Celtic Wolf

Unknown

Last weekend you helped me out with the small butt I was cooking and I need some clarification for this weekends cook. [p]I am doing a 11 lb butt and want to make sure that I keep the temp around 225 for the whole cook. I use a MAPP torch to light my LG Egg. How should I go about it and how should I work the vents to avoid what has been happening..i.e. the Egg creeping up to 290 during the cook. [p]Thanks![p]Egger

Bobby-Q

Egger,
I won't even pretend to be Celtic Wolf, but I might have a suggestion for you.[p]As the ceramics heat up all the way through you will need less heat to maintain the constant temperature. Less heat means you need less airflow. So basically you should stabilize the temperature, add the meat and stabilize again, and then go back and make sure the temperature isn't rising due to all of that mass coming to full heat.

Celtic Wolf

Egger,[p] Yeah what Bobby said (I try not to pertain to be me either)[p] Just one thing. When you put the meat in 'stabilize' means let it come up on it's own. Do NOT adjust the vents again. [p] If after a beer you don't see the temp coming up then you might try a small tweak. Just avoid any major tweaks. The cold mass of the meat will cool the egg down some, but like the great cooker it is it will seek the temp it is supposed to be at.[p]

EddieMac

I won't pretend to be Celtic Wolf or BobbyQ....But you can run that Butt at 250 - 275 dome when cooking indirect and everything will come out just fine....[p]
Ed McLean...eddiemac
Ft. Pierce, FL

Celtic Wolf

Bobby-Q,
Yeah two of me would be bad.. Besides you are a lot smarter..

Eggtuary

Egger,
Don't you love this forum? You post a question, and within 15 minutes you have a bunch of great advice![p]If you hadn't heard back from Celtic Wolf, I was going to warn you much the same thing: Do not adjust the temp after you put the meat on. It can take quite a while for the temp to recover from the fact that you just put 11 pounds of cold meat on. If I'm not using my BBQ Guru, I pretty much ignore the temp for the first half hour or more after first putting the meat on. [p]Actually, that's not entirely true: I'll check the temp after about 10-15 minutes. If the temp has already climbed back to where I want it, that generally means that I've got the vents too open and the Egg is going to stabilize at too high a temp if I leave it alone (i.e., the Egg is still on its way up). So in this situation I'll dial my vents down a little bit, and usually that works out great.[p]Plus, don't be obsessed with running 225. If you run 225 dome temp, you're actually at an even lower grid temp, especially in the first couple of hours of the cook. I let mine hover at 275 the first couple of hours, then slowly work it down to 225 over the next few hours. This pattern of dome temps will actually translate to a very steady grid temp (the temperature at the level of the meat you're cooking.) Those of us with the BBQ Guru see this pattern every time we use it for a low and slow.[p]Hope that helps![p]Hope that helps!
Mike

BlueSmoke

Egger,
I'm not Celtic Wolf, not Bobby-Q, not anybody but plain ol' me, and here's what works for me.[p]Start your fire 30 to 45 minutes before you plan to put the meat on. This allows the volatile organic compounds (VOC's) to burn off, the temperature to stabilize where you want it, and the ceramic to "soak up" heat. Don't put the meat on till you can maintain (for 15 minutes) target temperature without adjusting the vents. Open the dome, put the butt on, close the dome and walk away. [p]Wait half an hour before you check dome temp. If the temp isn't where you stabilized it previously, either you've got one heck of a wind blowing in the draft, or you only thought you'd stabilized the temp. [p]In effect you are using the burning coals to heat the ceramic, and the heat radiated from the ceramic to cook the meat.[p]My $0.02.[p]Ken

Unknown

Thanks for the follow up! How does a BBQ Guru work? What does it do for you and how does it change the way you go about a cook?[p]Thanks!

Celtic Wolf

Egger,[p] Both the BBQ Guru and the Stoker monitor smoker temps. There is a fan covering the bottom vent. When they sense the Egg temp drop below a preset temp, say 220, the control unit powers up the fan. When the temp rises above that limit the fan is powered off. Air flow is cut off, so the temp usually doesn't rise too much above the limit you set.[p] You will have make sure the temp is stable at what you want before allowing the Guru or the Stoker to take over.[p] It doesn't really change the way I cook.. Only the way I sleep.. Which is BETTER I can sleep or go about other things knowing my Egg is cooking away at what I set it at.[p]