Long Burn (not long enough)

Justin

Hey all,[p]I set up for two picnic roasts yesterday and took the egg apart to clean fully and loaded with new lump. This lump was big though, grapefruit size on bottom and wrist thick on top with small fist size chunks in between. Got the fire set, and ran up to 500 to be sure it was up and running. Set the roasts...[p]Seemed like I was fighting for temp all day. I thought I had it well establihed at 220 when I went to bed, and it had held there for an hour before I went to sleep. I woke up and she was out. No fire, but some resudual heat. I put the roasts in the oven...[p]Does anyone think that the lump may have been too BIG? I'm thinking that maybe the fire may not spread correctly with large chunks and go out. Normally I get set and don't have to touch a thing for 20 hours, but I'm usually working with smaller lump. [p]Interested to see your thoughts.[p]Justin

stike

Justin,
when you take the thing to 500, backing down to 220 or so is a little tough.[p]my guess is that you had it at 220 for an hour, but that to do so from 500 meant you had to darn-near snuff the fire.[p]that 220 temp for an hour was probably mostly generated by the inertia from having the ceramic up near 500 degrees. [p]so it looked like the FIRE was at 220 for an hour, but that was mostly residual heat, and the fire probably very close to out.[p]you have to sneak UP on 220.[p]my dome, after a long high temp sear, will often read 200 or so for an hour after i've shut down.[p]but if it's 220 for an hour or so after kindling a fire and without going OVER 220, that fire is probably pretty stable.[p][p]

Unknown

stike,
Also think of how much lump you burnt up...do you remember how much lump was left when it went out?

stike

Chet,
yeah. also a good point.

Justin

stike,[p]I had the fire established for over six hours between 200 and 300. I have been through what you described and know that it takes a long while to dissipate residual heat. So it had been stable between the 200 - 300 for five hours. Plenty of lump left, I loaded almost to the top of the ring and could go another day no problem.[p]So I was just curious about the potential for the big lump being a problem.[p]Justin

stike

Justin,
hmmm
well now, that's a different thing then.[p]i dunno.[p]i've never had a problem with big lump. in fact, for the first few lo-and-slos i sorted the lump, starting with big pieces on the bottom (to encorage airflow) and mixing in medium and smaller pieces as i built the fire.[p]did you have alot of ash?
it could have choked the fire

stike

Justin,
...and after re-reading your post...
yeah
if you didn't have any smaller pieces in there to fill gaps, it may well have been that the pieces were too big.[p]i actually have had alot of success by finishing off building the fire with (believe it or not) alot of the tailings from the bag of lump.[p]my thinking was that as long as i provide for airflow into the egg, that closely packed lump will be ok.[p]when i split wood for smoking, i'll leave some kinda long (8 inches?). then, when building the fire, i'l put a few of these splits vertically in the firebox, maybe standing in the holes of the fire grate even.
after i dump all the lump in and fill it around, i'll grab thee free end of the sticks and twist, and make a little air passage. no big effort, just enough to make sure air can get in freely.[p]it was a friend's idea....[p]so, to sum up, if you didn't have small pieces for the fire to travel around on, it might have gone out because the gaps were somehow inhibiting the spread of the fire.[p]

Justin

stike,[p]Thanks for the feedback, no I had little ash. I may have closed the daisywheel down too far, so it may have been a combination.[p]J