How to Open a Frozen Big Green Egg
This tutorial will walk you through how to open a Big Green Egg or Kamado Grill if the upper and lower gaskets have frozen together.
Yield: 1 Thawed Egg
Cost: $5.00
Equipment
- 3 tumbleweed fire starters Or you can use sawdust brick starters.
Materials
- 1 lighter or match
Instructions
- 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.
- 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.
- Wait: In about 15 – 20 minutes the chamber will have warmed and you should be able to gently open the lid.
- Optional: 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.
Video
Notes
If it is really cold or you see a lot of excess ice on the edges of the BGE, then you need more heat than the fire starters will allow.
Add a few pieces of charcoal around the fire starters so they ignite and add to the warmth. Or stuff with oil soaked paper towels, feed as they extinguish.
