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Yet more temperature problems. . .

Okay, so I haven't been able to get my Egg up to the 600 degrees some recipes want, but they still turn out okay.  No big, I'[m doing the Thanksgiving turkey again, and it only needs 325.  So I get my Egg up to about 350, then throw the turkey on (then put in the wood chunk I forgot) and come back out to check it twenty or so minutes later. . . under 200.  What the hell?  Get out the bellows, blow on the top of the coals to get a bunch of them relit, now waiting to see what happens.  If it doesn't come back up, going to have to break out the K-9 II dog dryer (again) and really blast some air into it.

I'm thinking the water/drippings from the turkey put out too many of my coals, and that dropped the temp.  What do I keep doing wrong that makes keeping a good fire going all but impossible?

Comments

  • drip pan!
    Brandon, MS
  • Hmm, I may give that a shot a some point, even though I've heard the drippings from a grill turkey are so smokey they're useless.

    I'm barely getting over three hundred after breaking out the dog blower and firing up the Egg.  Is there a remedial "How to Build An Egg Fire For Complete Morons" class or something out there?
  • Cookinbob
    Cookinbob Posts: 1,691
    I cook mine indirect in a roaster. No problem holding 350 and the temp outside is 30 deg
    XLBGE, Small BGE, Homebrew and Guitars
    Rochester, NY
  • Yeah, I'm in Minnesota, so it's damn cold here too.  I just can't keep my temp up.  HOW do I keep this damn fire going strong?
  • Foghorn
    Foghorn Posts: 9,794

    If your fire is lit and your vents are wide open on the top and bottom the egg will get as hot as you want it if you are patient.   If it doesn't you have are either out of fuel or you have an airflow problem (most likely).

    When you look at your coals and the grate underneath them, can you see at least a couple of holes in the grate that are not clogged and are wide open to allow air flow?  If not, that may be your problem.  I don't do any fancy lump arranging, but after I dump it in I always clear a spot at the front of the grill where a couple of holes are wide open.  This is easy with an XL egg.  With smaller versions it may be harder to do.

    XXL BGE, Karebecue, Klose BYC, Chargiller Akorn Kamado, Weber Smokey Mountain, Grand Turbo gasser, Weber Smoky Joe, and the wheelbarrow that my grandfather used to cook steaks from his cattle

    San Antonio, TX

  • Yeah, I have a large Egg, and when I fill it up, I can't get any direct path to the bottom.  Is that what I should be doing, excavating an air shaft?
  • It could also be that you threw on a big cold piece of meat. This will drop the temp inside the egg significantly, but if the egg was warmed up enough( stable temp ) then it will recover on its own. The recovery time may be a long while especially with a turkey.
    Simi Valley, California
    LBGE, PBC, Annova, SMOBot
  • Foghorn
    Foghorn Posts: 9,794
    That's what has worked for me.  Nobody else here has ever chimed in and validated/supported this.  Many others have solved the problem by buying a Hi-Q grate that is essentially just a metal rack with giant spaces for airflow.  That could be your best solution in the long run. Others carefully use only big pieces of lump for their longer and/or really hot cooks because it is the small stuff that clogs the holes.

    XXL BGE, Karebecue, Klose BYC, Chargiller Akorn Kamado, Weber Smokey Mountain, Grand Turbo gasser, Weber Smoky Joe, and the wheelbarrow that my grandfather used to cook steaks from his cattle

    San Antonio, TX

  • Yeah, the Hi-Q grate was recommended in other places, as well.  I'll probably look into that.

    How do you manage to dig an air shaft without all the lump falling back into the hole?
  • Well, the Egg temp has dropped to 260, so this year's Thanksgiving Turkey on the BGE is a failure.  We'll be schlepping it up to the oven soon.
  • txav8r
    txav8r Posts: 153
    I use the maverick ET-732 dual probe. With the raised AR rig, the need to pull the clip of the done temp probe is necessary. But all day, my done temp is less than 250 and even less than 200, my maverick now says 171 breast. But the left breast was 147 and the right breast 160 with te thermapen. I am liking this maverick less and less.
    Just far enough north of DFW to be "rural"...and close enough to be urban, depending on my mood.
  • Many turkeys are injected with all kinds of solutions to make them tender, and when cooking in a BGE, you really need a drip pan to catch the drippings, otherwise, it can extinguish or severely diminish the fire, which defeats the purpose.  You need the drippings to make gravy, right?

    I, too, noticed a big temperature drop the first hour or so, but, with a big bird, at 40 degrees, along with a v rack, and a drip pan, that is a lot of mass to warm up, so it might take an hour or so for the BGE to come back up to proper temperature.


  • The drippings on a grill get too smoke infused to be worthwhile for gravy, I always heard.  My dad, king of gravy, uses the neck and wings (since none of us eat wings) to make stock that he he uses for gravy in place of drippings.  This was an injected Butterball turkey, so we didn't brine it, but the temp was still down after being on the Egg for over two hours.

    But, the bird did get up into the 160 range, so it actually cooked, and pretty quick, despite the low temp.  Go figure.
  • firstly take out fire ring and grates and make sure all holes are clean and no ash in bottom... when you put back together, make sure your "guts" are centered to allow for ventilation an the bottom hole is lined up with trap door.   Give it a go again... btw daisy wheel off for any cooks over 350.. full control with bottom vent. 
    Beaufort, SC
  • Some time back, I had to disassemble the lower vent door and found that the back side of the screen had a considerable build up of what appeared to be a creosote type of deposit.  I burned it off with my propane torch and everything seems to be working better after that treatment.  It might not hurt to check yours.  Have never seen anyone else comment about this so do not know if it was a unique issue, but I do restrict with both the daisy wheel and the sliding door to control temps. 
    A poor widows son.
    See der Rabbits, Iowa
  • txav8r
    txav8r Posts: 153
    I will concurrently that our gravy was
    Lousy. Although texture and winning recipe followed to the T. Heavy smoke
    In it is overwhelming and just not something that enhances gravy. I won't be using the pan drippings again off the egg. A side note this...may be that the pan didn't get crusty. So the orange juice and chicken stock may not have reduced enough.

    But temp readouts if the dome without full probe insertion is very inaccurate.
    Just far enough north of DFW to be "rural"...and close enough to be urban, depending on my mood.
  • I took the daisy wheel cap off at one point to try and up the temperature, and it dropped about fifty degrees in twenty seconds.

    The screen at the bottom looks clear (I squat down and check that out pretty often.)  When winter ends, I'll definitely dig it all out and check what's up.
  • My local ultimate kitchen store (Kitchen Window) suggested that, if you want smoke flavor in gravy, the best way is to make gravy, then stick it on your Egg to heat and suck up some smoke for ten or twenty minutes.  The way I remember hearing, fat sucks up smoke flavor the most, and what you're taking for gravy is pretty much pure fat, so it gets pretty much pure smoke.
  • with your bottom vent open wide and your egg lit and climinbing temp... pulling the dw off should help you get to temp above 500 within 5-10min... a big help would be to buy a different fire grate. I have the hi-que and mine goes from 70 to 700 in about 10min after lighting it... 
    Beaufort, SC
  • Foghorn
    Foghorn Posts: 9,794
    edited November 2013
    ErikModi said:

    Yeah, the Hi-Q grate was recommended in other places, as well.  I'll probably look into that.

    How do you manage to dig an air shaft without all the lump falling back into the hole?

    I use my BGE ash tool to scrape some of the charcoal away from the front of the firebox - then I have some old tongs I use for picking individual pieces of lump out of the space until a couple of holes are clear. Sorry if I didn't get that posted in time to help you. Been caught up in the turkey day family frenzy.

    XXL BGE, Karebecue, Klose BYC, Chargiller Akorn Kamado, Weber Smokey Mountain, Grand Turbo gasser, Weber Smoky Joe, and the wheelbarrow that my grandfather used to cook steaks from his cattle

    San Antonio, TX

  • Oh, I quite understand.  Thanks for the tip, I'll give that a shot.
  • On the bright side, even with getting finished in the over, the turkey turned out great!
  • sumoconnell
    sumoconnell Posts: 1,932
    One simple tip from me, I hand place a couple larger lump pieces on the bottom of the grate to ensure good airflow before I put on the rest of the lump. I have the factory grate and that helps out. I plan on upgrading soon.
    +++++++++++++++++++++++++++
    Austin, Texas.  I'm the guy holding a beer.
  • henapple
    henapple Posts: 16,025
    As far as the gravy... First time for me using the drippings for my wife to use in the mix. Everyone said it was the best they've had. Kept chicken broth in the pan to prevent burning. It was stronger than store bought so she adjusted with low sodium broth. Give it another try..
    Green egg, dead animal and alcohol. The "Boro".. TN 
  • U_tarded
    U_tarded Posts: 2,041
    Don't forget you are dropping a giant mass of cold in there (18 lbs of turkey out of the fridge) is gonna affect your temp a lot. If you have a good fire before hand it will power through.