Medium egg

Unknown · June 2006

I have had my medium egg about one month now. Everyone has enjoyed. A friend in Tampa has the large and says that he can cook for 16+ hours.
This past weekend, I cooked a 5 lb. Boston butt. I put the butt on at 11:30 Saturday night. I had filled with lump about 1" above the lump containment area. With the daisy wheel all the way open and the lower sliding mechanism (haven't learned the correct words) half way open, I had a cooking temperature of 220 F. The butt sat on top of the cooking grate which was sat on top the the inverted pizza stone (legs up)with a drip pan. Sunday morning at 6:30, the temperature was down to 160 F. I wanted to add a smaller 3 1/2 butt but couldn't becasue the temperature was too low. I took the cooking pieces out and found that the lump had cooked down to about 1/4 full. I can't seem to get more than about 6 hours of cook time. What is the problem? Also, the maximum temperature that I can reach is 500F if I want to cook steaks. The fist butt cooked went for about 8 hours but it was with without the pizza stone and the lower opening and daisy wheel were more closed.

stike · June 2006

J Mann,
i overloaded my large once, because i was afraid of having too little lump, and i ended up doing back-to-back cooks that went 32 hours. after that, i used the leftover lump for a roast chicken and steak sear on following nights.[p]you should have had enough lump. even so, fill it maybe halfway up the fire ring (the ring above the firebox of 'lump containment area' you referred to)[p]you may have had really big lump pieces, which can keep the fire from moving around to new lump. try to include some smaller lump pieces in order to bridge the gap. [p]other than that, there doesn't seem to be anything you did wrong. sometimes, once in a while, the fire dies....

Smokin Bob · June 2006

J Mann,[p]I'm not exactly sure what you can expect for cook time on a Medium but I'm sure someone will chime in with a Medium. I can cook 25-30 hours with my Large and Wicked Good lump so I can only expect that a medium should give you well over 6 hours no matter what type of lump you are using. If you still had 1/4 of your lump left your temp should still get above 160F![p]Have you calibrated your therm?

AZRP · June 2006

J Mann,
I'm not familiar with a medium but on my large and my small, those daisy and door settings would give a dome temp of about 450-500. -RP

Smoked Signals · June 2006

J Mann,
I can get about 18-20 hours out of my medium with the bottom slot open 1/4" and the daisy wheel slots open full. Reduce your air flow to reduce your charcoal burn. Fill up the medium to about 1" below the top of the fire ring. I also poke my fire about every 6 hours or so to make sure the lump on the side is moving down and towards the center. DId you lite the fire in the center only? Double check your thermometer ... with the bottom 1/2 open and the top daisy open I get about 300-350. [p]What charcoal are you using?[p]I have a large as well and it will run about 30 hours on full load. [p]Hope that helps.
Doug

The Naked Whiz · June 2006

J Mann,
Is the hole in the side of the firebox base lined up with the lower vent on the Egg? [p]Also, could the dome thermometer have been touching the meat and givin you false low temperatures?[p]TNW

Grillicious · June 2006

AZRP, my thought exactly. Which has me thinking his thermometer isn't properly calibrated. If not, that 220F he read would have been much higher, which of course would have used up a lot of his lump.

Trouble · June 2006

J Mann,
When you say "daisy wheel all the way open," do you mean that the holes in the spinning part are fully lined up with the holes below them? Or does all the way open mean that the part that slides to reveal a fist-sized opening is open (offset) as far as it goes? [p]I'm assuming the slider is closed and the daisy petals are fully open. That would give me (on my large, with the bottom vent at half open) about 300 or so if I waited long enough. [p]TNW's call about the thermometer touching the food is a good one. Somebody else also correctly pointed out that if your egg was still 1/4 full, temp should not be dropping (though you'd gone through quite a bit at that point). [p]Things to check: calibration and position of the thermometer, as already mentioned, and firebuilding. Make sure you have some big pieces at the bottom to allow airflow, but smaller pieces amongst them so that the fire involves nearby pieces easily. You didn't say how long the fire had been at 220 before you put the butt on, and did you check it about an hour later to see if 220 was holding. It might have been slowly sinking throughout. What kind of lump are you using?[p]Keep trying...lots of things to try in all the responses. Good luck.

EggRacer · June 2006

Trouble,[p]daisy petals are full open.

EggRacer · June 2006

EggRacer,
I may have spoken for him and too soon. Disregard my answer.

61chev · June 2006

J Mann, I also have a medium. I have done cooks up to 15hr and had lump left over. These guys will help you alot, be patient I have had mine since November and still practicing getting better all the time.
gerry

Haggis · June 2006

J Mann,[p]My impression is that you need to listen to all the responses you got, decide which ones fit your experience, then make your adjustments. [p]I added a medium to my large not too long ago and I've had a few unexpected behaviors to deal with. I have a gut feeling that most of the folks here, as helpful as they usually are, don't use medium Eggs and don't understand that they may not handle the same as a large. (guys - please correct me if I'm wrong!)[p]I've checked my dome thermometer and it is accurate at boiling temps. I've also checked it against the thermometer in my large and they read the same. [p]But when I build a fire in my medium that reads 325 at the dome, sometimes my food gets burned - badly - if its on a lowered grid. Why? My gut feeling is that the distance between the grid and the lump is smaller and its also easier to block the flow of air to the dome (causing the thermometer to read lower than we might expect.) [p]All of this is to suggest that you cannot directly translate directions for the large to the medium. Your grid temp may be much higher than you think (at least wherever the hot spot is!) I have no solution for this since I'm still struggling myself as I cook on one and then the other. So when you figure it out, please post!

Unknown · June 2006

Re: cooking time.
Regarding my cooking time, the thermometer was calibrated with boiling water, right on 212F. The thermometer is short and only a very short distance is inside the dome, maybe 1/2". The lump was purchased from the egg dealer. It was a 40 lb. bag, brown like a grocery store bag with dark brown markings, not at home so I can't look.
Last night I used left over lump from the weekend to cook a pizza. With the lump area about 1/2 full, it stayed on 250 with the bottom vent all the way open and no daisy wheel at all.
Every thing is lined up. It has to be to remove the ashes. I have used about 1/2 of the 40 lbs. in one month.
The first time I used it, I ran for about 8 hours at 220F. That was with direct heat on a butt. The bottom slide was about 1/2" open and the daisy slots about 1/2 open. I think my problem has to do with using the pizza stone with the legs pointed up. I think that the air flow is cut down so you have to try and get more air through.
Everything is cook fine. It is just that I can't go more than about 6 hours without adding lump. I have to have a full load of lump to stay above 200F. That is with the pizza stone in place. I will try to cook something without the pizza stone and see if it goes longer.

Medium egg

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