I saw that smokeware has a vent top that I was thinking about trying out. Has anyone ever removed the old top vent? (I have tried in the past so I could clean it and could not get it off)
And has anyone tried an aftermarket vent? If so what are your thoughts and if you haven’t what are your thought?
by Opposite-Ad-6542
9 Comments
I thought about getting a new top vent to replace the reggulator that came with my egg, but since my egg is new to me still, I figured I’d better learn my set up before getting an aftermarket part that I may not even need. So far so good and because I got the Big Green Egg reggulator rain cap cover now, I don’t really see the need or advantage of the Smokeware vent, especially since I’ve read on here that it can get gunked up and be hard to open sometimes whereas my reggulator vent is easy to open and easy to scrape clean if needed to assist with opening/closing.
I have that, it works great. I never had any problems getting the stock cap off, is the gasket sealing it on or something? Mine just lifted off, but I got my egg about 20 years ago.
I don’t think it’s worth getting unless your old one needs to be replaced. If it ain’t broke…
I have the Smokeware cap and love it. My Egg came with the old style daisy wheel and I just didn’t like it – specifically having to reset it every time I opened the lid. Smokeware cap is great for low and slow, a little less so for high heat but you can always take the top of the cap off if you’re having trouble getting to ripping hot temps.
If your original cap is hard to get off, I suspect it’s gummed up with creosote, etc. Take your time and you’ll eventually be able to remove it.
I still have my old-style daisywheel cap. I have a strip of gasket around the top of the chimney to keep the daisywheel in place when I open the lid.
I used to have the Smokeware cap and got rid of it after a couple years. I couldn’t get the temps above about 450F with it on. I had to remove the top portion to get the high temps. The lower portion was stuck tight around the chimney and I had to use something as leverage to remove it.
I still use the Daisy wheel one that came with mine, I take mine off every time I start my egg. Yours should come off but it’s probably glued on. Keep trying it, you may have to heat it up. Third party products are fine, some are better than when BGE makes. Personally I’ve never seen the need for a different top because the original one works great if you know how to use it.
I have the same, have had it for years. Works well. Keeps rain out.
I have a smokeware on my minimax and the newer reggulator on my XL. I greatly prefer the reggulator as the smokeware one seems less efficient and shows grime easier. Also with the smaller gaps on the smokeware I find it harder to get the egg ripping hot, though the top of the smokeware can be easily removed entirely to circumvent this
I have a smokeware on my large and love it. I mainly cook from 200-600. But for pizzas or anything hotter I just take it off completely. I got it at the same time as my cgs stuff about 10ish years ago
The smokeware cap is great! Highly recommend it