Tried Starting Egg From Below: Thumbs Down

ColoradoCook

I decided to follow a few post from last week on starting the Egg from below. Though I believe it will work well for getting the Egg hot for grilling in less time, this method is a no-go for low & slow. With the fire burning bottom up it cosumes too much lump. I am able to go 24+ hours using Elder's method and burning top to bottom through the lump. This weekend my Egg died at the 20 hour point with the bottom up method and all the fuel was used up. Whereas I only use half the lump using the top down method. I'm sticking with the old, much more efficient.[p]CC

CR

ColoradoCook,
I agree. I tried lighting from the bottom this weekend also. Found that I used much more fuel than on other overnight cooks, did not seem to make much difference as to keeping the fire grate holes clear(I did use the coat hanger trick this time and this seemed helpful in keeping the grate airholes clear and the lump burning better).[p]I also beleive most of the variability is caused by the lump charcol. Mainly the size if the pieces, the ratio of large to small pieces, and the relative positioning of the pieces in the firebox. These differences are also what causes differences in overnight temp drop or in some cases the fire going out in the middle of the night.[p]Bottom line is that like you I did not get any benefit from lightong from the botton and , umless you have a repeatable method for loading lump, each long cook will be somewhat different. That's what makes it fun.[p]CR

Unknown

CR,
sorry guys, but that was the way it was told to youse! If you want nuke temps start from the bottom...it was never suggested by me or others for a lo & slo fire.
Also I really doubt any more lump is consumed that way for a high temp fire than starting on top. The high temp comes from the amount of lump burning not where it was lit.