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amount of charcoal burning

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shortey
shortey Posts: 4
in EggHead Forum
It seem like only the inside 2/3rds of the charcoal in the egg burns and the outer third ring stays un used.  Is this common?
new to the egg and using their starter swatches.  Temp seems ok
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  • Carolina Q
    Carolina Q Posts: 14,831
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    Welcome! Not unusual at all. Here's one of my cooks from a few years ago. After 18 hrs, I removed the meat and shut it down. The center pic is what was left.


    I hate it when I go to the kitchen for food and all I find are ingredients!                                                                                                                                                                                                                           

    Michael 
    Central Connecticut 

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  • stlcharcoal
    stlcharcoal Posts: 4,687
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    Very little charcoal is used to keep a temp of <300-400F in the BGE.  After a long low & slow, you'll sometimes see that a corner has burned rather than the center.  This can especially happen on an XL where the firebox is so large in diameter, yet shallow.  The fire will move around--but it's best if it does what you described.  Burn from the middle, then the out pieces settle toward the center.
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  • g37
    g37 Posts: 450
    edited September 2016
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    Yes, it's totally  normal nothing  to worry about. This is my charcoal  after 17 hours.  
    Ewa Beach, Hawaii
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  • SemolinaPilchard
    SemolinaPilchard Posts: 1,282
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    In most charcoal cookers all of the charcoal is being hit by incoming air. In an egg the air comes in bottom center, and you have complete control of the amount of air coming inside. 
    Check your inbox.
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  • lousubcap
    lousubcap Posts: 32,493
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    BGE is an air-flow driven machine.  Once you get a fire going the amount of air-flow determines the size of the fire.  For low&slows as in the pics above, you have a small amount of lump burning at any one time.  The fire follows the fuel but since the air-flow is in thru the bottom vent and then thru the lump bed and out the top that area will burn first but over time the fire will move thru the entire load if you run it long enough.
    So, this leads to smoke wood placement-concentrate it throughout the lump load starting in the center (top-to bottom) and radiating outward focusing more toward the back.
    And that's way more than enough for a first post response.
    BTW-welcome aboard and enjoy the journey.  
    Ask away as you will get lots of help and also realize there are many ways to get the results you want.
    Louisville; Rolling smoke in the neighbourhood. # 38 for the win.  Life is too short for light/lite beer!  Seems I'm livin in a transitional period.
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