Welcome to the EGGhead Forum - a great place to visit and packed with tips and EGGspert advice! You can also join the conversation and get more information and amazing kamado recipes by following Big Green Egg to Experience our World of Flavor™ at:
Facebook  |  Twitter  |  Instagram  |  Pinterest  |  Youtube  |  Vimeo
Share your photos by tagging us and using the hashtag #BigGreenEgg.

Want to see how the EGG is made? Click to Watch

How do you control your temp?

Options
xiphoid007
xiphoid007 Posts: 536
in EggHead Forum
I've noticed a lot of new names on the forum lately. I thought this might be a good thread to help everyone out. Maybe even teach the experienced folks a thing or two.

I use the daisy wheel primarily when 350 or higher. I will occasionally use the bottom door for my 250 cooks, but I've found if I start less charcoal at the beginning, I can easily maintain 250 with just the wheel. I do have the HiQue grate, which I think helps significantly as well.

I've heard others using smokeware, just the bottom, all the fancy thingamajigs, how do you do it? What tips and tricks can you share?
Pittsburgh, PA - 1 LBGE
· Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

Comments

  • BYS1981
    BYS1981 Posts: 2,533
    Options
    I only use the wheel when I do 250 degrees, otherwise I don't use it at all.  KISS
    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • Botch
    Botch Posts: 15,471
    edited October 2015
    Options
    I have Kick-Ash baskets in both the Small and Large, but otherwise I'm the opposite of you: I leave the Daisy wheel off for most cooking, put it on with the petals open for low-und-slows (and fine-tune with the bottom door).  I believe that, at low temps, fresh air can enter the egg at the top, but I can't prove/disprove this.
     
    My biggest mistake as a beginner was constantly fiddling with both the top and bottom.  The temp will ultimately depend on the smallest opening, just use one or the other to control the temp, and learn quicker.  

    _____________

    Remember when teachers used to say 'You won't have a calculator everywhere you go'?  Well, we showed them.


    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • Tjcoley
    Tjcoley Posts: 3,551
    Options
    350 and above - no Daisy Wheel, bottom vent only. 
    Below 350 bottom vent to get temp close, Daisy Wheel to dial it in and maintain. 
    __________________________________________
    It's not a science, it's an art. And it's flawed.
    - Camp Hill, PA
    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • SoCalTim
    SoCalTim Posts: 2,158
    Options
    The bottom door is 'the gas' and the daisy wheel is 'the brake'

    For me, once I learned to bring the temp up REAL SLOW ... temp control became very easy. 

    I control the temp, it does NOT control me.
    I've slow smoked and eaten so much pork, I'm legally recognized as being part swine - Chatsworth Ca.
    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • SciAggie
    SciAggie Posts: 6,481
    Options
    SoCalTim said:
    The bottom door is 'the gas' and the daisy wheel is 'the brake."
    That's a great way to look at it.
    Coleman, Texas
    Large BGE & Mini Max for the wok. A few old camp Dutch ovens and a wood fired oven. LSG 24” cabinet offset smoker. There are a few paella pans and a Patagonia cross in the barn. A curing chamber for bacterial transformation of meats...
    "Bourbon slushies. Sure you can cook on the BGE without them, but why would you?"
                                                                                                                          YukonRon
    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • NPHuskerFL
    NPHuskerFL Posts: 17,629
    Options
    If it's a real long (over 8-20 hrs) L&S &/or overnight I'll use the Stoker. Anything and everything else I go manually using the lower vent and Smokeware. More often than not if my pit target temp is 375℉ or higher I'll remove the Smokeware top and just regulate with the lower vent.
    LBGE 2013 & MM 2014
    Die Hard HUSKER & BRONCO FAN
    Flying Low & Slow in "Da Burg" FL
    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • pgprescott
    pgprescott Posts: 14,544
    Options
    SciAggie said:
    SoCalTim said:
    The bottom door is 'the gas' and the daisy wheel is 'the brake."
    That's a great way to look at it.
    I see it as macro and micro. Same diff. 
    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • Carolina Q
    Carolina Q Posts: 14,831
    Options
    I rarely use the DFMT. Only for lo n slo and I doubt it's needed for that. Airflow is airflow and if I can limit it with just the bottom vent, I'm happy. In the old days, I understand there was no DFMT. 

    I hate it when I go to the kitchen for food and all I find are ingredients!                                                                                                                                                                                                                           

    Michael 
    Central Connecticut 

    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • Darby_Crenshaw
    Darby_Crenshaw Posts: 2,657
    Options
    It's a garden hose. You can control it at the hose bib (lower vent) or nozzle (daisy)

    doesn't matter if one is wide open, because the other can control it anyway
    [social media disclaimer: irony and sarcasm may be used in some or all of user's posts; emoticon usage is intended to indicate moderately jocular social interaction; the comments toward users, their usernames, and the real people (living or dead) that they refer to are not intended to be adversarial in nature; those replying to this user are entering into a tacit agreement that they are real-life or social-media acquaintances and/or have agreed to or tacitly agreed to perpetrate occasional good-natured ribbing between and among themselves and others]

    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • bob.bud
    bob.bud Posts: 297
    Options
    Thanks for posting. 

    When smoke is burning clean I close the lid and as the egg approaches the desired temp, usually within 30 to 50 degrees I place the DFMT with the petals fully open and then dial it in to settle at desired temp.

    Recently picked up a Smokeware cap, now it goes on instead of the DFMT.

    I have been dialing in the top (using the breaks) and also backing off on the gas (sliding the bottom vent usually half way to a quarter closed depending on the temp).

    Overnight cooks, about a quarter inch open on the bottom and the top tweaked in to hold temp in the range of 225 give or take.

    For fast and hot, wide open on the gas and no cap.
    Bloomfield Hills, MI | LGBE : AR R & B Oval Combo w/Extender and Sliding D Grid : Kick Ash Basket : Smokeware Cap : Smobot Beta
    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • onedbguru
    onedbguru Posts: 1,647
    Options
    vent+daisy wheel for < 300.  
    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • onedbguru
    onedbguru Posts: 1,647
    Options
    First, I count to 10 and take deep breaths and realize that it isn't the end of the world...  

    ... OHHHH...  temp{erature} not temp{er}.
    something else popped in my head when I read the title.

    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

Categories