Big Green Egg Conveggtor Legs Up Or Down? (Answered)

The ConvEggtor is basically “the tool” that converts your Big Green Egg from a simple grill to a Jack of All Trade Backyard BBQ Beast. It enables you to utilize the magic of indirect heat cooking, a method that is used for baking and more notably, pizza!

Speaking of pizza, new users often get confused about which way the ConvEggtor should be put to make the perfect pizzas. 

Worry not as in this article, I will give you the definitive answer to the question of Conveggtor legs up or down and a lot lot more.

Let’s begin-

Big Green Egg Conveggtor Legs Up Or Down For Pizza

The big question here is if you plan on using a pizza stone or do you want to cook directly on the conveggtor. It matters because the conveggtor is basically a plate setter that blocks the direct heat of the coal and forces the rising heat to redistribute around the dome. 

If you already own a pizza stone, the best thing to do will be to put the conveggtor legs up, a grate on top of it, and then a pizza stone on the grate

This will create a nice air barrier between your pizza and the plate setter and the heating will be even. Some enthusiasts also raise the pizza stone even higher using fire bricks or aluminum foil balls. 

Primarily, you do not want your pizza stone very close to the flames (conveggtor or not) because that will turn the stone so hot that your pizza dough will be charred to oblivion, leaving the toppings barely cooked. 

No pizza stone but want to make a pie in your BGE? Legs down is what you need. The gap that the legs create will give you some leverage in terms of the temperature and your pizza will not be instantly burnt. 

Mind you that you need to use cornmeal on the base so that your dough does not stick to the ceramic and even then you must keep a close eye on the temperature to guarantee perfect pizza. 

You can even put a pizza stone on top of a legs down conveggtor and make a delicious pizza that way if you want. But in my experience, the best use of a pizza stone will be on top of a grate with the conveggtor legs up.

So to reiterate, Put the Conveggtor legs down if you are cooking a pizza directly on it. Put the conveggtor legs up if you are using a grate and a pizza stone.

Also Read: How To Clean Big Green Egg Conveggtor Easily

How To Use A Conveggtor Properly?

Now that the burning question is out of the way, I plan to give you a little more insight on how exactly to utilize the Conveggtor. Starting with how to use it.

As I stated earlier, the conveggtor is nothing but a heat deflector. It sits close to the flames and creates a barrier between your food and the burning coals. This barrier gives you the ability to slow cook, bake, or smoke things.

To set up a conveggtor, it is pretty simple. However, it is a bit different for which version of the BGE you own.

For Older BGE with notches in the Fire Ring: The installation is pretty intuitive here. The legs go in the notches. The direction of the legs does not change the installation method. 

All you need to do is put on a pair of heat-resistant gloves and get a really good grip on the conveggtor. Then you set it down inside the egg right on top of the fire ring, aligning the legs to the notches.

For Newer BGE with no Notches: These types of BGE are the updated model and they work with the Eggspander kit and the conveggtor basket. So the Big Green Egg makers decided that the notch doesn’t need to exist. 

That does not mean you need the basket. You can simply set the legs of the conveggtor down on the fire ring. Where exactly on the fire ring it sits does not matter.

Pro tip: Set one leg down right where the handle is. This way your hands will be safe from high heat while opening or closing the dome. 

Also Read: Big Green Egg Conveggtor Broke/Cracked –  Fix It Now

When To Put The Conveggtor On?

You will have a very hard time lighting the coals with the conveggtor already in place. What you need to do is, start with the conveggtor out of the egg and light your coals as you normally would.

• Then close the dome and let the egg heat up to around 250 degrees C. 
• Then you can reopen the dome and put the conveggtor in. 
• Please use fire-resistant gloves while putting it in as otherwise, you will surely burn your fingers.
• Once the conveggtor is in, close the dome. 
• You will notice the temperature inside the dome falling. 
• Do not worry as that is normal and the cause is the cold conveggtor. 
• Wait a bit and you will see the temp rise again.

And now you cook!

Also Read: Big Green Egg Clean Burn – How To Guide

Which Way Does The Conveggtor Go?

Again, this entirely depends on what you are cooking. For cooking meat and other things that might drip oil or juice, you need a drip collector. It can be any aluminum bowl or anything that can sustain high heat.

This drip collector can only be placed in if you have the conveggtor in the legs up way. It will give you just the right space between the legs to place a bowl. You can even through a bit of beer or other liquids to add flavor and moisture to the dish.

As for baking needs like bread, cobblers, and pizza, the conveggtor can go in with the legs pointing downwards. You will not need a drip tray in these types of cooking and the extra air space between the flames and the plate setter may help.

How Do You Place A Conveggtor?

Like I mentioned earlier, the conveggtor can be placed using just a pair of heat-resistant gloves and your hands. However, that still leaves some risk to your hand and the hairs on them.

So what you can do is get a conveggtor basket. This basket will hold your conveggtor and cooking grates so that you can place them both inside the grill with minimum effort and risk.

Can I Use The Conveggtor As A Pizza Stone?

The straight answer is, Yes You Can. But that does not really give you the bigger picture. Using the conveggtor as a pizza stone requires a bit more skill and finesse than a new user might have. Let me explain.

There are mainly 2 problems that may arise. The dough is sticking and the temperature is too high.

Firstly, if you place the dough on a cold plate, it will stick and it will be a mess trying to get the pizza out. Sometimes even hot plates may adhere badly to your dough.

The easiest fix is to use a good amount of cornmeal on your conveggtor. It will keep the dough from sticking and ensure your pizzas come out cleanly.

The more difficult problem to solve is the temperature issue. The conveggtor, no matter which orientation you put it in, will get a bit too hot if you are not careful. 

Hot enough to burn your dough black. To get around this, you need to first put your conveggtor legs down and then control the temperature inside your egg carefully.

Do You Need A Conveggtor To Smoke In A Big Green Egg?

The Conveggtor is not really the only thing that can enable you to smoke in a Big Green Egg. However, other solutions are very DIY and require a bit of in-depth knowledge about how the whole thing works.

So unless you have a lot of experience with grilling and barbequing, You do need a conveggtor to smoke in a Big Green Egg. It will make your life a lot easier if you love to smoke meat frequently and can be an indispensable tool to your arsenal of your barbequing accessories. 

Conclusion

The experience of the Big Green Egg is truly incomplete without the conveggtor. I still believe it should not be sold separately and come in the box with the egg. With the help of it and my guide today, I hope you bake amazing pizzas that make Italians everywhere proud!