Temperature Control

SouthernMan

I have had my egg for about two weeks and, so far, have had success with most everything (some beef ribs are the exception ... I'll stick to pork done the eastern NC way). My newest problem is this: I am having trouble getting a steady temperature to hold. I can get to about 275 but, after a couple of hours, it tends to drift. Is there a good guide as to damper "settings" that will help get temps to hold? As always, advice will be appreciated.[p]Alan

JSlot

Damper openings don't create temperature drifts, SM, so changing that won't help. The changing characteristics inside the cooker are creating your temp fluctuations. This can be caused by many things such as lump shifting, the wind blowing a little harder or from a different direction, food heating up etc. Generally, with a real good load of lump in the cooker, you should be able to hold temps ±10° or so without any damper adjustments, which is just fine for long, slow cooks. If your temps are spiking outside of that range, look at what could be making the fire hotter under the same conditions. Hope this helps.[p]Jim

Unknown

SouthernMan,[p]I've had my egg about as long as you, but I used a whole bag of lump practicing temp control, and it was worth the effort.[p]I've read all the temp control info I could find. Here's what worked for me:[p]Get the egg clean, especially the air wholes in the grate and firebox.[p]Put your biggest pieces of lump on the bottom. You don't want small pieces clogging your air holes.[p]Use the ash tool to tamp down just a little on your lump so it is level and firm. You don't want it shifting around when it burns.[p]If you want it at 250, start closing your dampers once it has climbed to 225 or so. Sneak up on 250 instead of running to 450 and trying to cool off. Cooling it down is harder.[p]Extra ceramic mass helps. I did ribs this weekend at 250 for 5 hours or so and never went more than 5 degrees above or below 250. I used a plate setter and the extra ceramic mass made this much easier I think (unless I just got the knack of it). [p]You'll be psyched once you get it under control. It is amazing to go out hour after hour and see it pegged at 250. Even after I took my ribs off I let it burn just to check it out and it went for a little over 9 hours before beginning to cool. With a larger load of lump I suspect I could have gone 15 hours. Way cool.