Proper Shutdown Method

joe317

Last night after cooking a pizza at 500 F, I shut down my egg the same way I've been doing it since I got it; closed the lower damper completely and put the rain cap on. Four hours later when I went to put it away I noticed it was still slightly warm (about 75 F) so I looked inside and still saw some small red embers indicating there was still some burning going on. This got me thinking that maybe the rain cap doesn't provide a good enough seal to choke off all the air to put the fire out.

Should I be using the daisy wheel instead on top when I'm done cooking? Anything else I should do?

I've done 8 cooks on my egg so far and I've almost gone through a 20 lb bag of lump. Is this normal or is my egg not completely shutting down and I've been burning excess lump? Of my 8 cooks, 2 were long ones (4 - 5 hours at 250 F).

Thanks.

stike

you are doing it right.  if you want, give the ceramic top a spin as you put it on.  after a while, the fat6 and soot will level out and create a bit of gasket.

some have used gasket material to line the ceramic top, too.  most don't bother.

it will go out.  embers from a fireplace which otherwise look cold will still be dangerous a day later.  same for the egg.  it's essentially 'out', but don't expect is cold embers in four hours after a 500 degree cook

BakerMan

It does take a while to cool off after a high-temp cook.  You might want to try the dollar bill test to make sure the gasket is sealing properly.  About 5:30 in the video below you can see the test and adjustments.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U-26iwhoJAA&feature=related

Mickey

Your ceramic top on and place your daisy wheel inside when shut down works for me (has for the past 5 years). You are closing the bottom vent (right).....

The Naked Whiz

The ceramic cap will generally do a better job of sealing up the Egg than the daisy wheel.