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Large BGE temperature Zones differ

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yumdinger
yumdinger Posts: 255
edited October 2011 in EggHead Forum
Hello All,
First of all I have to thank everyone on this site and a couple others for helping me learn how to cook on the BGE.  My family has thoroughly enjoyed the Eggsperience!   

I have been an egger for about a month now...Have cooked at least 4-5 meals per week on the egg since. I have noticed I have a hot spot on my grill.  Anything I put towards the rear of the egg (towards the hinge) cooks much faster and hotter than the front and sides.  I build my coals each time.  I use a heat gun to start my coals.  I typically start the coals in 4 spots (front, rear and sides) at once as opposed to lighting one time in the center.
I am currently 14 hours into a cook on two 7lb pork shoulders.  I am using a foil wrapped place setter (legs up) and a drip pan.  The shoulder I have at the rear of the egg is almost 10-12 degrees hotter(197 vs 185) and nearly done.  I just rotated the grate to allow the hot spot to work on the lower temp butt.
I realize butts can cook at different rates so this cook is not my sole evidence of a hot spot.  Burgers, Wings, Turkey legs, Steaks have all cooked way too quickly and hot towards the rear of my egg. 

What am i doing wrong?  
Each cook I check to see that my fire box and ring are centered.  Could it be that lighting in several places is the problem?
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  • ribmaster
    ribmaster Posts: 209
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    That seems to be the way the air wants to circulate through the egg. I put a leg of the platesetter across that area  and rotate the food.
    I grill therefore I am.....not hungy.
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  • gdenby
    gdenby Posts: 6,239
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    When I started Egging some years ago, this is one of the first things I encountered. Others said they noticed the same thing. Here is the guess that was made then. The air flow from the bottom front vent is pulled towards the back of the Eggs at the same time the air is rising. So the lump towards the back tends to burn a little hotter, because there is a better draft. It may just be my imagination, but my partial remedy has been to leave a small heap of ash at the back down under the fire grate. The notion is that the pile of ash slows and diverts the draft just a little.

    I do always assume that some areas of lump will burn better than others because of better contact between the pieces, and better air flow. For smaller items, like chicken pieces or hot dogs, I move them around. For larger items, I place some sort of block, the placesetter, a drip pan, etc, to diffuse the heat more evenly.
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  • yumdinger
    yumdinger Posts: 255
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    Thanks I have been thinking about it a bit.  I wonder if the placement of the lid has something to do with it?  Most images i see show the large slot opening towards the front so it opens wider by sliding it toward the back.  I am going to eggsperiment by rotating the top so the opening is in the back to see if that changes the draft.

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  • Shawn
    Shawn Posts: 356
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    I always stirr my lump before cooking to have a more even heat!
    Cheers! Shawn My Blog: http://hrmcreativebbq.blogspot.com/ My Dads Custom Handles Blog http://dannyscarvings.blogspot.com
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