I know nothing about BBQ, but even I can put nearly anything into it; regulate the temperature--easily done by adjusting 2 dampers--and walk away from it for a few hours.

I'm BBQ-ing like a guy named "Bubba". I highly recommend these things. The results are awesome.    

J

[kemerick]

I have the large model Egg and use it for all my outdoor cooking. I gave away my stainless propane grill. After you learn how to manage temperature the Egg is great. I can cook supurb steaks in less than 15 minutes including lighting the lump coals. One major drawback is that they are expensive, my rig was about $1000.00. That being said I don't believe I will own another type of grill.

[highpoint forge]

I built my own BGE from a 22" flower pot and matching bowl shaped pot as a lid. I placed a 1000w single electric burner in the bottom and fished the cord out the drain hole. It sits on three ceramic feet anout an inch tall. I placed a weber thermometer in the drain hole of the pot used as a lid. I used a stainless steel milk pitcher that holds about 4 cups or 3.5 big handfuls of water soaked wood chips and sit it on the burner. Inside the big pot I placed an 18" and a 16" weber grate to hold whatever I am smoking.

Prepare meat, turn on the burner (i leave it on all the way to high and just plug it into an extension cord for on/off) give it 15 minutes or so to get hot, put meat inside and close it up.
Four hours later at 200F I have PERFECT racks of baby back pork ribs. Easy as pie.

[highpoint forge]

Oh and about $65 all in from Home Depot.

[Bowman0202]

highpoint, my son has a BGE and I helped him build the cart/table for it, great cooker; however, yours seems the way to go because they're so expensive. Going to try it.  

Have a question and concern though, do some of the large clay pots you get these days have lead in them?

[highpoint forge]

Yeah it's tempting to get the BGE but why drop the cash? Mine works same if not better. The $900 is another BW for me! I a PSAX is most likely the one i'd order........

As to the lead issue I am not certain. The carcinogens in the smoked meat should kill you sooner, not to mention the fats in the meats. The cost being so low and the results so good I don't really think about lead. The idea for the faux BGE came from Alton  Brown's cooking show on TV and he never mentioned lead as an issue, in the terra cotta pots, and I am sure covers his ass before telling a million viewers to copy his ideas. Lead is more likely found in a glazed ceramic pot than un-glazed.

[Brad Singley]

I have the lg. BGE and love it!  I have owned gas grills and reg. charcoal grills.  Never again,  I gave away our last gas grill.  The BGE is expensive but so versatile.  You can cook @100 deg. or up to 800 deg.  Just my opinion.  I usually cook the meat for my family and put it on while I'm in the knifeshop, I never check it till dinnertime. It will spoil you!

[Wampus]

I gave my fancy stainless propane grill to my sister after I tried a BGE.  As others have mentioned, it really spoils you for other grill types.  Just like brad said, sear steaks at 800* plus or slow cook stew meat at 250* or pretty much any temp you want.  After a little practice, just set the vents and leave it alone and it will maintain temp for hours.  I built a table on casters so I can move it around easily.
 

[BigRonHuntAlot]

Lookin Good... Love the transport system! LOL

[Missing Impossible]

The only negative of the BGE I can see is the $$$.  I have the WSM and use a power draft system, a pitminder, which eliminates temp spikes,vent adjustments,  and saves charcoal.  I've done 4 butts at a time with no water in the pan and did not have to add any fuel.  This set up will let you start the cooker then go to sleep, keeping very accurate temps throughout the night.  Pitminder from BBQGURU is 145.00 and WSM is 209.00 with free shipping from Amazon.  Here's a great site if you like to smoke:   http://www.virtualweberbullet.com/

[bowhunt2460]

I HAVE A LG BGE.  I HAVE LIFETYME SMOKER($600) THAT I HAVE GIVEN TO MY SON IN LAW.  I ALSO HAVE AN ELECTRIC LIL TEX SMOKER THAT IS REAL GOOD($650), A DUCANE GAS GRILL WITH ALL OF THE EXTRAS, I DON'T KNOW HOW MUCH I SPENT ON IT.  I HAVE HAD MANY OTHER GRILLS/SMOKERS IN THE PAST THAT HAVE BEEN THROWN BY THE SIDE.  THE BGE IS BY FAR THE BEST COOKER THAT I HAVE EVER HAD.  SEVERAL OF MY FRIENDS HAVE PURCHASED THEM AFTER SAMPLING MY COOKING.  I GRILL & SMOKE CHIKEN, TURKEY, FISH , MEAT AND COOK CORNBREAD, PEACH COBBLER, CAKES & PIZZA ON IT.  NEED I SAY MORE IT IS WORTH EVERY PENNY AND DON'T FORGET TO GET EVERY ACCESSORY FOR IT.

[Korak]

Our BGE is one of the best things we ever bought. We have the large one. It handled our Christmas turkey.
 Someone said that there is two sizes of BGE. Wrong, there is 5. Mini, small, medium, large and EX-large.