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Anyone else get nervous cooking overnight?

CrazyHarry
CrazyHarry Posts: 112
edited November -1 in EggHead Forum
Put a butt in the Egg last night at midnight for my first overnighter. Anyone else get nervous?

I woke up at about 8:00 AM and my wife was already downstairs, letting the dogs out. I was sure she would check on the Egg and I just knew that at any second she would start calling my name to let me know my fire had gone out. She didn't. Then I started to worry that I'd go downstairs and the temp would be 400 degrees.

I finally dragged myself out of bed, threw on some clothes and with my heart beating faster than normal I headed outside and peeked at the thermometer.

It was at 220, just about exactly where I left it last night.

My wife poked her head out the door and said, "I checked it this morning and it was fine. That thing has been running for 8 hours without you adding charcoal or even stoking the coals... how is that possible??"

Needless to say, we are both pretty impressed with this thing. :)

Comments

  • Bacchus
    Bacchus Posts: 6,019
    Only 8? ;)
    Once stabilized it will easily go 16-18 hours without touching it most times, assuming it is a Large.
    I have done a hundred or so overnighters with my Large(no powered draft controller) and have had fires die only twice. I usually start around 10-11pm, check around 1am before I go to sleep, get up around 7am to check, then snooze a couple more hours. Even if the fire dies it isnt going to happen anytime soon after stabilization, and chances are it will still be warm enough so as not to have ruined meat.
  • Boxerpapa
    Boxerpapa Posts: 989
    and as time goes on, you will continue to see the Egg is an amazing cooker. Hope you enjoy the butt
  • TigerTony
    TigerTony Posts: 1,078
    Yes I worry every time I do an over-night'r. I' constantly wake to checking the Maverick remote next to my bed. Only once of about ten did the temp rise on me. Usually it holds at 230* all through teh night. I'm starting to sleep a lot better.
    Doing a 9.75 lb butt tonight. I figure on 12 to 16 hours.
    I know they say 2 hrs per pound , but I've never had one take that long at 230* they always hit 200* internal much sooner.
    Sleep Tight!
    "I'm stupidest when I try to be funny" 
    New Orleans

  • chrisnjenn
    chrisnjenn Posts: 534
    Not anymore, thanks to my Stoker.
  • Grandpas Grub
    Grandpas Grub Posts: 14,226
     
    That's the spirit. I say never do anything manually especially when lights, bells, switches and whistles can be added.

    Plus an added bonus there is a chart that can be looked at when all the fun is over.

    power on, power off, power on... oh, that was a movie, wipe on, wipe off.

    GG
  • Shiff
    Shiff Posts: 1,835
    I use a remote thermometer (Maverick ET73) and keep it next to my bed. I check it a few times during the night to make sure the meat and grid tempeatures are correct.

    It has an alarm function but I have that turned off.

    Once in a great while I have to get up to make an adjustment, but most times it just coasts along all by itself.
    Large BGE
    Barry, Lancaster, PA
  • Grandpas Grub
    Grandpas Grub Posts: 14,226
     
    Yup, it works great. I've got the ET-7 (junk), ET-73, ET-732.

    When I use the DigiQ I always use the 732. When I use the Stoker, no need for the Maverick.

    However, with all the controllers and ways to monitor, I seem to always wake up to check something. The only difference is now I don't have to get out of bed.

    GG
  • dsmith
    dsmith Posts: 147
    I am cooking about 30# of butt starting tonight (I'll be posting on this later).

    Heck, yes, I get nervous. It has always seemed to work out (the couple times I've done it, lol) but I'm sure I'll be droppin' some cash on a Stoker in the near future. Heck, I have the funds to do so and I don't need another stressor in my life :blink:
  • It used to be a good reason to stay up late drinking beer.... Well even then I used to wake up thinking about the cook, even though most times there was no problem.

    I got a Stoker, no problem sleeping now.
  • I am also a new BG egger (May), and did my first overnight cook this weekend. It was an 8 pound boston butt, and yes I was nervous. It was kind of like when you first have a kid and you bring him home for the first night. You keep getting up to check the basics, you know, like breathing ;)

    Anyway, the cook went fine, only had to get up once to use the wiggle rod and bring the egg back up to 235 (it had dipped to 200). The process was shorter than I was counting on (about 12 hours), but the result was amazing. I am still on the fence about getting a pit controller - there seems to be a lot of positive advice on here about them and I must admit, I would feel somewhat more at ease with one.

    Everyone at the BBQ said it was the best pork they have ever tasted and from listening to the good folks on here it seems like I will need to get used to hearing that!
  • jasperga
    jasperga Posts: 21
    I am a professional computer nerd and the Stoker was easy to set up and use -- Like Grandpa's Grub said, why worry when automation is there

    The Youtube Videos on the setup are great!

    Search "Yooutube Stoker Setup" in google -- there are like 6 of them

    Very handy
  • Rolling Egg
    Rolling Egg Posts: 1,995
    Worried a lot in the first few months, but got confident after that. Bought a Guru about two years ago and I dont even get out of bed now. So far, knock on wood) I've never lost a fire in 2.5 years of egging. I take that back. I did worry last summer when I catered a wedding and cooked 105 pounds of pork. Stress level was up a lil ;)IMG_7514.jpg
    7 on each large and 2 on the medium

    IMG_7520.jpg
  • Hoss
    Hoss Posts: 14,600
    The first three times I did an overnite lo-n-slo I was skeptical.Never looked back. B) Trust the Egg.Those gadgets are just that,gadgets. B) Cook neckid,it feels good! :)
  • Kew_el_steve
    Kew_el_steve Posts: 354
    Not anymore thanks to my Digi-Q-2.