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If cold and wet weather has frozen your Big Green Egg shut, this tutorial will walk you through how to open a Frozen Big Green Egg. And more importantly, how to prevent it from happening.

Let’s lay out the scenario. You want to grill a ribeye steak after a snowstorm but you can’t open the lid to your kamado grill or Big Green Egg. Now what?

A little heat and patience will get that lid open. We are walking through methods for how to open a frozen Big Green Egg.

Background

The upper and lower portions of a Big Green Egg (or other Kamado Grills) have a strip of gasket around the entire rim that helps seal the Egg and prevent heat (and smoke) from escaping.

Moisture build-up combined with sub-freezing weather can freeze the upper and lower gaskets together. If you try to force open the lid and the freezing has occurred you are likely to rip the gaskets from both the upper and lower portions altogether, and then you have no seal. Then you have to wait for warmer weather and change the gaskets to use your grill again.

This method will save you that hassle.

Tools Needed

Before getting started gather a few tools.

• Tumbleweed Fire Starters – Any type of fire starter will work. You can also use the brick fire starters but they tend to lay flat and therefore don’t have enough airflow to stay lit. Tumbleweed starters are best. You can also use oil-soaked paper towels to supplement the heat.
• Lighter or Matches
• Charcoal – If it’s really cold (under 25 degrees Fahrenheit) then adding three or four pieces of charcoal will help push the heat up so the ice melts.

Best Option: How To Thaw a Frozen Big Green Egg

It is safe to ignite the starters in the lower chamber. It won’t break the grill.

1. Open the Bottom Vent: Be sure any excess ash is removed using your ash tool first or it will smother the fire. Slightly open the top vent. The goal is to capture the heat in the chamber and still allow a small amount of airflow to keep the flame going.
2. Start Fire Starters: Place the fire starters just inside the bottom vent. Make sure there are at least two or three and stagger them so they lay on top of each other. Light them. Move them toward the inner chamber so it isn’t just sitting by the edge. Slightly close the bottom vent so only about 1 1/2 to 2 inches show. The starters will ignite and start to slowly warm up the chamber and melt the gaskets. You will see smoke exiting the upper vent.
3. Wait: In about 15 – 20 minutes the chamber will have warmed and you should be able to gently open the lid.
4. You can speed up the process by adding paper towels soaked in oil or charcoal around the if it’s really cold. But be careful when adding so as to not smother the tumbleweeds.

Option Two: Using a Hair Drier

If you have an extension cord, a good jacket, and time – you can use a hair drier on high. It takes a while and is not our preferred method. Get the hair drier close to the gaskets and take up to 10 minutes working your way around the lid and hinges. Then gently lift the lid.

We do not use or recommend this method because when you accidentally overheat the blow drier and slightly melt the coils, the owner of said blow drier will not be too pleased.

Option Three: Open the Top Vent and drop heat source down. Not recommended?

We have not found success from dropping lit starters, or oil-soaked paper towels, from the top vent down because they go out and they don’t concentrate their heat enough when they fall on the grate. This method also does not work when it’s below 25 degrees, we have tried it.

By using the bottom vent you allow the heat to rise and get captured in the chamber.

How To Prevent A Big Green Egg Lid From Freezing Together

The best way to avoid this in the first place is a little prevention. The day before cooking or the day before an ice or freeze happens, prop open the lid and add a small item, like a piece of wood, in between the gasket to keep the lid separated. Then it won’t freeze together.

Other Big Green Egg Resources

You can explore more Big Green Egg Resources or pick from some of our favorites.

• Big Green Egg Review – Our review of the Big Green Egg XL.
• Pizza On The Big Green Egg – Throw some of your favorite pizza recipes on the Big Green Egg with our comprehensive tutorial.
• How to Change a Gasket on a Big Green Egg – If you’re here because you accidentally broke the gasket when trying to unfreeze it, this will come in handy.

About Vindulge

Mary (a certified sommelier and recipe developer) and Sean (backyard pitmaster) are co-authors of the critically acclaimed cookbook, Fire + Wine, and have been creating content for the IACP nominated website Vindulge since 2009. They live in Oregon on a farm just outside Portland.