<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Andy Erickson:
Where can one purchase fire rope gasket? I went to my Lowe's last night and nobody knew what I was even talking about and I couldn't find it. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>
I got mine from a place that sells furnaces and wood burning stoves. I was actually on my way to HD and saw that place in the parking lot so I thought I'd stop in and see what they had.
Like Robert said, it probably doesn't matter when rotisserie cooking because most of the time you will be cooking higher heat anyways. I like to do some things low and slow and sometimes I use my rotis ring for other uses. Like yesterday I was cooking for a church function so I did pork butts like this (I only bring this up because this is the only good picture I have of the gaskets...but it does show the versatility of the rotis ring if you can get it air tight.)
As you can see, I have a gasket on top and on bottom. The top has a sticky back on it and was more expensive. It works fine, but I don't think it was neccesary. The only reason I have it is because I was considering using it on the bottom part (at the time, I was trying to think of ways to attach the gasket to the ring.), and just had it left over when the rope gasket worked out best on bottom.
The bottom gasket rope gasket is great (it was also much cheaper.) It's simply tied around the base of the charcoal ring below the brackets that hold the ring up on the lip of the kettle so whenever I set the ring on it pretty much falls into place automatically. Then I simply tuck it in on places where I see gaps. (That brings me to one of your questions, I honestly think that gluing it down would actually not work as well. Because the kettle and the rotisserie ring can be slightly out of round and because you may not always have the ring on in the same direction, I think it's better to be able to tuck in it where it needs it. It's not going to go anywhere if you just tie. Plus you could take it off if you need to.)
Anyways, this works great. I had absolutely no problem holding low temps all night. Also (as you can see, the hole the rotisserie slides through makes a good eyelet. (I use foil in those holes once I get the probes through...though it's probably not neccesary.)
BTW, there is a 18 inch clay saucer underneath there (on the main cooking grate) in case anyone wants to try this.
To answer your other question, this was a 3/8 gasket. At first I thought this might be a little too big because there are places where it doesn't "tuck in" as much as just sits right above the gap between the kettle and the rotisserie ring, but it actually works great. I definitely would not go any bigger than that though and if I had to do it again, I might try a 1/4 inch gasket if it was cheaper.
Hope this helps.
