new egg-getting temps over 600 diffucult

Unknown

I bought my husband a bge for fathers day. so excited. however, on first cookout couldn't get egg over 600. clean firebox, new charcoal, never used egg. same thing 2nd time. tested temp gauge. what are we doing wrong? [p]Anne in mississippi

Bordello

anne,
Be sure the the opening in the firebox is lined up with the lower vent opening, be sure to have your lump up to the top of the firebox. [p]Is the lump dry???? Do you have the top vent open with no daisy wheel on it??? Others will chime in.[p]Cheers,
New Bob

Mark Backer

anne,[p]If the egg is clean, the answer is not enough fuel. Fill the firebox (the bottom ceramic piece you put in) up to the top, or the line about 3 inches above the ring of holes. Light that, and bam, you'll have a big fire in no time.

eggor

anne,[p]it may depend on the lump that you are using. i've found that cowboy will burn a lot hotter the bge or royal. and some times it requires little shot of air through the bottom vent to get things going. me, the creative thinker that i am, decided to use a shop vac. DON'T try this, although its kinda cool, if you stick it through the daisey wheel you can expect to burn up the vac real quick or at least melt the hose. shove it through the bottom vent and you get to see an egg fart. it doesn't stink, but the arm hair that you singed off does.LOL[p]honestly it depends on the attitude of your egg. mine will go nuclear one night then peak @ 650 the next. no rhyme or reason, but it has little affect on the end result.[p]Scott

mule

anne,
I bought one of those cheap little battery operated hand held fans - just blow it thru the bottom. It works great for a nice sear!! [p]mule

tach18k

anne,
one thing I did notice the last two bags of BGE lump has not given me high temps when I need it, 650 was maxed. I have had mine well over 750 with no problems before these bags. Maybe some bad lump going around.

Daddyo

New Bob,
New Bob's advice is the trick. Make sure you have enough lump in there and make sure the firebox hole lines up with the vent opening. It will bury your thermometer and keep going toward 1000 degrees.

Brobear

anne,[p]I had the same problem when I first got my egg. I guess I was ignorant, but I had the fire grate upside down. The holes in the grate are conical so that the ash falls through and does not clog. If it is upside down, though, it will clog quickly and therefore no air flow. Once I finally realized this, high temps were no problem. Of course as mentioned, don't skimp on the amount of lump. You can always reuse whats left.

stike

anne,
...and that should do it