Learning how to cook with BGE has been a challenge

stevez · January 2017

I will do the thermometer test too. Thanks.

tjv · January 2017

couple ideas, maybe not mentioned for your xl egg,

- make sure lower mouse hole on fire box is aligned with slider vent; no ash between egg and firebox walls;

- use three starters in a triangle. place about 4-6 inches apart. we want to bring up a bigger fire than a large egg because the xl is bigger. one starter for those with large egg.

- light the fire starters get them going only, then close dome, not sure what you meant by 'let it go until blazing'....what is it, lump or starters?

- as mentioned no need of water, thick ceramic vs. your thin wall bullet;

- set the platesetter about 15 minutes after you light the fire starters. set it legs down for better air flow. when are ready to cook, flip it over. don't set the platesetter in the notches. up on fire ring will help with air flow and allow more room for lump.

- how often are you opening the dome; less is always better. on this cook, (1) add butt, (2) add wings & check butt, (3) check wings & butt, (4) flip wings & check butt, (5) check wings & butt, (6) remove wings & check butt, and finally (7) remove butt. 7 times but fast in and out.

- try using a smaller, more conventional, lump charcoal. the fogo can get big at times.

- give it a shot again, this time low and slow with a spatchcock chicken, shoot for 235 dome. that bird will take about 5 hours, so good test on long cook management on a cheap piece of meat.

if you are around DFW, come up and we'll fire up the xl and give it a shot together.

t

stevez · January 2017

tjv said:

couple ideas, maybe not mentioned for your xl egg,

- make sure lower mouse hole on fire box is aligned with slider vent; no ash between egg and firebox walls;

- use three starters in a triangle. place about 4-6 inches apart. we want to bring up a bigger fire than a large egg because the xl is bigger. one starter for those with large egg.

- light the fire starters get them going only, then close dome, not sure what you meant by 'let it go until blazing'....what is it, lump or starters?

- as mentioned no need of water, thick ceramic vs. your thin wall bullet;

- set the platesetter about 15 minutes after you light the fire starters. set it legs down for better air flow. when are ready to cook, flip it over. don't set the platesetter in the notches. up on fire ring will help with air flow and allow more room for lump.

- how often are you opening the dome; less is always better. on this cook, (1) add butt, (2) add wings & check butt, (3) check wings & butt, (4) flip wings & check butt, (5) check wings & butt, (6) remove wings & check butt, and finally (7) remove butt. 7 times but fast in and out.

- try using a smaller, more conventional, lump charcoal. the fogo can get big at times.

- give it a shot again, this time low and slow with a spatchcock chicken, shoot for 235 dome. that bird will take about 5 hours, so good test on long cook management on a cheap piece of meat.

if you are around DFW, come up and we'll fire up the xl and give it a shot together.

t

Thanks t. Great ideas and I will do the spathcock chicken. I have not been shutting the dome until all the lump is going very good; red hot/flames everywhere, then shutting to try and get it settled at the temp I'm targeting. I'll try what you suggest for sure. I do try and open the dome as little as possible and used to use a remote thermometer but mine's dead. I'll be getting a new one. Appreciate the advice. Steve

ElkhornHusker · January 2017

I put in lump, 1 Firestarter in the center, put everything in, open vent wide open and close lid and remove Daisy wheel. Wait for desired temp

Jupiter Jim · January 2017

I agree with Lousubcap ditch the water pan not needed in a BGE and uses BTU's, BGE keeps moisture inside the egg. Don't let the egg get so hot in the beginning start shutting down the vents when getting close to your target temp. I always fill with lump to the top of the fire ring.

sumoconnell · January 2017

DoubleEgger said:

I don't think I've ever filled my XL past the fire bowl and I can go way longer than six hours at 350

I thought we were getting along and now this!

SaintJohnsEgger · January 2017

dsleight said:

SaintJohnsEgger said:

pgprescott said:

Regardless, if u filed to the fire ring or a bit higher, you should have been able to cook 10+ hours I would think.

But if you light the lump in 3 places you have 3 fires spreading out through the lump consuming it faster. I can see where it won't last as long.

The number of lit spots should not matter on the burn time. It requires X amount of fire to produce X amount of heat. It can be one large fire or three small fires, it is still consuming the same amount of fuel to maintain a set temperature. The benefit to multiple fires is the possibility of a single fire burning out (lump making poor contact with surrounding lump,excess ash, etc.). I have never had it happen, but it seems like it can. I have lit single and multiple areas and never had an issue.

One other issue could have been the lump, possibly it was less dense and just burnt up faster......When I am moving lump around during clean out, I can tell some lump is more solid then other pieces of the same size.

But the opposite of that is that you have three fires that are lighting the coals around them - the opposite of your "poor contact" example. I am failing to comprehend that.

BilZol · January 2017

tjv said:

couple ideas, maybe not mentioned for your xl egg,

- make sure lower mouse hole on fire box is aligned with slider vent; no ash between egg and firebox walls;

- use three starters in a triangle. place about 4-6 inches apart. we want to bring up a bigger fire than a large egg because the xl is bigger. one starter for those with large egg.

- light the fire starters get them going only, then close dome, not sure what you meant by 'let it go until blazing'....what is it, lump or starters?

- as mentioned no need of water, thick ceramic vs. your thin wall bullet;

- set the platesetter about 15 minutes after you light the fire starters. set it legs down for better air flow. when are ready to cook, flip it over. don't set the platesetter in the notches. up on fire ring will help with air flow and allow more room for lump.

- how often are you opening the dome; less is always better. on this cook, (1) add butt, (2) add wings & check butt, (3) check wings & butt, (4) flip wings & check butt, (5) check wings & butt, (6) remove wings & check butt, and finally (7) remove butt. 7 times but fast in and out.

- try using a smaller, more conventional, lump charcoal. the fogo can get big at times.

- give it a shot again, this time low and slow with a spatchcock chicken, shoot for 235 dome. that bird will take about 5 hours, so good test on long cook management on a cheap piece of meat.

if you are around DFW, come up and we'll fire up the xl and give it a shot together.

t

I'm glad you typed this out. It's exactly what I was about to type. I break the oversized huge chunks up a little myself. Welding hammer works nicely, just don't do it in the egg myself. I also reuse the coal out of my eggs, but usually put the new fresh stuff on the bottom for airflow and toss the remnants on top.

fiver29 · January 2017

For longer cooks (brisket, pork butt, etc.) I follow Elder Ward's directions for setup and cook. I don't vacuum. But I do clean it out with the ash tool completely.

From what I've read so far here's what I'd do:

**Setup the way Elder Ward does with a little more lump. Follow his fire lighting, too.
**Don't use any liquid in the drip pan. That always increases cook time on the egg.

That's it. If you do those 2 things next cook I think you will have a different result.

http://www.nakedwhiz.com/elder.htm

Paul B. · January 2017

N0 big deal moving to the oven... you got the smoke in it... Not great for the ego.... Every cook is a lesson! Thats why it's so addicting!!! Good luck mastering it!!

westernbbq · January 2017

Stuck with it man. Egging is a much more satisfying hobby than golfing, skiing, and many other activities

pescadorzih · January 2017

With the settings you stated, my XL would be running about 450*.
On a 350* cook, I have the smokeware cap set at about 1/8" and the bottom vent about 1/2 to 3/4 closed.

Legume · January 2017

Paul B. said:

N0 big deal moving to the oven... you got the smoke in it... Not great for the ego.... Every cook is a lesson! Thats why it's so addicting!!! Good luck mastering it!!

Just remember, sitting next to the oven with a cooler of beer to "monitor the cook" will get **** called on you 100% of the time.

Paul B. · January 2017

good point Legume! I guess u have to throw something else on!! maybe a chunk of hickory....

westernbbq · January 2017

Stick not stuck! Fat fingers and the screen keyboard dont mix well...

stevez · January 2017

westernbbq said:

Stick not stuck! Fat fingers and the screen keyboard dont mix well...

I knew what you meant! And, I will I promise. I love the learning process.

dgaddis1 · January 2017

stevez said:
Thanks t. Great ideas and I will do the spathcock chicken. I have not been shutting the dome until all the lump is going very good; red hot/flames everywhere, then shutting to try and get it settled at the temp I'm targeting. I'll try what you suggest for sure. I do try and open the dome as little as possible and used to use a remote thermometer but mine's dead. I'll be getting a new one. Appreciate the advice. Steve

BOOM BOOM BOOM! There's your problem. There's no need to get all of the lump lit, it doesn't all need to be burning simultaneously to hit lower temps like 350*F. When you get it all lit and then shut the dome and get the temp down all you've done is put out most of the fire, so all the lump you burned initially was wasted. You want to work your way up to the target temp, not blow past it and then choke the fire down (and wait for the egg to cool - which takes forever!!) to get back where you want to be.

As for how many fires to start - I've had my fire go out once on a low and slow with only 1 fire starter (in a Large). When I removed the plate setter and looked in I had lump filling the fire box and part of the way up the fire ring, but a big hole right in the middle that had burned out, but that fire never made it 'out' to the surrounding lump. So now I start multiple fires. On my last cook (14hrs) I filled a starter chimney half full and got all of that lump lit and burning good. I then filled the egg up just below the top of the fire ring, and dumped my hot coals on top and spread them out. I then shut the doom and set the vents about where I thought they should be, and let it come up to temp slowly. After 14hrs at 250ish my fire box was still almost full. I'll be using this method from now on.

And definitely add more lump, fill that thing up, the more fuel the better. Someone else used a car as an analogy - just because you have more gas in the tank doesn't mean your car suddenly goes faster. It just means it can go longer.

smokeybreeze · January 2017

You just burned up your lump by the looks of what's left in your pictures.
When I do low and slow (205-250*F) I light my charcoal in 3-5 spots and with a full firebox in my Large BGE, I've run 25+ hours, so I'd say your charcoal didn't have the staying capacity you were looking for.

fiver29 · January 2017

This was a fun thread to read. Seems folks have a lot of different ways to get their egg to burn long. I've been doing the Elder Ward method for 15+ years with no problems. So it's always fun to learn things. Even after all this time.

stevez · January 2017

Thanks again guys. I really appreciate it. On my Weber SM, I always used the minion method and that worked like a charm for me. Temp control has been my biggest issue and this is starting to make more sense. I thank you all.

jtcBoynton · January 2017

When doing a long cook, I like to start with a full charcoal load. A full load is to the top of the fire ring. On my large egg, to the top of the fire box is a 1/3 load. The XL dimensions may be different, but I suspect that the fire box has a similar proportion.

Learning how to cook with BGE has been a challenge

Comments

Categories