Big Green Egg: Is it REALLY worth the money?

[Ol Timer]

Originally Posted by NB2K

You have to seal the wood on the table. It's unfinished cedar. (It may be cypress)

I built a cedar table for my BGE and got tired of having to protect it after a few years, so when I got the Primo, I got the stainless table. Much better for me.

[Cybercowboy]

Originally Posted by NeedSpeed

I got one of these for $150 at the local Kroger:

Char-Griller Smokin' Pro Charcoal Grill - Charcoal Grills at Grills Direct

Never used and egg, but you can't beat that for the price. Cast iron grates, side fire box for indirect heat/smokin'.

My dad got one of those three years ago. It's completely rusted out now. Barely usable last time I was up there.

[Cybercowboy]

Originally Posted by Sea Six

You have to seal what? The wood?

Yes, you have to sand and seal it with marine-grade polyurethane (spar varnish.) If I had it to do over again, I would have just gone up to my Dad's wood shop and made my own out of cypress or redwood and then get a piece of marble as cheap as possible cut for the top (most places that sell marble will sell the scrap pieces pretty reasonably.) A lot of people do this.

It wasn't hard to seal their factory wood table, and I gave it four coats, but just two years later it needs to be sanded down on the top and a few more coats added. Not a big deal, I'll do it when we get some nice weather. They also sell a teak table but for the price you could easily get a custom table made and inlay it with gold.

[Cybercowboy]

Originally Posted by Ol' Timer

I built a cedar table for my BGE and got tired of having to protect it after a few years, so when I got the Primo, I got the stainless table. Much better for me.

Is it sturdy enough? Looked kind of flimsy to me.

[Ol Timer]

Originally Posted by Cybercowboy

Is it sturdy enough? Looked kind of flimsy to me.

Yes. I'ts tubular steel frame with the wings wrapped in stainless. No racking or shimmy.

[vtelvr]

Damn all of you jackasses. NOW, I have to try to tell my wife I need a BGE or Primo to replace my gas grill and offset smoker. I am going to play hell doing that.

[Cybercowboy]

Originally Posted by vtelvr

Damn all of you jackasses. NOW, I have to try to tell my wife I need a BGE or Primo to replace my gas grill and offset smoker. I am going to play hell doing that.

Offset smokers are just fine, especially the beefy ones. They just go through fuel faster and tend to rust out after awhile. The ceramics can replace both though, that's for sure.

[Cybercowboy]

Originally Posted by Ol' Timer

Yes. I'ts tubular steel frame with the wings wrapped in stainless. No racking or shimmy.

Good to know, thanks.

[Sea Six]

[JStockton]

Originally Posted by Rotorhead

The internal temp of the loin. It should be slightly pink. Just a heads up.

Anyway, yes 140 is the ideal temp for pork if you are doing nothing else to it, as most know pork is a very dry meat and really alot of people do not recommend even smoking it as it can be done just as good in the oven or elsewhere. But since I stuffed it with sausage and wrapped it in bacon. I took it to 155, as I knew the fat would drip through and counter any dryness. It turned out great and beyond your ability to magically see the dryness by not seeing your favorite color pink it was the best pork I have done and I would do it again not changing a thing.

but back on topic with the big green egg, I just added the DigiQ II, this thing you clip one temp probe where your meat is sitting and another probe for the meat and it regulates the temp with a fan. It is kind of pricey but I had a brisket flame up overnight due to the wind must have kicked up and pretty much lost a 40 dollar piece of meat, not to mention the time and rub etc tec.. the bottom was like leather.

BBQ Guru Digi Q II

[Ol Timer]

Originally Posted by JStockton

Anyway, yes 140 is the ideal temp for pork if you are doing nothing else to it, as most know pork is a very dry meat and really alot of people do not recommend even smoking it as it can be done just as good in the oven or elsewhere. But since I stuffed it with sausage and wrapped it in bacon. I took it to 155, as I knew the fat would drip through and counter any dryness. It turned out great and beyond your ability to magically see the dryness by not seeing your favorite color pink it was the best pork I have done and I would do it again not changing a thing.

but back on topic with the big green egg, I just added the DigiQ II, this thing you clip one temp probe where your meat is sitting and another probe for the meat and it regulates the temp with a fan. It is kind of pricey but I had a brisket flame up overnight due to the wind must have kicked up and pretty much lost a 40 dollar piece of meat, not to mention the time and rub etc tec.. the bottom was like leather.

BBQ Guru Digi Q II

I agree on the Digi Q II. My Egg temp used to creep up on long cooks, so I would get up during the night when doing brisket, pork butts to check on the temp. Now I sleep like a baby - well worth the cost to me. Additionally, the ramp down feature is nice. If set, your internal grill temp will ramp down as the internal temp reaches it's target, so the meat will not overcook.

[Cybercowboy]

Originally Posted by Ol' Timer

I agree on the Digi Q II. My Egg temp used to creep up on long cooks, so I would get up during the night when doing brisket, pork butts to check on the temp. Now I sleep like a baby - well worth the cost to me. Additionally, the ramp down feature is nice. If set, your internal grill temp will ramp down as the internal temp reaches it's target, so the meat will not overcook.

I love my CyberQ, the DigiQ's big brother (it does 2 pits at once if you want and connects to a laptop via USB but I never do that...)

I haven't had to use the ramp-down feature yet because I time stuff pretty well and know ahead of time when it's likely to be getting done. As a matter of fact, I'll often increase the temp towards the end of a brisket cook to kind of increase the heat load in the meat so it will keep longer wrapped up in foil in a cooler with towels. Yup, the longer I need the meat to hold the higher I'll crank the temp at the end.

Once you spend a couple of nights getting up and checking your temp every couple of hours, a temperature controller seems like a mighty smart investment. I've only had one fire go out with the controller in place and that was my fault and was caught in time anyway.

[Sea Six]

Cyber, how many times have you used your Primo grill in which, if you hadn't gone with the larger size grill, you would have been SOL?

[Cybercowboy]

Originally Posted by Sea Six

Cyber, how many times have you used your Primo grill in which, if you hadn't gone with the larger size grill, you would have been SOL?

Well, at least 1/3 of the time.

Think of it like a flat panel TV. Have you ever heard anybody say "You know, I wish I would have gotten the 46" instead of the 56" model."

NO YOU HAVE NOT!

So it shall be written, so it shall be done.

There's nothing wrong with the Primo Jr. but you will find yourself at times kicking yourself. BTW, a lot of BGE and Primo owners have the XL and a smaller version of one or the other. It just depends on how much the disease has set in.

Well, I'm off to pick up some chicken breasts for tonight. Grilling them indirect at 425, couple of guests coming over.

[Sea Six]

Think of it like a flat panel TV. Have you ever heard anybody say "You know, I wish I would have gotten the 46" instead of the 56" model."

[Cybercowboy]

Note that the XL does not take any longer to heat up and does not use any more fuel than smaller versions. I run it about 75% of the time with the firebox divider in place (1/2 capacity lump charcoal.) Like tonight. I'll be cooking for four people, four big chicken breasts. I can cook them true indirect but four big breasts pretty much takes up half the bottom grate area of the Primo. With the Jr. my only choice would be to go pseudo-indirect (heat shield between grill and fire) and it would work OK but it's not optimal in my opinion. I'd probably cook at a lower temp, which is fine but won't give you that perfect crispy skin.

This question is asked all the time on the Primo forum and the general consensus is if you are on the fence, save up for the XL. Discounting burgers, hot dogs, and grilled chicken, I've smoked/grilled more stuff on the Primo in two years than I have done the all my life previous. Number of briskets smoked prior to Primo: 1 - and it sucked. Number of briskets smoked since: 20+ and all were good/great.

BTW, my favorite way to do brisket now is to just rub with olive oil, then kosher salt, cracked black pepper corns (a lot), and granulated garlic. That's it. Then cook low and slow at about 225, using my special method for getting lots of smoke early (I can tell you how if you care.)

For example: (Note that the "top" of the brisket is actually on the cutting board. The bark was much darker on top. And no, I don't use that dinky knife to slice brisket.)

[Ol Timer]

Originally Posted by Cybercowboy

Note that the XL does not take any longer to heat up and does not use any more fuel than smaller versions. I run it about 75% of the time with the firebox divider in place (1/2 capacity lump charcoal.) Like tonight. I'll be cooking for four people, four big chicken breasts. I can cook them true indirect but four big breasts pretty much takes up half the bottom grate area of the Primo. With the Jr. my only choice would be to go pseudo-indirect (heat shield between grill and fire) and it would work OK but it's not optimal in my opinion. I'd probably cook at a lower temp, which is fine but won't give you that perfect crispy skin.

This question is asked all the time on the Primo forum and the general consensus is if you are on the fence, save up for the XL. Discounting burgers, hot dogs, and grilled chicken, I've smoked/grilled more stuff on the Primo in two years than I have done the all my life previous. Number of briskets smoked prior to Primo: 1 - and it sucked. Number of briskets smoked since: 20+ and all were good/great.

BTW, my favorite way to do brisket now is to just rub with olive oil, then kosher salt, cracked black pepper corns (a lot), and granulated garlic. That's it. Then cook low and slow at about 225, using my special method for getting lots of smoke early (I can tell you how if you care.)

For example: (Note that the "top" of the brisket is actually on the cutting board. The bark was much darker on top. And no, I don't use that dinky knife to slice brisket.)

Nice smoke ring. I'd be interested in your early smoke technique.

[Cybercowboy]

Originally Posted by Ol' Timer

Nice smoke ring. I'd be interested in your early smoke technique.

It's so easy, so obvious in retrospect, that I would have never thought of it! (stole it from a guy named Habanero Mike.)

All you do is get your grates nice and clean because you will be putting cold meat on cold grates. You are going to set up for indirect (full or pseudo) so start your lump in one or two places as normal. Both vents open all the way. When it gets going enough that you know it won't go out put some wood chunks near or on the lit spots. Some people think this is wrong. They are wrong. For a full size brisket I'll use about 16 wood chunks about 1.5" cubed. No need to layer them in beforehand, but you can if you want.

Get the rest of the grill together for the cook and put your meat on right away and close the lid. Lots of smoke will come out. Good. Then when the pit temp hits about 130 or so, close the bottom vent to about 1/16". Leave the top wide open. Let it run like that for 30 minutes to an hour. During this time you will develop all the smokiness you could ask for. The cold meat will absorb it like a sponge. The temp will creep up a bit to around 200 during this time. When you are happy with the time spent smoking in this mode, just adjust the top and bottom vents to normal for whatever temp you want to cook at.

And that brisket was just prepared exactly according to this method with salt, pepper, and garlic rub. 225 until it hit 200, then rest and slice. This was so nice and juicy and tender, the picture does not show that for some reason.

[Sea Six]

Originally Posted by Cybercowboy

Note that the XL does not take any longer to heat up and does not use any more fuel than smaller versions. I run it about 75% of the time with the firebox divider in place (1/2 capacity lump charcoal.) Like tonight. I'll be cooking for four people, four big chicken breasts. I can cook them true indirect but four big breasts pretty much takes up half the bottom grate area of the Primo. With the Jr. my only choice would be to go pseudo-indirect (heat shield between grill and fire) and it would work OK but it's not optimal in my opinion. I'd probably cook at a lower temp, which is fine but won't give you that perfect crispy skin.

This question is asked all the time on the Primo forum and the general consensus is if you are on the fence, save up for the XL. Discounting burgers, hot dogs, and grilled chicken, I've smoked/grilled more stuff on the Primo in two years than I have done the all my life previous. Number of briskets smoked prior to Primo: 1 - and it sucked. Number of briskets smoked since: 20+ and all were good/great.

BTW, my favorite way to do brisket now is to just rub with olive oil, then kosher salt, cracked black pepper corns (a lot), and granulated garlic. That's it. Then cook low and slow at about 225, using my special method for getting lots of smoke early (I can tell you how if you care.)

For example: (Note that the "top" of the brisket is actually on the cutting board. The bark was much darker on top. And no, I don't use that dinky knife to slice brisket.)

Ok, I'll take the XL oval.

Damn, that looks good.

Originally Posted by Ol' Timer

Nice smoke ring. I'd be interested in your early smoke technique.

Smoke ring?

[jaxgator]

Originally Posted by Sea Six

Smoke ring?

The pinkness on the outside of the meat.