Can you use too much lump?

Kjunbob · January 2017

I just got my egg a few days ago, and have had two cooks that seemed to take far to long vs the temp showing on the dome. The first one was because of the thermometer being off, so I re-calibrated the thermometer. I know that isn't the problem. But the second one was a small chicken, cooking indirect, after 3 hours, it was just over 140, with the dome at 300 for most of the cook, but then the temp in the dome began to drop. I suspect that I didn't put in enough fuel to start with. I am putting in fuel just over the little holes in the firebox. And I think that I should be putting in more because after the last 3 hour burn there was little fuel left un-burned.

I will use more fuel next time, but I wonder, it is possible to put too much fuel in? Help please and thanks

Hans61 · January 2017

No as long as it fits it's all about air flow - you can use too little

Kjunbob · January 2017

I should also add that I am putting in fuel to right above the small holes that come out at on the sides of the lower dome.

pab · January 2017

You cannot use too much charcoal but you can allow it to get too hot. When starting my large egg I always load charcoal to the top of the firebox. For long low and slows to the top of the fire ring. When restarting used lump I will still usually add lump to the top of the firebox. You can relight any unused coals and won't have to wait for the VOCa to burn off. I also cook my chicken between 300/400*.

RedSkip · January 2017

For indirect cooks, fill it to the middle/top of the fire ring. The fire ring sits on top of the fire bowl, which has airflow holes drilled in it.

Fire ring not fire bowl, fill it up!

MrCookingNurse · January 2017

You'll get the hang of it. Short answer, no, you can't use too much lump.

Load her up in to the fire ring. Light a spot or too and zone in the temp. Let it get to over 3-400 when the smoke turns clear and starts to smell good. Then dial in what you want or go indirect.

BUT, if you get too much lit, the fire gets to hot, your going to have a very hard time getting it back down to a reasonable temp. Can be done. But lose time and work.

Theres also a difference in dome temp vs grate temp. 3 hours seams like a long time for a chicken but your grate temp could have been 250. Where you direct or indirect?

Kjunbob · January 2017

RedSkip said:

For indirect cooks, fill it to the middle/top of the fire ring. The fire ring sits on top of the fire bowl, which has airflow holes drilled in it.

Fire ring not fire bowl, fill it up!

So then you only have about 6 inches or so below the bottom of the plate setter if I understand you correctly. So from the bottom up, the parts are:
Fire Grate at bottom, then fire box, then fire ring???? Right? And you put the charcoal up to the middle/top of the fire ring? If so, I have definitely not been using enough fuel. Please confirm, and thanks

KingtUT · January 2017

In my opinion you can absolutely use too much lump, especially for high temperature cooks. Regardless of that, if your gauge said 300 and it cooked for 3+ hours and the chicken was only 140, something is off and it has nothing to do with the amount of coal you're using. Your meat thermometer or your temperature gauge cant be correct. I will just say this, if you put a small chicken in the oven at 300 degrees for 3 hours, you're going to have a very very well done chicken.

Kjunbob · January 2017

KingtUT said:

In my opinion you can absolutely use too much lump, especially for high temperature cooks. HRegardless of that, if your gauge said 300 and it cooked for 3+ hours and the chicken was only 140, something is off and it has nothing to do with the amount of coal you're using. Your meat thermometer or your temperature gauge cant be correct. I will just say this, if you put a small chicken in the oven at 300 degrees for 3 hours, you're going to have a very very well done chicken.

Thanks.. but I calibrated them both before the cook. And then checked again afterwards... I don't understand what the issue is

lousubcap · January 2017

@MrCookingNurse and @pab nailed it- they key is the quantity burning at any one time. As mentioned, the BGE is air flow controlled (assuming you have enough lump and got it going). So, temperature control (aka fire volume) is a function of the amount of air flow through the bottom and out the top. You can control by top or bottom vent or combinations of each. With any BGE the trick is to catch the temperature rise on the way up to the desired end-point. You have a lot of ceramic mass and if it gets heated above the target temperature it takes a while to cool down. FWIW-

pab · January 2017

Yes you haven't been using enough charcoal, you don't have to fill it to the top of the fire ring for a cook lasting a few hours, but it will not hurt anything if you do. When you shut the bottom vent and use the ceramic top it will snuff out the fire and the remaining charcoal can be reused. @RedSkip goes to the top of the fire ring I go to the top of the firebox where the ring sits and only go to the top of the fire ring if I am planning on a cook going more the 6/7 hours. Both ways work, but going to the holes in the firebox is not enough coal for more than a couple of hours.

KingtUT · January 2017

Kjunbob said:

KingtUT said:

In my opinion you can absolutely use too much lump, especially for high temperature cooks. HRegardless of that, if your gauge said 300 and it cooked for 3+ hours and the chicken was only 140, something is off and it has nothing to do with the amount of coal you're using. Your meat thermometer or your temperature gauge cant be correct. I will just say this, if you put a small chicken in the oven at 300 degrees for 3 hours, you're going to have a very very well done chicken.

Thanks.. but I calibrated them both before the cook. And then checked again afterwards... I don't understand what the issue is

was the chicken frozen solid when you put it on?

Bottom line is 300 degrees is 300 degress regardless of how much coal you have in the egg and 300 degrees for 3+ plus hours for a small chicken will result in a very well done chicken in my opinion. Its just that simple. Good luck, just trying to help.

Kjunbob · January 2017

Thanks... I guess that getting the hang of it is key. I will try again later today, and I will add more coal. Also, perhaps I haven't been letting it get stabilized at a temp before I add.. yet it has been sitting constantly at temp when I put stuff on. In both cases, I was a bit rushed when starting, I will start earlier next time. How long do you think I should wait before adding any meat?

KingtUT · January 2017

Just depends on what your cooking. I put steaks, burgers, chicken pieces, etc on pretty soon after the temp gets to where I want it. For longer cooks, (with more coal added), I let the fire slowly stabilize / spread through the coals a little longer (30 minutes or so sometimes) and let the temperature stabilize before adding butts, ribs, etc.

Kjunbob · January 2017

KingtUT said:

Kjunbob said:

KingtUT said:

In my opinion you can absolutely use too much lump, especially for high temperature cooks. HRegardless of that, if your gauge said 300 and it cooked for 3+ hours and the chicken was only 140, something is off and it has nothing to do with the amount of coal you're using. Your meat thermometer or your temperature gauge cant be correct. I will just say this, if you put a small chicken in the oven at 300 degrees for 3 hours, you're going to have a very very well done chicken.

Thanks.. but I calibrated them both before the cook. And then checked again afterwards... I don't understand what the issue is

was the chicken frozen solid when you put it on?

Bottom line is 300 degrees is 300 degress regardless of how much coal you have in the egg and 300 degrees for 3+ plus hours for a small chicken will result in a very well done chicken in my opinion. Its just that simple. Good luck, just trying to help.

I know that you are trying to help, and I appreciate that. No the chicken wasn't frozen, and in fact I ran it under warm water before putting it on to be sure. One other variable that I forgot to mention was that I had it over a drip pan with water inside, which took up some BTUs. And after about some time (over 2 hours) the temp began to drop a bit... leading me to believe that I was running out of fuel... But who knows, and I do appreciate all of the advice from everyone.

KingtUT · January 2017

You never need to add water to the egg. Comes out moist without it. As far as it making a difference with the chicken being done, it shouldnt matter cause again, 300 degrees is 300 degrees, no matter whats inside the egg.. You could burn hardwood floors or newspapers, but 300 is still 300. How many pounds was this chicken?

Also, i may be wrong on this but I think running warm water over raw meat isnt recommended due to food safety issues? Others may say differently.

Either way, best of luck to you.

pab · January 2017

You do not need to use a water in your drip pan on the egg. The ceramics will help keep what you are cooking moist.

Jupiter Jim · January 2017

The temp will rise as the water evaporates in the drip pan.

The temp at the dome is higher than the grate and I think that is one problem, it also took time to heat the water in the drip pan and time to cook said bird. Unless you ran said bird under hot water for a very long time it was still very cold when you put it in the egg. I feel you most definitely did not have enough lump for this cook, I always fill to top of fire ring and just reuse what ever is left for next cook. Hope this helps.

SemolinaPilchard · January 2017

@Kjunbob KingtUT is right, you can put too much lump for cooking direct. If you load the egg to near the top of the fire ring, the meat will be about 1 inch from the fire. For indirect, no, you can't have too much lump, only too little. Having more that enough lump when cooking indirect does not matter. It does on most pits because you do not have complete control of the amount oxygen feeding the fire. Like Stike says, having a full tank of gas does not make a car go any faster, that is controlled by the gas pedal.
I agree with Tut on rinsing chicken. They used to say rinse it, now they say all that does is put germs all over your kitchen. Cooking kills all the bad stuff anyway, assuming it is cooked all the way.

Kjunbob · January 2017

KingtUT said:

You never need to add water to the egg. Comes out moist without it. As far as it making a difference with the chicken being done, it shouldnt matter cause again, 300 degrees is 300 degrees, no matter whats inside the egg.. You could burn hardwood floors or newspapers, but 300 is still 300. How many pounds was this chicken?

Also, i may be wrong on this but I think running warm water over raw meat isnt recommended due to food safety issues? Others may say differently.

Either way, best of luck to you.

Good point on the water. The chicken was about 5#s.. And you are right about warm water for safety reasons, but it was right before I put it on the grill, so I wasn't concerned here. The only think that I can figure is that the chicken wasn't seeing the temp needed. Perhaps b/c of the water, perhaps b/c I wrapped the plate setter in foil to keep it clean, or something else. Obviously the dome temp was 300, but the chicken wasn't for some reason. Perhaps the fuel was inadequate to hold it for that long as the temp began to drop during the end.. Will keep at it... but I do appreciate all of the help.

KingtUT · January 2017

It may be just as simple as 300 degrees for 3+ hours isnt enough time to cook that bird. Sure seems like it would be plenty of time though. Good luck.

Jupiter Jim · January 2017

Foil on plate setter had nothing to do with it and it was smart to keep plate setter clean.

Tjcoley · January 2017

You can use too much lump = if you can't close the dome, it's probably too much. I top off (just stir and dump) to between the top of the fire box, and the top of the fire ring for almost all cooks. You never know when you may want to throw on a pork butt after cooking your steaks. This way I'm ready for anything. Shut it down a few minutes after the cook (first burn off remaining food particles/grease) and nothing goes to waste. I've never had reason to start a cook with a half filled Egg, except due to lack of more lump.

JMCXL · January 2017

My thought, you mentioned that you might have been a little rushed. The dome might have been 300 degrees but with the bird and a water pan I don't think the grill was near 300. My guess the grill temp was around 250 (at best) for a while. Just my thought.
I am only 16 or so months into the Egg thing and have found myself rushing the start. With a water pan, indirect and a bird, you need to give the egg time to stabilize before the bird goes on.
I have used a drip pan for a chicken cook and have not used one - no difference. Like others have said the egg will maintain a lot of moisture for a bird cook.
If you have a way of monitoring the grate temp, check what it is compared to dome temp.

Good luck and egg on

Kjunbob · January 2017

JMCXL said:

The dome might have been 300 degrees but with the bird and a water pan I don't think the grill was near 300. My guess the grill temp was around 250 (at best) for a while. Just my thought.
I am only 16 or so months into the Egg thing and have found myself rushing the start. With a water pan, indirect and a bird, you need to give the egg time to stabilize before the bird goes on.

If you have a way of monitoring the grate temp, check what it is compared to dome temp.

Good luck and egg on

I'll bet that you are right on the above. I possibly didn't have enough wood to start with, but then I rushed in putting the bird on and didn't let it stabalize. I don't have a way of monitoring Grate Temp, but may have to get one. Or perhaps I can put my meat thermometer on the grill to check it...
Thanks

Mattman3969 · January 2017

With water in the pan the highest the temp will be is 212° (Boiling point) You were not grilling the chicken but more along the lines of steaming it. Ditch the liquid, use a dry drip pan and run your done up to around 400-425. Chicken fine in under 1hr.

lousubcap · January 2017

You do not need multiple thermo readings in your BGE (but you can certainly get them). Doubt you have more than one in your clock box (aka oven) and you have made it this far. The key is to make sure whatever you use is calibrated and you know how the BGE performs for the given indication.
Many get wound around thermal differences (that exist in any cooking device) rather than figuring out to use the indications they have.
BTW- the consensus here is that unless otherwise specified when someone mentions cook temperature it is dome as that is the one thermo all BGE's come with. FWIW-

KingtUT · January 2017

Mattman3969 said:

With water in the pan the highest the temp will be is 212° (Boiling point) You were not grilling the chicken but more along the lines of steaming it. Ditch the liquid, use a dry drip pan and run your done up to around 400-425. Chicken fine in under 1hr.

Maybe im misunderstanding something here but having water in the pan doesnt mean the egg temp cant get above 212...

theyolksonyou · January 2017

@kingut that water can't get above 212 and the chicken is sitting right in top of the water. The chicken is getting steamed at grid level. The dome maybe 300, but the grid is likely much less at the meat. Which is what we really care about.

Mattman3969 · January 2017

KingtUT said:

Mattman3969 said:

With water in the pan the highest the temp will be is 212° (Boiling point) You were not grilling the chicken but more along the lines of steaming it. Ditch the liquid, use a dry drip pan and run your done up to around 400-425. Chicken fine in under 1hr.

Maybe im misunderstanding something here but having water in the pan doesnt mean the egg temp cant get above 212...

Check your temps right above the pan. The steam coming off the water can not be above boiling temps.

Mattman3969 · January 2017

I should've read @theyolksonyou before I responded. Great minds think alike. Thanks for the backup Jason.

Can you use too much lump?

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