not enough heat

Unknown

First time user - could not get enough heat. Followed directions about charcoal right at or slightly above holes and had bottom vent completely open and daisy completely open. Highest temp. was 300 and then fell to 200 and 150. What am I doing wrong?

Woody54

Ashley,[p]when you say daisy fully open, I assume you mean the large hole was wide open, not just the small oval holes.
If it was just the small ones, that could contribute.[p]Other Ideas might be:
-charcaol not fully lit (some lumps are hard to light)
-holes in bottom grate of firebox restricted by small bits of lump and dust[p]Woody54[p]

BTG

Ashley,
Sounds like you still don't have enough charcoal. The directions in the book that came with the egg are pretty much worthless. Fill up to the joint of the fire box and the fire ring or even higher for a long cook. I have never had a problem getting temps of 750 or higher that way.
[ul][li]Naked Whiz charcoal answers[/ul]

Unknown

Woody54,
You might be right about the daisy little holes being the only ones that were open! Will try it again today and have the bigger hole open and see if that helps. Also will add more charcoal. I was told the charcoal on the medium egg should just go to the top of the holes. Is that right or should I still add more?
Thanks for your input!
Ashley

The Naked Whiz

Ashley,
You can add charcoal up to the top of the firebowl. You can add even more for a long overnight cook, about halfway up the ring that sits on top of the firebowl. When you are done cooking, close the bottom vent, put the ceramic top on instead of the dual-function metal top, and the fire will go out, leaving lots of charcoal for next time.[p]Good luck!
TNW

aka mr. Earl

Ashley,[p]As an experiment take off the daisy wheel top all together and see what temps you get.[p]if your temp's climb to 500º or higher with the top off, you'll have the answer. And once you get temps over 400º without the top, just put it back on and you should be able to vary your temps by 50º by how you adjust that top.[p]If you were at a Fest or if you were a next door neighbor it would be easy to figure out what's gone wrong. [p]When I was a newbie and couldn't get temp, I had misaligned the hole in my fire box with the bottom vent hole. Also, I like to clean out ashes from the bottom grate before every cook. Just a preference.

stike

Ashley,
take the daisy OFF.
and fill the firebox full, up to the bottom of the upper fire ring.[p]filling 'to the holes' as is advised in the manual is not going to last very long.

chuckls

Ashley,[p]With all this good advice coming in, you should be set. To summarize, here's a link to my page that has a couple of tips for newbies. For your fire tips, look to the link that says "Lighting your lump with mapp gas".[p]Happy Eggin'!
Chuck
[ul][li]Browse [/ul]

chuckls

Dang html! Link should have said "Browse 'Tips' for basic pointers".