Brand New Egg Head - Regulating Heat

ALTI2DE · November 2015

Hi all, I'm brand new here, but have been stalking the forums for a couple of years. I've watched hours of video on the BGE on YouTube and have been waiting to get mine for a LONG time. I finally picked it up on Tuesday and assembled it on Wednesday. I wanted to do a couple of test runs with it to see if I could learn how to regulate the temperature on it, and both were a miserable failure.

My first light, I opened the bottom wide open and the cast iron regulator on the top wide open. I was shocked how fast the temperature rose! It was to 400° before I knew it. I dampered it down and it held at 400° for awhile. I experimented with various techniques to get the temperature down, with limited success. Finally just shutting it all down with the ceramic dome and closing the vent at the bottom.

My second light, I got the charcoal going and when I closed the lid, I closed the bottom vent to just about 1/2 inch and left the top open just a smidge. All of a sudden lots of white smoke came out, so I assumed I had pretty much killed the thing. So I opened the vent up and the top up, the smoke calmed down and the temperature was starting to rise. My target temp for this try was 275° and at 200° I started dampening everything down. At 230° I Dampened it down even more and finally got it to level out at 280°. I watched it for a good 10 minutes and it held steady at 280°. I figured it was dialed, so I went away for about 15 minutes to do some other stuff. When I came back it was at 325°! WTH?

What am I missing? The ONLY thing I've ever cooked on is a propane or natural gas grill. This is my first foray into REAL BBQ, but I know until I can control the temperature, I'm just going to f up a lot of meat. HELP!! Thanks in advance for any advice.

BTW, I'm using BGE Lump Charcoal, filled to the top of the fire box (not the fire ring), using BGE Charcoal starter squares to light the charcoal.

gdenby · November 2015

First Off, congrats on you purchase. Its really not that hard to use.

There are a bunch of issues here, and I'll touch on 2. The Egg temp can come up fast. When I bought my 2nd Egg, I fired it up as usual. Daisy wheel off, bottom vent wide open, 1 spot in the center kindled with a torch for about 15 seconds. About the time the dome reached 200, I heard my front door bell ring. Answered that, talked for less than 10 minutes. Returned to Egg, only to find it already near 500F, and because the dome was not seated quite right, the brand new gasket was half burnt away. Moral of the story, if the vents are wide open, don;t leave the Egg very long. W. the daisy on, but wide open, you'll top out around 450.

Practically, the rate of increase is exponential. 1st hundred degrees with restricted air flow, maybe 15 minutes. Next hundred, 7, next 100, 3, and when you hit 500 it just races way

The heavy white smoke is a sign of incomplete combustion. Happens in plain camp fires till the moisture in the wood is driven out. In the Egg, it means the wood residuals left in the lump are being driven off. Those clear in 10 -20 minutes most of the time.

You will get used to the vent settings that produce various dome temps. The thing is, that both going up, and more so, coming down, those temps develop gradually. A change in dome settings to bump up a low temperature may take 15 minutes to reach what the air flow produces.

Don't over correct. Don't chase temperatures. For lower temp cooks, 225 - 350, the different temperatures mostly change how long the food takes to cook, not the final quality. If you want to cook at 275, anything 25 degrees each side has negligible impact.

jaydub58 · November 2015

Welcome aboard, fellow North-Westerner!
You did it thek right way on burn #2, start with the vents open slightly and catch your temp as it comes up close to target.
Much easier than trying to cool down to target.
The white smoke was just the VOCs burning off and is natural. When the white smoked disappears, you are good to cook.
I really don't have an answer for why your temp spiked in 15 minutes after settling down, except that maybe it hadn't really settled.
Try monitoring for about 10-15 minutes before you decide you're set.
Anyway, keep plugging along and asking questions.
I've been on this journey for a bit over 5 years and it's a great one!

Dobie · November 2015

Your getting too much air somewhere. Hows the dome fit to the lower?

Little Steven · November 2015

How are you lighting it? I leave the dome open for a while till the fire is well established. Then close and set for temp. You don't heat the ceramic as much like this. Once the ceramic is hot it will take hours to come down.

morrobayrich · November 2015

You might want to check Grandpas Grub's post http://eggheadforum.com/discussion/718915/x/p1

SoCalTim · November 2015

ALTI2DE ... I'm only too sure your gonna get a lot of great advice on your question.

I'll keep my response short and concise.

You need to 'catch the temp' on the way up. When you get within about 50 degrees of your target temp - start adjusting top and bottom vents.

The rule of thumb is that the lower vent is 'the fuel' and the top vent is 'the brakes'

I control the temp on my egg, it does not control me.

Have fun !!

Tim

ALTI2DE · November 2015

Dobie said:

Your getting too much air somewhere. Hows the dome fit to the lower?

It seems to fit fine. . .

ALTI2DE · November 2015

Little Steven said:

How are you lighting it? I leave the dome open for a while till the fire is well established. Then close and set for temp. You don't heat the ceramic as much like this. Once the ceramic is hot it will take hours to come down.

I kind of thought this might be the issue . . . I'm going to try that next time (tonight)

clifkincaid · November 2015

GoHawks!

Little Steven · November 2015

ALTI2DE said:

Little Steven said:

How are you lighting it? I leave the dome open for a while till the fire is well established. Then close and set for temp. You don't heat the ceramic as much like this. Once the ceramic is hot it will take hours to come down.

I kind of thought this might be the issue . . . I'm going to try that next time (tonight)

Understand also that a brand new egg will want to get hot. Once it cruds up a bit it will be a little more forgiving. If you are shooting for 250* you are going to want the lower vent to be open about the width of a credit card and/or the same on the daisy.

THEBuckeye · November 2015

Patience

You'll be fine.

After a couple more cooks you'll be dialing in to your desired temp like a pro.

Best advice? Catch it on the way up.

Low and Slow? The bottom and top are cracked about 1/4 inch (225-250).

You're only wide open to get it started - depending on your lighting method -
for 5-10 minutes, then you start to wind it down to get to your desired temp.

And, let it stabilize at your desired temp for a while before putting on your cook.

You can also search YouTube to get some visuals on set-ups for various temps.

morrobayrich · November 2015

I notice you fully closed the vents while the Egg was at cooking temps. This is fine for shutting the Egg down but not if you are going to then open the dome. Beware of "Flashback". The Naked Whiz's site has a video of flashback at http://www.nakedwhiz.com/flash.htm. This site also has more answers about the Egg and lump charcoal than you will ever need to know.

Darby_Crenshaw · November 2015

All that white smoke when you **** it was likely the starter materials snuffing out and smoldering. Lid up until the starter materials are burnt off

WeberWho · November 2015

I only use the top daisy wheel for any cooks under 300 degrees. Anything else I go topless.

I find you can control the temperature much easier with only the bottom vent. Big Green Egg never use to come with daisy wheels. The main temperature control was only the bottom vent. Just an extra step in my opinion with the top. The only time my egg sees the top is for low and slows.

ALTI2DE · November 2015

I also just got the CyberQ today, which I'll install tomorrow and see if that doesn't help. But I think letting the coals get going longer than the few minutes I've been waiting will be the key. Thanks everyone for your help! You rock!

Carolina Q · November 2015

CyberQ? It's a good idea to learn to control the egg manually, before you learn not to. When the engine dies, you want to be able to fly without one, eh?

And welcome to the madhouse!

Braggart · November 2015

Another thing to keep in mind when you actually start cooking...when you add plate setters, or woos, or butts, or chickens, or ribs...whenever you add "mass" to the egg, you will see a somewhat sharp temp drop in the dome.

This happens if you start your egg like I do...essentially empty...and then add your accessories after you get the temp somewhat stabilized.

As a result, I will deliberately overshoot my target temp to start, and then add the PS and grate...then let the temp come up again...again, a bit higher than my target temp...and then add my cook. Each time you add, the temp will drop.

It's daunting at first, but it'll take all of a couple of cooks to get the hang of it. Just don't overshoot the temp too much b/c it does take some time to cool off.

TXsmokin · November 2015

@alti2de When I started off there was lots of great advice on this forum, but I really liked Grandpas Grub's post for the visuals. I also do not use my daisy wheel over 333-325 cooks, just the bottom vent.

Welcome aboard.

MJG · November 2015

Also make sure you have a cocktail in hand. My Egg won't light, or stay lit, if I don't have one in hand.

ALTI2DE · November 2015

MJG said:

Also make sure you have a cocktail in hand. My Egg won't light, or stay lit, if I don't have one in hand.

I thought that was a given and didn't want to clutter up the post . . . ;-)

tarheelmatt · November 2015

https://youtu.be/1plPyJdXKIY

ALTI2DE · November 2015

tarheelmatt said:

https://youtu.be/1plPyJdXKIY

Regulate, nice. I knew I was gonna like this place . . .

Little Steven · November 2015

Braggart said:

Another thing to keep in mind when you actually start cooking...when you add plate setters, or woos, or butts, or chickens, or ribs...whenever you add "mass" to the egg, you will see a somewhat sharp temp drop in the dome.

This happens if you start your egg like I do...essentially empty...and then add your accessories after you get the temp somewhat stabilized.

As a result, I will deliberately overshoot my target temp to start, and then add the PS and grate...then let the temp come up again...again, a bit higher than my target temp...and then add my cook. Each time you add, the temp will drop.

It's daunting at first, but it'll take all of a couple of cooks to get the hang of it. Just don't overshoot the temp too much b/c it does take some time to cool off.

And if I'm putting a big chunk O' meat on 350* will drop to 250* pretty quick. Briskets, butts, leg of lamb or seven bone rib roast.

Brand New Egg Head - Regulating Heat

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