Basic smoking questions

raydefan · December 2014

I've had may egg for a few years now, but really haven't smoked anything yet (basically I've just been doing chicken, steak, and pizzas). I recently bought an Auberins temperature controller and did a test run to see how it worked. See below for some questions:

1. For the first few hours, I couldn't get the temperature below 275. My gasket is fried and it was windy. There was a definite gap in the egg because of the Auberins wire. Could this be the problem? Eventually it lowered to 240 (which is what I set the temperature to), but I couldn't tell if it was because it got colder outside or if the wind died down. I'm thinking a new gasket would help with this issue.

2. I filled the firebox completely full of charcoal and lit the middle with my looftlighter. Was this too much charcoal? Also I noticed after 8 hours of burning, only the charcoal in the back of the egg was lit. Most of the pieces weren't lit. Is this normal and should I use less charcoal next time.

3. Should I use chips or chunks? I sprinkled some chips on top of the charcoal, but most of them didn't smoke because they were on top of charcoal pieces that weren't lit. I'm thinking that I should just place some chunks in the back of the egg next time. I smelt smoke when I opened the egg, but didn't see any smoke coming out of the top of the egg. I'm thinking that I should maybe place a chuck or two in the back so it will smoke more.

I'm going to try a pork butt this weekend, so any help would be appreciated.

Thanks,

Jeff

Zmokin · December 2014

Not sure if I'm answering your questions, but before a cook, I nearly always add more charcoal filling the firebox, so I don't think too much charcoal is your problem.

If you let the Egg get too hot before turning on the controller, it will take a long time for it to come down.

Unburnt charcoal in your egg is not a problem, I am always left with more lump unburned than what was consumed during most of my cooks. It takes a really long cook to use up the majority of the lump if your firebox is full.

Any excess air-leak paths will make it difficult and/or impossible to achieve a low temp. I don't know how your system is designed, but the fan on the Digi-Q by design is an air-flow path with the fan not running. so it comes with a vent adjust so you can limit how much air can flow when it is off and it limits to some extent how much air flows when the fan is on. And for low temps, I still need to close off the exhaust vents quite a bit as well.

Tinyfish · December 2014

I'm no expert but here goes.

1. You could try and run the wires through the daisy wheel. Be careful when opening the lid.

2. Never too much charcoal. What's not used this time can be re lit next time. For low and slow dont light too much charcoal at once.

3. I use chunks. Mix some in and some on top. I think charcoal burns towards the back due to air flow. I weigh my chunks and log how much I used for next time.

gdenby · December 2014

I suspect that as Zmokin said, if there's just too much air flow, the controller can't compensate very well. Try cramming the gaps brown paper to form a better seal till you can replace the gasket.

Low temperature cooking in an Egg will always have only a small portion of the lump burning at any given time. The amount burning depends on airflow, not the amount of lump.

The lump tends to burn most towards the back. I suppose a blower would make that more pronounced, as the air draft is being driven from the bottom front towards the back.

Lots of visible smoke is a bad thing. That may mean the wood has lots of moisture in it, and/or that there is just enough heat to partially burn the wood. Neither are good.

If the airflow is set just right, the wood "bakes," and releases pleasant flavored nearly invisible fumes.

My experience is that chips work well for shorter cooks, say 4 - 5 hours, but chunks are a little better for longer times.

Basic smoking questions

Comments

Categories