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More Coals????

Hairless_Hand
Hairless_Hand Posts: 214
edited November -1 in EggHead Forum
I made an attempt at a low and slow boston butt cook overnight. I put it on about 9 last night after my temp was stable at about 260. Platesetter and drip pan in place as well. My concern is that when I checked it this morning almost all of my coals were gone and the temp was around 150. When I started the fire the coals were above the fire box ring and I am not sure where I went wrong. By the way the butt looks like it is done but it did not cook as long as I had planned. Rookie mistake? Any ideas are appreciated since I will be cooking 3 butts next weekend for guest that are coming to town for my wife's graduation from nursing school.

Comments

  • Just read your post ---same as mine above! I have done overnight cooks as long as 27 hours and never had a fuel problem. The outside temp. must be eating up the lump! And i'm using R.O. lump, same as always...
  • Charlie I saw your post as soon as I posted this and got a laugh out of it too. Sounds like you have a few more stripes on your sleeve than I but I am learning. I am using RO lump too.
  • stike
    stike Posts: 15,597
    outside temp's not an issue usually.

    what kind of lump?
    and did you take everything out and see that it is actually GONE (used up), or did you maybe just suffer the unlucky fate of a center-burn (straight down), or a fire that choked out from too much ash?
    ed egli avea del cul fatto trombetta -Dante
  • Royal Oak Lump and I cleaned out all of the ash before I started the fire yesterday.
  • stike
    stike Posts: 15,597
    and every last bit of lump is completely gone?

    "ran out of fuel" is much different than "fire went out"

    is the fuel really gone?
    ed egli avea del cul fatto trombetta -Dante
  • When i saw what happened, the first thing i thought of was "i lost the fire", but when i opened it up, all that was there was ash -- the entire load was "GONE" ? And i started with a clean ash pit and a full load of fresh R.O. lump!!
  • stike
    stike Posts: 15,597
    R.O. is not going to bburn out at 250 overnigh, especially a full load. did the thing get away from you? 400 all night and it would burn up.

    odd
    ed egli avea del cul fatto trombetta -Dante
  • Well, i left my Guru "in charge" -- but then my gasket is shot??? The meat internal was 154 which is normal to me for a 230 degree cook. Figuring it was cooking at 230 for twelve hours 2:00PM to 2:00AM(guessing)
  • Okay, you pizza experts, I need some advice on cooking a pizza on the Big Green Egg. What temp and how long?
  • Yeah, makes no sense whatsoever. Last week I did 2 butts for about 15 hours at 240 with a Guru and I'll bet it used only about 40% of the lump I started with, which was almost to the top of the fire ring. I notice he said firebox ring. Did he mean firebox or fire ring?
    The Naked Whiz
  • stike
    stike Posts: 15,597
    might want to post that as a new thread....
    ed egli avea del cul fatto trombetta -Dante
  • stike
    stike Posts: 15,597
    yeah. filling up over the ring as he said would be enough for about 72 hours. hahah

    i wonder if only the fireBOX was filled.

    cowboy lump (the lightest i have access to around here) would easily go overnight, filling only just about the firebox.
    ed egli avea del cul fatto trombetta -Dante
  • ResQue
    ResQue Posts: 1,045
    First of all, don't hijack people's threads. Second, try the search function.
  • ResQue
    ResQue Posts: 1,045
    He said 27 hrs, not 72. ;)
  • stike
    stike Posts: 15,597
    i am inclined to think it was a mistake. i don't think he was being rude or hijacking.
    ed egli avea del cul fatto trombetta -Dante
  • In my large, in the dead of winter ... with gasket shot ... I can do a 20 hour cook at 230. Clean out the ash, and have enough coal left to smoke a couple of chickens.

    This is starting out with the coal almost touching the bottom of the plate setter. I've used both BGE charcoal and Royal Oak (which it's my understanding that they are nearly one in the same).

    I'm stumped.
  • stike
    stike Posts: 15,597
    i meant 72 ;)
    ed egli avea del cul fatto trombetta -Dante
  • Fire ring was totally full with fresh R.O. lump -- outside temp was right at freezing??
  • ResQue
    ResQue Posts: 1,045
  • stike
    stike Posts: 15,597
    fire ring is the ring up top.

    lower bowl is the fire box. ring on that is the fire ring.

    if you filled it up to the top of the UPPER ring, and held a 225-250 fire all night steady, and all of the lump is gone, then it was alien abduction. no other explanation is as concise and simple.

    something doesn't add up.
    ed egli avea del cul fatto trombetta -Dante
  • BigA
    BigA Posts: 1,157
    If I were you i would have checked to see how much your Guru was working, if it was working 80 to 100% of the time, your lump will burn out faster as it is blowing air in there to keep your temps up which in return will eat your lump faster, maybe you had the daisy wheel choked off to much, thats my 2 cents. I was doing an over nighter and got up at 5 to go to work and i checked the egg and my guru was blowing 90% of the time, i looked inside and the coals were nearly gone, i looke at my daisy wheel and it was nearly all closed, so no natural draft. I bet thats what happened if you were using a guru. :huh: My experience is that when the guru blows that much means less lump... :(
  • Hoss
    Hoss Posts: 14,600
    Your thermometer.There is NO WAY to burn that much lump in that amount of time at 250 TRUE dome temp.
  • OK!!! Stike set me sraight!! I had only the fire box filled -- never have i filled above the first ring !! Sorry for my stupidity. Thanks
  • PhilsGrill
    PhilsGrill Posts: 2,256
    Outside temperature is irrelevant. Does a pile of wood burn any faster at 90 degrees outside temp than 20 degrees? Nope.
  • stike
    stike Posts: 15,597
    it's not entirely irrelevant, it's just that the BGE is insulated enough that it won't have any real effect.

    if the BGE were metal, there would be much more fuel used to hold a certain temp, because much of that heat would be radiated outward. the BGE is more insulated, and so less heat is lost to the exterior. i'm sure that SOME amount of extra fuel is required, but not like a metal stick burner or WSM.

    in fat, the reason why the BGE yields moister meat is due in part to the insulation. less heated radiated outward means less fuel needed to maintain a temp. ...which means less oxygen is needed to fuel a smaller fire. ...which means there is less airflow thru the egg, ...which means the exhaust carries away less moisture (evaporation) than it would if it had to run more to keep up the temps.
    ed egli avea del cul fatto trombetta -Dante