simply perplexing....

Unknown · June 2006

I know I'll figure it out, but I find this thing (the egg) perplexing. Over the weekend I tried to make ribs, and could not for the life of me keep the temp below 330. The ribs turned out ok, though I think I have another issue with my temp probe, it showed the ribs actually losing internal temp when the dome temp was 330 and the rib temp was 145.... and falling.
Then yesterday I wanted to get it up to 650, which it has all but accidentally done several times before.
I went through half a bag of hardwood charcoal and two attempts and could not get the temp over 400.
This was to make pizza, and so I had the plate setter inverted (feet up), with the grill rack on it, and then a metal pan and fibrament stone on top.
Has anyone found that with the plate setter inverted it is very difficult to achieve high dome temps?
I believe the times it had run away from me and pushed 700 degrees I never had the plate setter in it....[p]thanks for any thoughts!![p]

edbro · June 2006

you only live twice,
Check out the Naked Whiz's site for temp control. Once all that ceramic gets heated up, it is difficult to get it to come down again. So, watch it on the way up and control it before it approaches your target temp.[p]As far as achieving high temps go, make sure that your grate is not plugged with small pieces of used lump. Also ensure that the hole in the firebox is aligned with the bottom vent.
[ul][li]Temp Control on The Naked Whiz[/ul]

gdenby · June 2006

you only live twice,[p]First, if you need low temperatures, try your hardest not to let them get above what you want. Getting down from 300 + to 225 can be really hard. And note, once you start moving downwards, you may overshoot, and find your temps down around 200. As far as the rib temmp going down while the dome stays up, if your dome has absorbed a lot of heat, it will stay there when, for instance, your meat begins to render out fat and other liquids, and damp your coals some.[p]The plate setter, and other chuncks of ceramic such as fire bricks and pizza stones will soak up huge amounts of heat. My first pizza was done with a setter and a stone, but only a partial load of charcoal. I could barely get the temp up to 475, even with the vents full open. The next time, I put the stone on a raised rack, with a full load of charcoal, and could barely keep it under 500.[p]Here's a by-the-way. I've found that if I have the bottom vent closed a little too far, and I open the dome to flip the meat, after ten minutes the influx of air may push the dome temp up 20 degrees higher than before I lifted the dome. Then the temp will drop for ten minutes to below where the dome was at first. So setting your lower vent seems really important in adjusting the air flow, and getting a steady temperature.[p]gdenby

Chef Arnoldi · June 2006

ANY item that is placed on the grid - restricts air flow and that in turn reduces the temperature

to do ribs, you need low temp not high temp.

aka mr. Earl · June 2006

you only live twice,[p]Hey 'you only live twice.' It's hard to tell from your note what's going on, but I'll take a few stabs.[p]couple of quick questions - are you a newbie? Are these your very first cooks?[p]If you are serious newbie, here are couple of things to look for. Look at your bottom vent. Open it all the way and look inside. Do you see a ceramic wall or an opening? If you see a wall, realign your inner chamber so that it's opening is lined up with your bottom vent.[p]Now look at your bottom vent again. Get a dime or a quarter. Close the bottom vent until only your dime or quarter will fit. That's how much air your BGE will need when you want to keep temps low - 225º and below. You leave the bottom vent open an inch or two when you fire it up, but once your thermometer gets to 200º close up your bottom to a narrow slit.[p]Close up your daisy wheel so that only the slots are open. [p]That should take care of your low temp problems[p]The high temp problem sounds like an alignment problem. [p]Also another common newbie problem is keeping the lid closed. If you want high temps, keep the lid closed and open up the bottom vent all the way. Leave the daisy wheel off.[p]If these comments miss the mark - sorry.[p]Mr. Earl.

Darnoc · June 2006

you only live twice,
sounds to me that you have small bits of lump in the bottom grate preventing air flow.

stike · June 2006

you only live twice,
145 is the plateau, no?
not unusual to see temps go up or down a bit even if the dome temp is climbing

EddieMac · June 2006

For newbies....myself included....the nakedwhiz.com site....always a good call...[p]Ed McLean
Ft. Pierce, FL

BGEJeff · June 2006

you only live twice,[p]Seems like everyone is talking low so I'll go High. I do pizza at 500 for 8 to 9 minutes and it turns out perfect every time. I use a full load, Grid, 3 fire bricks set in a triangle on edge, plate setter not inverted, then a pizza stone on top of all that. It's alot of mass but once you reach 500 (About 35 to 45 min.)it is easy to hold with little loss due to opening and closing. Also makes a perfect hieght for easy access. Hope this helps.[p]Jeff

Wahooegger · June 2006

BGEJeff,
Before I got a platesetter I used a very similar setup to yours with three bricks on edge, in a triangle pattern, on top of the grid. I would then just put the pizza stone on top of the bricks. What purpose does the brick triangle serve when you're using a platesetter as well?[p]Wahooegger

BGEJeff · June 2006

Wahooegger,
I find with more mass it holds temp better. We usally do between 10 and 15 pizzas so it is open a closed alot plus the kids don't understand to well about not standing there all proud they put it on without wreaking the pizza and like to watch it for a while. But they have fun and the bricks maintain the temp.[p]Jeff

Wahooegger · June 2006

BGEJeff,
Gotcha, makes sense. I'll give it a try.

Darnoc · June 2006

you only live twice,
Question #1.Did you havethe vents open to wide? Calibrate the egg gauge with the boiling water method to make sure it is accurate.Put gauge in boiling water and it should rwead 212 degrees.
Question#2. Meat temperature has nothing to do with the dome temp.
Question#3. Make sure the bottom grate does not have any small bits of lump to cover the holes,which will give major problems with reaching high temps.As I said before no air flow,no high temps.

Unknown · June 2006

stike,
yup, 145 seemed to be the plateau, then back down. seemed very puzzling to me....

ronbeaux · June 2006

darnoc,
I'll add one more thought that happened to me. Usually when I clean out the fire box I just vacumn it out after removing the grate. I noticed that my old settings were not repeating so I took all of the inerds out and low and behold. I had ash build up high enough to interfear with the small holes in the fire box itself. Yes, I go through a lot of lump.

Unknown · June 2006

aka Mr. Earl,
thanks, I think that does help me on a couple fronts. I didn;t have the bottom vent that closed, I didn't realize I could go that tight. wow. thanks for the tip. I must have had something blocking lower airflow. I had the bottom vent open all the way and the top open all the way as well, plus a full load of lump charcoal. I do have the firebox properly situated so that the opening is in the right place. I thought maybe having the inverted plate setter simply might restrict airflow too much to ever get the high temps..... thanks all!

Darnoc · June 2006

ronbeaux,
some lump charcoal will have large deposits of ash.Dont take for granted that all is clean and green.You have to check for excess ash deposit.I have had problems with lump that has a quoted low ash deposit and will to my suprise it is full of ash.It pays to look. Do not assume everything is OK.

ronbeaux · June 2006

darnoc,
Been there done that

Darnoc · June 2006

ronbeaux,
seems like he has a multi tasking problem.I can not think of another answer.

Darnoc · June 2006

darnoc,
What kind of bird is on your finger?

ronbeaux · June 2006

darnoc,
Mountain Jay at 8500ft. Colorado.

stike · June 2006

you only live twice,
plateau doesn't mean dead-solid at 145.[p]it takes heat to convert the collagen. [p]varying a degree up or down, even five, is still a plateau.

simply perplexing....

Comments

Categories