Newbie!!!

Welcome! Depends if you want to grill or Bbq - spatchcock chicken is a great place to start and inexpensive if you mess it up. 

Welcome aboard and enjoy the journey.  Haven't posted the below post-gagger in a while so here goes:

Here’s a link to all things ceramic-chances are if you have a question the answer is within this site somewhere.  Check out the recipe section for some great ideas.  http://www.nakedwhiz.com/nwindex.htm  You will find the spatchcock chix recipe there. 

For additional links to cooking/recipe sites; here are two very good ones, depending what you are cooking:  This site contains a wealth of the science behind Q cooking along with info on about every type of meat cook you would attempt: http://amazingribs.com/

Here’s the second one:  http://playingwithfireandsmoke.blogspot.com/

 After-market toys- With the BGE there are three basic styles of cooking;  “direct”-where the cooking grid is on top of the fire ring; “raised direct”-where the grid is elevated at least to the gasket-line (this setup requires after-market stuff-easiest is to get another grid and then use three fire bricks (or three empty aluminum beer cans) and place them on the grid at the fire ring and then put the second grid on top. The third is “indirect” where there is a heat deflector (platesetter or some other type stone) between the burning lump and the cooking grid.  This is the setup for low&slow long duration cooks.  I would get comfortable playing around with the BGE before any major after-market investments.  Will save you $$ in the long run.

 Some observations-make sure you calibrate your dome thermo-boil some water, then insert the thermo and check the temp.  If not around 210*F, then note the off-set and use the nut on the back to correct.  Then recheck.

Temperature is a controlled by the volume of lump burning.  The volume is controlled by the air-flow thru the BGE.  In thru the bottom vent and out the top.  Make sure when you set it up that the fire box opening is aligned with the lower vent. 

When adjusting the vent(s) to change temperature, the feedback loop can take some time.  Changes in air-flow are reflected in the dome thermo temp.  Don’t chase temperature; +/- 10-15*F is close enough.

“Stable temperature” is a relative term.  Means you haven’t moved the vents and the temperature is steady for anywhere from 30-60 minutes.

Way more than enough for now.  

Dude just go with a butt. Easy as hell, almost impossible to mess up, awesome to eat and it'll give you most of a day to play with temps in one cook. 

Welcome.  Post your cooks and post plenty of pics!

Welcome and enjoy the eggdiction...it is good, and good for you !!!!

Post plenty of protein porn for us to drool over !!!

Donnie

As a nearly new newbie, I would defer to the experts above... I can tell you that when I got my large BGE two months ago, I was overly eager when first lighting it up to close the lid before a good fire was burning. Let it get going for real before you close the lid. Once it's lit and you've closed the lid, and you are dialing in to the temperature that you are aiming for, it will take a little time for the "white" smoke to burn off... Don't rush that either - just go inside, do a little more prep work, check a few posts on this forum, and then put the food on when it looks like the smoke has nearly disappeared...

JacksDad