He was the last one to use it and he passed away 6 years ago. I decided I want to restore it to use this summer, and this is the shape it’s in currently. How much work do I have cut out for me? Should I just buy new equipment here? Is the rust cleanable? Am I missing equipment? I know nothing about green eggs so I wanted to come and ask the experts 🙂↕️
by SpinningStringToy
14 Comments
Fire it up!
Get it hot. Let it cool then take the inserts out and brush the ash out. Itll be a bit of work to clean the top vent but it honestly looks like it hasn’t been used a ton. It looks way cleaner than my bge that I use regularly. I’d probably toss that rib rack. Not sure its worth the effort to clean. Take care of it and youll get plenty of years of use.
Maybe a new cooking grate but everything else should clean up with a high temp burn.
It doesn’t look that bad. I would do a clean burn to see how it cleans up, then replace the gasket. The daisy wheel is rusted, but looks like it could be cleaned up, but may be easier to just replace that part
First try going at that rust with steel wool and water. I bet a lot of it is just surface rust. If there’s a thick/coarse layer that won’t come off from scrubbing, then soak it in a 1:2 vinegar:water solution overnight and try again. Or apply baking soda paste and let it sit, same effect.
The conveggtor plate you can just scrub clean and it’ll be fine, food doesnt touch it directly
Then fire it up get those parts nice and hot, then get to cooking!
Check the ceramics inside and outside to see if there are cracks. Those are the expensive pieces as I think the bge warranty is not transferable. The remaining rust can be cleaned off or new racks can be purchased (not necessarily cheap, but less than cost of the ceramics) . I would fire it up and test after cleaning the rust off. Plenty of vids to show how to clean grid grates and the rib rack and then protecting those pieces from rust.
Throw the rib rack and the grate. Get a stainless grate. Do a high temp burn turning the plate setter so both sides get a blast. Clean the Conveggtor with a wire brush and reseason with grape seed or another high temp oil and put that in there after you shut your vents (post burn off). That sucker will be cooking by supper!
Practically brand new!
toss all the wire stuff.
You can buy a cast iron grate on amazon for about $60.
The chimney cap can be wire brushed and it will be fine.
Check the top lid, if it’s tight and doesn’t wiggle, it should be fine. The bands need to be periodically checked because they might loosen up over time.
The ceramic piece with the three legs, is called the placesetter and it’s only used if you want indirect heat (like if you’re smoking).
When you fire it up, the gasket around the lip on both the top and bottom should not leak.
Visit the ceramic grill store and get new upgrade ones for whatever is worn out. Other than that, fire it up, let it do a high temp burn, and you should be good to go.
I would discard all the wire stuff and replace with new. Then, just fire it up and get it hot hot for 45 minutes or so. All that crud will burn off and turn to dust. Then, buy a new style cast-iron vent cap and that bad boy will be good to go for another 20 years.
Welcome!
The BGE is very resilient and it’s easy to get it back into condition. Looks like you’ve got the core basics.
Load up some fresh charcoal and let it burn over 600F for a couple hours to clean the inside. The grate and conveggtor should clean up well.
The daisy wheel vent cap can be restored if you want to keep it. [Here’s a post](https://www.reddit.com/r/biggreenegg/comments/1gb14d5/daisy_wheel_restoration_first_steps/) from someone who shared photos when he restored his. There’s more info about restoring castiron available at r/castiron
That rack is the only part that could be questionable about saving.
Awesome project and well worth the effort, enjoy it!
As others have said – fire it up and let it burn all the crud out. If you want to be frugal -try scrubbing the grill grate and rib rack with some steel wool and put a light coat of oil on them. Pop them in the egg while running the clean burn and see how they turn out. I would not toss the BGE daisy wheel – wire brush the rust off, oil it, and season the same way you’d season a cast iron skillet.
BGE doesn’t make the daisy wheel anymore and is a mark of a true OG 🙂
The felt gasket should probably be replaced – but I’ve been meaning to replace mine for 2+ years. It