From the nakedwhiz.com  website.. “First we checked the surface temperature of a large Big Green Egg. We brought the cooker up to 400° F(204°c) by keeping the vents fully open, then closing the vents down as the cooker approached 400°F(204°c). We left the cooker at this temperature for 30 minutes, then took readings of the surface temperature with an infrared thermometer. What we found was that at the lower portion of the lid near the rim, the temperature was 190°F(88°c). At the top near the chimney, the temperature was at rim, 230° F(110°c). As a point of reference most humans begin to feel pain when they touch a liquid or solid at 115°F(46°c). We couldn’t keep our hands on the top for any length of time at all. Just a quick brush was all we could manage. We let the cooker continue at this temperature for a total of 2½ hours and the temperature at the top of the lid was 245°F(118°c). Trust us. This is hot.”

ending with “No ceramic charcoal cooker will remain “cool to the touch.”

We ran the same test on the BK – keeping it at 400°F(204°c) the temperature from our infrared gun was 77°F (25°c)- check out this video on our prototype.. 

We had a bit of a challange with the top-vent design.

We wanted.
• It must not rust. – easy
• It had to keep the rain out. – um.. do-able
• It must also be cool to the touch. um. – I need to think.
• It must not leak condensation onto the top of our lovely barrel. – double um..
• It must be able to be made by us – no mass production. – getting difficult
• It must be removable so we can add a table top. – really.
• It must be durable. – OK can do that.