Help, temperature in my BGE skyrocketed to 600 + as soon as I closed the lid

Mexirican · April 2015

so I'm a newbie and I used my BGE for the first time today. It's a BGE small. I filled it up with BGE charcoal a little past the holes in the fire box as soon as I closed the lid the thermometer started to spike staying at 600+ no matter the vents maybe I needed to give it more time ? To settle or is a small too small to control ? Thanks in advance for the tips

theyolksonyou · April 2015

Did you have a raging fire when you closed the lid? You don't have to wait for lump to ash over like briquettes.

DMW · April 2015

Just a question here. Did you get a charcoal chimney full of lump nice and hot and then dump in the small? If so, yes, you are hotter than you want to be. If you are using a chimney with the small egg, just use a small amount of lump and dump it on un-lit lump in the egg.

onedbguru · April 2015

Once it gets that hot, all you can do is shut it down - or cook it turbo. I cook burgers/steaks at about that temp anyway...

lousubcap · April 2015

As above-catch the temp on the way up-and with the SBGE start with around an apple or orange sized fire and then adjust your vents for the ball-park temp you want to hit. Definitely no need to get the entire quantity of lump burning at the get go.

Mexirican · April 2015

Thank you for the advice. Yes I did have a fire , and I actually did use a chimney so you're probably absolutely right I lit all the charcoal I'm a victim of weber grill where as if I didn't light all the charcoal it would die out . So I'll try much smaller

ksmyrl · April 2015

Welcome to the insanity. This group can help a lot.

onedbguru · April 2015

I have an XL and when I do low-slow, I start with < 1/2 chimney, get it almost all hot, then dump it in the middle and then on top of that, add lump mixed with smoke chips filling up the firebox. add platesetter etc... and let it come UP to temp slowly.. I generally allow 45-1hr to stabilize before starting the cook.

Cookinbob · April 2015

I often use the chimney to start the fire for my small. I fill the firebox completely with lump, and bury any smoke wood down in the lump. I then put about 8-10 pieces in the chimney and get them going. Dump them on top of the fresh lump, and I can catch and control any temp I want from 200 on up. When you are learning, watch it closely, you'll get the hang of it pretty quickly.