Big Green Egg Maintenance
Spring has sprung and it’s time to get your Big Green Egg back to work.
This is a great time to do a little bit of spring maintenance to your Egg to insure your grilling and smoking season are worry-free. There’s really not much you need to do so this won’t take long and it is crazy important. The nuts and bolts of it. Things heat up, things cool down and bolts get loose. It just happens. There’s even a fancy term for it, Differential Thermal Expansion. I won’t bore you with the details but it’s a real thing and why you need to check the nuts and bolts on your egg and your nest.
IMPORTANT: Tighten the ring carriage bolts regularly.
Big Green Egg Maintenance: Carriage bolt on the bands
This is SUPER important! Where the top and bottom bands come together there are two carriage bolts. One holding each band together. Make sure these are good and tight. It is normal for these bolts to be bent as in the photo. If these bolts are loose TERRIBLE things could happen. The lid of your Egg can fall right out of the top band when you open the lid and crash to the ground. See terrible, right?
Next, simply work your way around the top and metal band of your Egg and gently tighten them up if needed. Check the hinge bolts and work your way down and around the nest. Leave no bolt unturned!
Check the ring nuts all the way around.
Speaking of the hinge apply a little bit of WD-40 to the moving parts. I recommend doing this every month or so to keep things smooth.
Lube up the hinge to keep it smooth.
Big Green Egg Maintenance: Clean it up
The inside of your Egg is pretty much worry-free. It’s self-cleaning so to speak. Its will darken with use, this is normal. DO NOT use water or cleaning chemicals inside your Egg. Don’t do it. The heat from cooking will burn up any nasties. Try not to let the dark interior get to you. There are folks out there talking about doing high heat cleaning burns to get rid of the darkness. I’m just not a fan of this. It will certainly shorten the life of your gasket if not your Egg itself. It’s just going to get dark again. You’ll wind up chasing your tail.
The exterior of your Egg is built stay looking good for the life so a simple wipe down is all you need. I like to use a little Simple Green and a soft cloth. I use this on the Egg exterior as well as the Nest. This seems like this is a good place to remind you, NEVER use any chemicals or water inside your Egg, NEVER.
MOLD! Finally, let’s talk about mold. Yeah, it happens. Mold in a cooker is fairly common. It can really freak you. Don’t panic. You got this. Molds are destroyed by heat. It doesn’t take bone-melting heat from the sun to do it. According to some folks at Ohio State University, most molds die at 140°-160°F. So fire up that Egg. Get it running at 300°- 350° and let it run a bit. If you feel better at 400°, by all means, do it.
So now go grab a couple of wrenches and a rag and get that Big Green Egg tuned up and ready for a worry-free season, There are lots more tips and tricks coming to keeping you Egg running perfectly for years and years. Be sure your signed up for Robyn’s newsletter so you don’t miss any! Feel free to leave your comments and questions below.
Thank you so much for reading.
Until next time. Happy grilling!
Jon
If you enjoyed this article about Big Green Egg maintenance, check out our entire series on the Big Green Egg. Jon has written everything you need to know about breaking in your Egg, all the parts associated with the Egg, “Burping” your Egg, Maintaining Fire in Your Egg, How to Make Pulled Pork In Your Big Green Egg, and More!
We also have a ton of recipes developed just for the EGG! Check out Robyn’s Pulled Pork Sammies (sandwiches) with Carolina Gold BBQ Sauce on the Big Green Egg.
We have tons of recipes JUST FOR THE BIG GREEN EGG, including, how to make Pizza on the Big Green Egg. What is your favorite thing to make on your Egg? Leave us a note below!
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