BFG BFG 2500 Front Shelf and Fire Pot

[crashwood]

My new BFG2500 was deliver to me this weekend, when I was assembly it I notice that the fire pot does not look like the one in the RECTEQ videos it looks like it is for a RECTEQ 1250 also the front shelf looks like its for a 1250 if the shelf is correct than a two new holes has to be drill into the cart for it to fit. has anyone else run into this problem. did RECTEQ upgrade these items?

 

[rhouser]

crashwood, I saw the same thing this week when I assembled my new BFG. I called when I saw the round burn pot (not the rectangle) and was told it was an "upgrade", and that all the new BFG's would be so equipped.

I believe this may be an economics driven decision. I suspect they made this undocumented upgrade so they could use a common burn pot (round) in all their machines. When I suggested this to the RECTEQ representative, I was assured that this was absolutely an upgrade and not a corporate cost saving compromise.... I guess time will tell.

The next morning I discovered that the shelf included did NOT align with the holes for the top of the shelf bracket and the front holes for connecting the grill "barrel" to the competition base.

I again called RECTEQ and was told this was another undocumented change/upgrade and the included shelf was the correct one. The new (undocumented) shelf would now be secured with only two bolts instead of the 4 bolts securing the shelf shown in the assembly manual and videos.

Once again, I suspect that this undocumented upgrade may be an economics driven decision and allow a common shelf to be used across several models rather than a special one for the BFG.

Since I will be loading 200+ pounds of meat for each cook, I asked the rep if they had tested the "two bolt" shelf with heavy loads. I was told that they had no reported complaints so far. I guess we will see......

All in all, my burn and first cook have gone brilliantly. I have 185 pounds of briskets scheduled for Saturday night. The new firepot design and the shelf will be tested for function. I will post any issues.

v/r r

 

[Greg Jones]

Not sure why someone would think the BFG only needs two bolts securing the shelf while they include 4 for the smaller grills?

 

[RattleR]

Not sure why someone would think the BFG only needs two bolts securing the shelf while they include 4 for the smaller grills?

Thinking outside the box

 

[JTolbert]

To crashwood and rhouser congrats to you both on the new round firepots, as I'm sure both of you have figured out by now, this new pot us a performance based upgrade as owners with the old rectangle fire pot got far less smoke at lower settings. IMO and based on various old videos(rectangle)vs new videos(round). Congrats and enjoy the BFG I know I do!

 

[rhouser]

Sunday at 3pm finished a 22 hour marathon with my BFG (first serious cook) . 10 full size packers delivered as two cases from restaurant wholesaler. Point being, these were not "hand picked competition" briskets, they were big, ugly, and common select beef listed as 85 pounds net per box.

The 22 hours was my fault with a series of compounded errors brought on by learning a new grill. The bottom line is that the briskets were all good and the recipient was happy. I admit I was scrambling at the finish to get 5 that were "hung up" in the stall to come free and get to temperature.

This post will not be about the cook and learning experiences with the BFG. It is to certify that I was VERY happy with the amount of smoke that the "round firepot" delivered to the meat. I was using Traeger Pecan pellets (yes with brisket).

The smoke that the round pot delivered was more than adequate, and the wrappings from the meat were so smokey even in the trash bag, that my wife demanded they be stored outside of the garage while waiting for trash pickup.

The round fire pot seemed to keep up well and the shelf is still attached to the grill although it never had more than 4 briskets on it at a time. Still, no sign of weakness with the shelf.

v/r r

 

[Greg Jones]

Sunday at 3pm finished a 22 hour marathon with my BFG (first serious cook) . 10 full size packers delivered as two cases from restaurant wholesaler.

So, I should know when to keep my fingers silent… but I don’t appear to have that talent! I have no personal experience with cooking large volumes of food, other than the HS band concession stand where we served 100s and 100s of hot dogs and burgers for fundraising at high school football games. However, I do follow, and know, a couple of folks that make a living cooking at a high volume scale. It seems pretty smart to me that they don‘t attempt to cook briskets and serve everything to a specific time. They smoke the meat early and keep it in a commercial warmer until time to serve. Might be one option to consider? Again, apologies if I’ve not considered everything you have to deal with.

Happy to hear all went well in the end!

 

[rhouser]

Greg, you are absolutely correct. Smoking meat is never going to be timed exactly. Because the final product wasn't "on the street" until after 5 pm, 3 pm was close enough. It did make me crazy. There are ways to PUSH the product when need be to include a 6 hour fast cook with little to zero rest before slicing and delivering the meat but I hate that.

I am not doing this commercially (directly). I am supporting my Son and DOL who have a couple of food trucks. This let them have brisket sandwiches on their menus Sunday evening and Monday (till they are gone). Their business has grown over the last couple of years and so has the demand for the Sunday Night Brisket sandwiches.

Not an every week thing but every couple of weeks I help them out.

v/r r

 

[Jim6820]

Greg, you are absolutely correct. Smoking meat is never going to be timed exactly. Because the final product wasn't "on the street" until after 5 pm, 3 pm was close enough. It did make me crazy. There are ways to PUSH the product when need be to include a 6 hour fast cook with little to zero rest before slicing and delivering the meat but I hate that.

I am not doing this commercially (directly). I am supporting my Son and DOL who have a couple of food trucks. This let them have brisket sandwiches on their menus Sunday evening and Monday (till 10 are gone). Their business has grown over the last couple of years and so has the demand for the Sunday Night Brisket sandwiches.

Not an every week thing but every couple of weeks I help them out.

v/r r

Well done, Dad; well done!

 

[SmokeZilla]

Congrats on your cook. I have a fundamental problem with RTs position. I have put 85lbs on my Bull’s shelf and it is scary with all the bolts. I hope they went with stronger replacement hardware as you now have single point failures on each side of your shelf. If I were to draw and analogy, let me take 50% of the bolts off the wheels on your car and tell you it can still handle the same amount of potholes and stress over time. Sure, it may survive for a while, but do you want to take a chance?

 

[SmokeOCD]

Sure, it may survive for a while, but do you want to take a chance?

RT does. There's some actuarial science behind this probably. Failure rate probability vs savings to the bottom line.
They may change back to all the bolts if the math was wrong - or continue with the newfound efficiency.
eg., they thought they could make money with the 1070 - but dumped it after about 18 months.