First Time cook - can't get Egg hot enough

stevez · August 2016

I should have had a dry run to practice with the temp control, but didn't. Lit decent amount of BGE hardwood using two firestarters. Trying to slow cook/smoke two whole chickens, not spatchcocked. After coals were lit good, I put placesetter in and a drip pan on that. Added chickens and some wings, closed lid both top/bottom vents wide open. Can't get it past 220 or so and was targeting around 300. I have an Auber temp control unit for the WSM and pulled it out and have it in the opening trying to stoke the coals. That actually took me up to 220 from about 200, but after 40 minutes or so, still won't get hotter. Does the placesetter prevent temps going to about 300? Any advice appreciated.

Hub · August 2016

Sounds like you added the plate setter and drip pan too early. Always get the egg hot with substantial flame, and then choke down the air and bring the temp down to your target. You can pull it all and start again, or you can take a hair dryer, put it on a low setting, and blow it into your bottom vent.

lousubcap · August 2016

Thermo calibrated? The BGE is an air-flow driven machine, once you get some volume of lump lit then the quantity of air will determine the size of the fire and the cook temperature. Something here doesn't fit...FWIW
And related, don't immediately add the food when you shut the dome-wait til the smoke smells good then add.

Killit_and_Grillit · August 2016

I'd sell it and get a Weber.

All joking aside, I did 2 control temps starting out, and I thought I had it figured out. It took me a year to really get in the groove with the temp given humidity, outside temp, type of lump, different tools inside/outside, temp of meat, airflow mitigated by what's on the grill, amount of opening the lid, hot spots, etc

then one day it just clicked. My buddy was at the house the other day and we had been inside for about 25 minutes. I told him to check the temp. It should be at 375 and if it was above 385 to bump the daisy a hair.

He came back inside and said "dude, that was impressive". It's a little art, a little science. A lot of patience. If this forum has taught me anything it's about the time you think you have it figured out, you realize you're a student all over again.

stevez · August 2016

Thanks; took the placesetter out and finishing my chicken. Hairdryer did help a lot but by then I was tired of going so slow. Gotta lot of practicing to do!

Hub · August 2016

stevez said:

Thanks; took the placesetter out and finishing my chicken. Hairdryer did help a lot but by then I was tired of going so slow. Gotta lot of practicing to do!

Hang in there. It will take you some time, but you will end up a pro. Learning along the way is actually the more fun than being a pro.

jtcBoynton · August 2016

stevez said:

...
Does the placesetter prevent temps going to about 300? ...

No. You can easily get an egg to 800° + with the Plate setter in place.

pgprescott · August 2016

Always fill the coal to the transition in the firebox. Do not worry about how much fuel you have, fill it. Secondly, the cold plate setter will temporarily lower the temp. Lastly, as stated above, make sure you let the coals get going good before transitioning to the closed lid and subsequently adding the PS.

Keep at it, once you master the temp control there are no limits. Good luck!

onedbguru · August 2016

To make a minor observation, it is MUCH easier to catch the temp on the way up rather than trying to drop it. I also disagree with getting it hot before adding the platesetter.

I light it and put the PLS in place, close it up, open the vents until you get the airflow necessary to get it to your target temp. You might ditch the stoker thing until you can know how your egg will act at various vent settings. Example, on my XL, I know that I can consistently get 250-275 by starting with 1/3 chimney - red hot - dump it in the middle, fill the firebox on top of it, scatter smoking chips (hickory, mesquite, applewood, whatever), put in the PLS, drip pan and grate then close the lid and set the lower vent to 1/8-1/4 inch and DFMT to 1/2 of the petals and slightly offset by about 1/16-1/8 and go watch some TV and wait about 30 minutes and it will be at 250 almost every time. (usually external wind issues will interfere with this)

and just sayin' but I am not a fan of the starter thingys TEHO and YMMV.

JacksDad · August 2016

FWIW, I did the same thing the first time I used my egg. The trick is patience. Once the coals are lit, and you close the lid, the dome "temp" will climb very quickly, but this isn't real, it's just from the flames. They will snuff out quickly, and then white smoke will start pouring out of the egg, and if you watch the thermometer, the temp will look like it's falling. Just be patient. Set the vents where you think they should be for whatever temp you want (plenty of advice in other threads on that), and walk away. Set a timer on your phone for 10 minutes and don't look at it. The smoke should start to turn lighter. As this happens, you can start to "dial in" to the temperature you're aiming for. Everyone has their own routine for lighting the egg, but I usually just plan on giving myself at least 30 minutes to stabilize before putting food on it...

Sounds like a pain, but it's actually (to me) one of the rewarding things about using the egg...

ryantt · August 2016

Im in the chimney starter camp for most of my cooks. If I'm going to cook at 275-325, I'll fill the bottom part of my chimney (it's the part your supposed to stuff with paper) light a cube get those coals good and and hot. One thing I do is put the chimney in the rest of he lump while its heating up. Once hot I dump my coals in and put the ps in and I'm cooking at temp in 25 min or so.

You're going to find a system that works for you, practice makes perfect.

Good of luck and let us know what ends up working for you.

pgprescott · August 2016

onedbguru said:

To make a minor observation, it is MUCH easier to catch the temp on the way up rather than trying to drop it. I also disagree with getting it hot before adding the platesetter.

I light it and put the PLS in place, close it up, open the vents until you get the airflow necessary to get it to your target temp. You might ditch the stoker thing until you can know how your egg will act at various vent settings. Example, on my XL, I know that I can consistently get 250-275 by starting with 1/3 chimney - red hot - dump it in the middle, fill the firebox on top of it, scatter smoking chips (hickory, mesquite, applewood, whatever), put in the PLS, drip pan and grate then close the lid and set the lower vent to 1/8-1/4 inch and DFMT to 1/2 of the petals and slightly offset by about 1/16-1/8 and go watch some TV and wait about 30 minutes and it will be at 250 almost every time. (usually external wind issues will interfere with this)

and just sayin' but I am not a fan of the starter thingys TEHO and YMMV.

You ARE getting the fire going prior to adding the ps. That's exactly what you are doing when you use a chimney. For the vast majority of Eggers who don't use a chimney, it is best to let the coals get going a bit prior to moving forward.

Hub · August 2016

I've never once had a problem moving a higher temperature to a lower temperature .. it's as simple as closing the vents. However, I have had TONS of problems moving a low temperature to a high temperature. I stand by my advice. Get your egg hot with flame and not just hot coals, then drop your temp to where you want it.

Theophan · August 2016

pgprescott said:

Always fill the coal to the transition in the firebox. Do not worry about how much fuel you have, fill it....

Strongly agree. I've seen people new to the BGE on this forum unable to get the temperature high enough but they were only putting in maybe a chimney full of coals. Fill it at LEAST up to the top of the firebox, and I pretty much always fill it to the top of the fire ring.

If you have enough fuel (and nothing's wrong with it, like it's super damp or something), and you have enough air flow, it is IMPOSSIBLE not to get a hot fire. The problem is almost always air flow, but I'm glad @pgprescott brought up the possibility that you might not have put in enough lump. (I was also a little puzzled by your (OP's) terminology: "BGE hardwood." I assume you meant BGE-brand lump charcoal. If you put in a bunch of hardwood and no charcoal, THAT's the problem, but I assume that isn't what you meant.

pgprescott · August 2016

Theophan said:

pgprescott said:

Always fill the coal to the transition in the firebox. Do not worry about how much fuel you have, fill it....

Strongly agree. I've seen people new to the BGE on this forum unable to get the temperature high enough but they were only putting in maybe a chimney full of coals. Fill it at LEAST up to the top of the firebox, and I pretty much always fill it to the top of the fire ring.

If you have enough fuel (and nothing's wrong with it, like it's super damp or something), and you have enough air flow, it is IMPOSSIBLE not to get a hot fire. The problem is almost always air flow, but I'm glad @pgprescott brought up the possibility that you might not have put in enough lump. (I was also a little puzzled by your (OP's) terminology: "BGE hardwood." I assume you meant BGE-brand lump charcoal. If you put in a bunch of hardwood and no charcoal, THAT's the problem, but I assume that isn't what you meant.

Yeah, it just struck me when he said "decent amount". There's only one amount, full amount! I agree, air and fuel.

NorthPilot06 · August 2016

Welcome! Just wanted to add in one recommendation that I hadn't seen pop up yet - is your firebox aligned correctly? That is, is the opening in the firebox aligned with the lower vent on the BGE?

Always worth mentioning.

SemolinaPilchard · August 2016

Someone said catch the temp on the way up, it is easier to do that than to get a hot egg to cool down. That is absolutely correct.

stevez · August 2016

Thanks all so much; not sure about the alignment of the firebox to the vent. It was assembled/setup by the delivery man who has/uses/loves his BGE. I'll check. I had a hell of a time getting up to 300 and learned a lesson. Don't think I had enough coals and they weren't hot enough. I did use the fire starter and I am a chimney person mostly. Going back to that. My experience on other units has been it's easier to catch on the way up than to drop. It was just dead at 200 for a long time. Kind of ruined the cook as I didn't take the chicken off until 10; that was after removing the place setter much earlier and it just didn't work. I'll certainly practice and really appreciate the advice. I have to say I wasn't expecting that, but this is so different. Looking forward to the learning!

jtcBoynton · August 2016

@stevez Its not clear how much charcoal you were using. I always start with at least a full firebox. For longer cooks, I start with lump up to the top of the fire ring. The starting method really will not matter for the temp you want - they provide differing times to temp and some are more convenient, but all will get the job done.

My observation is that 99.9% of the time of not being able to get up to temp is caused by air flow issues. As long as you have fuel in the egg and get a fire started, airflow will dictate the temp.

stevez · August 2016

I don't think I had enough fuel for sure; I didn't fill it up to the firebox lip. I just put what I thought would be enough and I'm sure that had a lot to do with it. Also, probably did put the placesetter/drip pan/cold chicken on too soon.

SmokeyPitt · August 2016

It sounds like you know what the problem is. IMO 1 fire starter is plenty. That might have contributed as well- if you used 2 starters that makes a pretty big fire and you may have burned up most of what lump you had.

One other suggestion- no water or liquid in the drip pan if you are targeting 300.

onedbguru · August 2016

stevez said:

I don't think I had enough fuel for sure; I didn't fill it up to the firebox lip. I just put what I thought would be enough and I'm sure that had a lot to do with it. Also, probably did put the placesetter/drip pan/cold chicken on too soon.

The fun part is that now you have an excuse to buy more lump and find more stuff to cook so you can practice getting things just right. My first couple of months, I cooked 4-5 times/week. That is how you figure out how it all works... Pretty soon, you will be buying lump like the rest of us... by the pallet (or so it seems sometimes

)

llrickman · August 2016

this might be a little help to you it sure helped me and a big thanks to GG

http://eggheadforum.com/discussion/696662/x/p1

<a href=" http://eggheadforum.com/discussion/718915/x/p1">http://eggheadforum.com/discussion/718915/x/p1</a><br><br><br><br>

http://eggheadforum.com/discussion/770276/x/p1

First Time cook - can't get Egg hot enough

Comments

Categories