low and slow help please!

burntbrisket · December 2012

Car wash Mike's ribs and i lit my lump about an hour ago and I'm still getting heavy smoke (not a nice clean exhaust). I don't want to put the ribs on until I'm buring clear. How do I achieve this without having to run the temp way up and then settle back down to 225?

nolaegghead · December 2012

How'd you light your lump? You pretty much have to wait. I'd cook a little hotter than that.

burntbrisket · December 2012

I lit it in four places on top toward the middle. So cook it at 275 or so?

nolaegghead · December 2012

In the future, I'd light in one place for anything under 300. You can consolidate all the burning lump in one area on top in the center and it should stabilize much faster.

It takes very little combustion to keep the egg at 225-300. You have 4 smoldering fires. You get the same heat, but cleaner smoke with one small fire.

burntbrisket · December 2012

O.k. Thanks for the advice. I'll give it a try!

dlk7 · December 2012

Best to wait until the smoke smells good. I agree with Nola - I light one spot in the middle when I'm doing anything under 300. Car Wash Mike's technique is pretty forgiving so you can take it up to 275 until the smoke clears and then back it down after you add the ribs. If you do it this way, I would spritz at 30 minutes instead of a the end of the first hour with the apple juice/apple cider spray.

nolaegghead · December 2012

Imagine you have a smoke house - a big room. You control the heat by controlling the air you let in. The fire can burn only as fast as it has oxygen.

In that smokehouse, you have 10 piles of lump. This represents a full load of fuel to finish the cook.

One of those piles lit is enough heat to keep your temp. If you light one pile, it'll burn nice and hot and deliver enough heat to keep your smoke house at 225. If you light 4 piles, given the amount of air you let in determines the temp, they're 4 smoldering piles with stanky smoke.

Same philosophy applies in the egg. And light the top, never the bottom.

burntbrisket · December 2012

The smokehouse analogy makes sense. Thanks.

I just always thought that you had to get all of the lump burning before the smoke would clear up?

nolaegghead · December 2012

I thought the same thing coming from the briquette world of stamped steel grills. Took me a while to figure it out.

Once I did, I spend very little time tending to a fire and waiting for good smoke. I light up the egg at least 3 or 4 times a week, and I've learned to be very comfortable in making it do what I need it to, depending on what I cook.

IMO, that came much easier after I started understanding the concepts - Stike, who isn't active on this forum anymore, really helped me out - (not always in the kindest fashion), but I'm grateful.

henapple · December 2012

Is the smoke coming out from the lump or wood chunks?

nolaegghead · December 2012

henapple said:

Is the smoke coming out from the lump or wood chunks?

Good point - wood can smoke even if your coals are fine.

burntbrisket · December 2012

It was the lump that was smoking but it did subside after 45 minutes or so.

Scottborasjr · December 2012

I don't think I've ever used more then one starter unless it was brutally cold (less then 15 degrees) or in a big hurry to get steaks, chicken breasts or hamburgers on. If you have the time one starter is more then enough to get you through any cook.

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