Have XL - need tricks to holding the temperature as low as possible

Volgrill · August 2015

I've had my XL for about 8 months now. And I still have trouble holding the dome temp under 300. Looking for new tricks. But here's what I've tried so far:
- I fill as full as possible with lump to reduce air flow
- I bring up the temp very slowly, letting just a few coals light before closing the lid
- I have both top and bottom vents at a literal sliver
- I do not open the lid
- All seals are good
- I soak my wood chunks to reduce flair ups

And still I wake up in the morning with the dome temp at 300. I read on here that so many can hold at 225 with ease. Is this just an issue or the XL? Would appreciate any thoughts/suggestions.

Thanks

Thatgrimguy · August 2015

I have absolutely no issues holding low temps in my XL. When I want a low temp I just light one area with my Mapp torch. I can hold as low as 200.

What's your lighting method?

Durangler · August 2015

No issues holding 220 on my XL. But I keep an eye on it at that low temp. 225 - 250 all day long with no problem.
A steady breeze blowing toward the vent door may run the temp up some.

Thatgrimguy · August 2015

How long are you giving it to let it settle before going to bed? And why do you want to hold this low of temp?

fishlessman · August 2015

try half a sliver. my two larges act differently, one almost looks closed

stompbox · August 2015

Wow, I know this is no help for you, but I can even hold mine at sub 200 temps (have held at 175 before) quite easily.

I wonder if your vents are not secured tightly such that draft is getting round them? Not sure what else could be the cause.

I assume you are starting the fire at the top right? Not adding charcoal on lit coals or burying your flame? it will work from top down slowly and start with very small flames.

Dondgc · August 2015

If your fire is getting too hot it is because it is getting too much air. When you say the vents are open a "sliver" - does than mean pencil width or credit card width? Either way, to get less air close the vents more.

I have friend with an XL who routinely holds at sub-220 temps. So as others have said, it isn't a general issue with XLs.

SmokeyPitt · August 2015

fishlessman said:

try half a sliver. my two larges act differently, one almost looks closed

That is a good point- the draft door on my small is kind of loose and sloppy...so even all the way closed I think it still lets air in.

MrCookingNurse · August 2015

I can hold 190 200 with my xl. Its a champ. I don't really see the need to cook their but I've now done 2 overnighters and the egg just locks in around 200.

Volgrill · August 2015

Thanks all. I've been using one of those little BGE lighter squares, perhaps with one or two coals on top of it. I'd say the bottom vent has been open about half way between a credit card and a pencil. I'll reduce it even more because I've never had a flame out. I may also try putting up something that blocks the wind a bit.

SoCalTim · August 2015

lol ... I don't want to wreck this little party but, 200 degrees & hold it ... I mean actually walk away? Overnighter?

I gotta see that ...

YukonRon · August 2015

Definitely look at narrowing the vents. Make sure the sealant used around the bottom vent is tight. I have zero issues at 225. Ever.

lewisj82 · August 2015

My XL holds well. I've done several overnights with it at 225-ish. I don't let it go unsupervised, though. I'll check it every hour or hour and a half. Usually I don't have to do much adjusting if any at all. It depends on how much of a breeze I have coming through as well. Sometimes bottom vent is open the width of a credit card, smokeware too.

I light in the middle with a firestarter (or paper towel or whatever) and let it settle in for maybe an hour or so before start cooking.

fishlessman · August 2015

Volgrill said:

Thanks all. I've been using one of those little BGE lighter squares, perhaps with one or two coals on top of it. I'd say the bottom vent has been open about half way between a credit card and a pencil. I'll reduce it even more because I've never had a flame out. I may also try putting up something that blocks the wind a bit.

my oldest large is half a credit card open on the bottom vent, daisy is open about the thickness of a tooth pick for 220 dome. its just a matter of learning your egg and getting used to making adjustments as they do change with different lumps, humidity, seasons

luckyboy · August 2015

Have you checked your thermometer? If it is calibrated, then like all the responses above are the only answers, to much air.

lkapigian · August 2015

First and Foremost IMHO check your calibration, I do this on every long cook ( I could care less the temp on quick cooks ) My large will sit wherever I set it, I love my Stoker!

HoustonEgger · August 2015

luckyboy said:

Have you checked your thermometer? If it is calibrated, then like all the responses above are the only answers, to much air.

I was going to say the same thing - if everything else is as it should be, then it's probably the thermometer

Darby_Crenshaw · August 2015

if your egg temp rises, it is always (and only) because you have too much air. if the seal is tight and the egg is otherwise 'leak free', then your vents are too open no matter how closed you think they are.

chips can't flare up or catch fire at low temps. there's little to no extra oxygen in the egg once you are at a stable temp available to feed the much larger fire that a burning wood chunk would need. best the wood can do is smolder.

my gut says its the wet chips. don't bother soaking the chips. why? aside from the above, if all your wood chips are wet when they go in, much of the fire's energy is going to drying them out. once they are dry, the heat goes into the egg. boom. it's at 300 when you wake up in the morning.

Langner91 · August 2015

All good points.

I will add that when I want to hold really low temps, I put Aluminum foil over the chimney and stick the daisy wheel down over that. Then, I poke a tiny hole in the Aluminum foil. It makes no difference where you set the daisy wheel once the foil is in place.

And you can always make the hole a little larger, but it is tough to make it smaller.

Ozzie_Isaac · August 2015

I have found with large cuts of meat the egg will rise as the huge thermal mass warms up.

I generally have to throttle it back some a few hours into a cook.

SmokingPiney · August 2015

@Ozzie_Isaac - That's been my experience as well.

chadpsualum · August 2015

You also may want to check that you have a good seal at the gasket. Is there some resistance on the "dollar bill test"? If you have a slight gap there, you could be allowing enough air in to prevent you from going that low.

bgebrent · August 2015

The XL is different from the L but only a bit. Above advice is solid. You should be able to set and hold 225 as long as you catch it on the way up. As a fellow newbie with the XL I've found I need to babysit it more than the L. I use the Smokeware cap which for me is a great advantage.

SGH · August 2015

@Volgrill
From what I read above, all has given good advice. However if you are still having trouble holding real low temps, there is a solution my friend. Use a real large water pan. You can hold low temps almost at will. I'm not saying that a water pan is necessary to hold low temps because it isn't. However until you get to where you can hold low temps without it, it's a great tool or aid if you will. I have a large BGE and found a 16 x 2 1/2 deep pan that will hold a cats whisker over 2 gallons of water. The big thermal mass of water works wonders to keep the temp low and very steady. Again it's not a necessity, but a aid. If there is something that you are just wanting to cook at a real low temp but are hesitant to due to the temp problems that you have been having, then give the water pan a try and see what you think. I bet your problem goes away. Just remember if you try the water pan to check it every so often. If you allow it to run out of water your temps will spike through the roof.

SmokingPiney · August 2015

bgebrent said:

You should be able to set and hold 225 as long as you catch it on the way up.

This is key. If you overshoot the temp, it will be tough to get it back where you need it. I start closing vents a bit at a time about 40 degrees or so from target and let the Egg creep up to it and stabilize. It takes a little patience.

matoch · August 2015

I dont have a komodo grill at all so keep that in mind. Since heat is all about air flow in the big green egg you could try turning the fire ring so its offset a bit from the bottom vent. In theory this would hurt overall airflow through the egg and may allow you to keep a lower temp. On the flip side this may also be a bad idea.

SmokingPiney · August 2015

matoch said:

I dont have a komodo grill at all so keep that in mind. Since heat is all about air flow in the big green egg you could try turning the fire ring so its offset a bit from the bottom vent. In theory this would hurt overall airflow through the egg and may allow you to keep a lower temp. On the flip side this may also be a bad idea.

The bottom vent already does that. No need at all to offset the firebox opening.

Legume · August 2015

I didn't read all of this, but if it hasn't been mentioned yet, start a small fire, best if you do this with leftover lump then you don't have to worry about the rest of the lump coming up to temp and burning off the bad stuff. If you plan ahead you can overload lump for the cook prior and just shut it down so you have a good amount of leftover, but most important, start a small fire and start managing your airflow right away.

bjkdlr · August 2015

I struggled with overnight cooks and temp change. I bought a cyber q controller. No more issues. Temp holds great. Not a cheap fix, and starts a whole different debate on using a controller or not. Not saying it's best for you, just that it works for me.

onedbguru · August 2015

On my XL for low/slow, I start with 1/2 weber chimney going pretty good. dump it in the middle, fill up the FB interspersed with wood chips (not soaked), then close the bottom vet to about | | that much and the daisy wheel 1/4-1/3 of the petal. Then let it settle if for at least 45 min before putting on the payload. monitor for another 45 or so and then go to bed checking maybe once in the middle of the night, going back to bed and monitoring it until it is time to take it off.

tjv · August 2015

Volgrill said:

I've had my XL for about 8 months now. And I still have trouble holding the dome temp under 300. Looking for new tricks. But here's what I've tried so far:
- I fill as full as possible with lump to reduce air flow
- I bring up the temp very slowly, letting just a few coals light before closing the lid
- I have both top and bottom vents at a literal sliver
- I do not open the lid
- All seals are good
- I soak my wood chunks to reduce flair ups

And still I wake up in the morning with the dome temp at 300. I read on here that so many can hold at 225 with ease. Is this just an issue or the XL? Would appreciate any thoughts/suggestions.

Thanks

don't fill as full as possible. just fill the fire box full. space between lump and platesetter will help with airflow. put platesetter in legs down on start up. down will open up more space for airflow. you might be driving all your energy into the platesetter.

you need a good size burn starting out to heat the big cooker. light the lump, palm size, open both vent and daisy and get it burning. when you get to 175 degrees close down to 1/4" on slider and daisy. see how the temperature reacts to get to 225, maybe to 1/8 open final

when you bring the cooker up to temp, have the dome closed, so it draws air through lower vent.

use chunks instead of chips, bury in lump around your initial burn spot.

like others have said: make sure wind is not a factor.

It may sound weird but you could be working to hard to keep the temp low to early. the cooker works to hard to get to your temp over to long a period.

Another thing you can do is get a bunch of chips smoking and force air through slider on top to see where smoke is leaking out. see if you have a problem.

t

Have XL - need tricks to holding the temperature as low as possible

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