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Chasing temps - frustrating

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Unknown
Unknown
edited November -1 in EggHead Forum
I've been cooking on this egg for almost 4 months now. I guess I'm a slow learner, cause I'm still struggling with temps. [p]Have chased em all night last night. [p]My daughter has her in-laws in town tonight and tomorrow, and I offered to cook a couple of butts for PP. When those are done, I'm supposed to cook a turkey breast for my mother in law. [p]Bought a new Maverick and used it for the first time last night, thinking I'd get some sleep while they cooked. [p]Alarms went off all night (mostly the high). [p]A graph of my temps would look like the path of a drunk drivers car. [p]Scuse the complaining, but am probably on my 20th cook on the egg since I got it. Should have this temperature thing down a little better by now. Just a little flusterated.[p]
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Comments

  • Celtic Wolf
    Celtic Wolf Posts: 9,773
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    Bubba_T,[p] Yes it should be better. Stabilize the egg before you put the meat on. Once you put the meat on resist the urge to "adjust" the vents. Cold meat will drop the temp, but the fire is still going at whatever you stabilized it at.[p] Let the egg come back to temp on its own. I usually turn off the alarms onmy Maverick still the temp has come backup.[p] The bottom vent should barely be open and make sure the grate holes are clear of small chunks.
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  • stike
    stike Posts: 15,597
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    Bubba_T,
    ignore any temp change caused by opeing the dome. it's irrelevant. you spill hot air on opening, and it takes a bit of time for it to recoup. the fire is the SAME fire though. which means when it 'drops' 50 degrees on opening, and then you shut it, your fire is the same as before, so if you try to chase the temp, you're adding more O2, and that will cause a rise beyond your desired temp.[p]easiest way to deal with temps is not to chase it.[p]also, don't get hung up forcing it to 250 if it wants 260. the egg knows better, and has its own groove.[p]when starting, think hi/med/lo. that is, light the fire. if you want 350, well, that's sort of medium. very early after starting the fire, set upper/lower vents about halfway or slightly less. that'd be medium. eventually it will get there and slow down, and you can shut vents to stop it where you want. begin shutting vents until the thermo slows about 5 to 10 degrees lower than desired temps. give the thermo a chance to settle in after starter flames die down (ignore "high" temps reflecting the flames of starte cubes, etc.) before bothering to check the thermometer.[p]and again, if it says 350, and it's been like that for 20 minutes, and you open the dome, tend to the meat, shut it and see '200', well, ignore it. you still have a fire that delivers 350, it's just vented the hot air. give it time to return and don't change the vents.[p]remember, you don't drive 65 miles an hour by staring at the speedo and worrying in 5 mph increments. also, you don't approach stoplights at full speed and then try to slam on the brakes.
    ed egli avea del cul fatto trombetta -Dante
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  • BlueSmoke
    BlueSmoke Posts: 1,678
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    stike,
    Good advice: GREAT analogy.[p]Ken
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  • Unknown
    Unknown
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    stike, I agree with your comments about temps. I notice on my egg, if I open the dome to turn ribs or check temps, sometimes after the drop, the temp will rise 5-10* and hold there. For example, if I am running 250, after the opening it will fall to 200-225 and then rise to 255-260. Any thoughts?? Will it eventually fall or will the slide door need to be adjusted. Or, do I even worry about this rise.[p]Gene

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  • Celtic Wolf
    Celtic Wolf Posts: 9,773
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    CGator,[p] When you open the egg air rushes in. Fresh air means more catalyst for the fuel. Close the egg temp goes up it burns up the extra oxygen. [p] Like I originally said.. Trust the egg. Go back inside and have a beer.
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  • stike
    stike Posts: 15,597
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    CGator,
    when you open a very hot egg, you spill hot air, and the air you let in isn't much relative to the raging airflow through the egg. but if you are going low and slow, opening the egg introduces a veritable pantload of air compared to what the tiny vent openings were allowing in. your temp may go up for a short time after, but the fire must always return to the control of the vents. it cannot burn hotter than the vents allow. once the spare O2 is shortly burned off, the vents rule. ...and the fire won't stay at the 'new' temp. it can't draw more through the vents than previously. it'll go back down.[p][p]
    ed egli avea del cul fatto trombetta -Dante
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  • JK
    JK Posts: 93
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    Bubba_T,
    I had the exact same issue with my bbq (Boston butt). First what size egg do you have? The smaller the harder to control. I spoke with the owner of the store that sold me mine and he stated to slightly overfill the egg with charcoal. I have a med egg and fill to 3 to 4 inches above the air holes. This produced 7 - 9 hours of 240 to 260 degree temps. Slight change when peeking. My bottom vent is open approx 1/2 inch and top vent is open 1/2 way, This produces the greatest temps for me.
    Like I said I used to chase butt now I am confident that it will not run away.
    Thanks
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  • WessB
    WessB Posts: 6,937
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    JK,
    I personally, as does almost everyone else, ALWAYS fill the lump to the top of the firebox.....unless of course you were trying to cold smoke something in the 150° range. And I disagree with the statement the smaller the egg the harder to control. I have NO problem controlling temps on my small or mini.[p]Wess
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  • WessB
    WessB Posts: 6,937
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    stike,
    Very well put.[p]Wess
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  • Celtic Wolf
    Celtic Wolf Posts: 9,773
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    WessB,[p] I agree here. Fill to the top of the firebox, and my XL is harder to control then the small.
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  • WessB
    WessB Posts: 6,937
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    Celtic Wolf,
    I have the same issue with my XL, but blame myself for not learning it`s differences yet. I have not cooked enough with it to just walk away and let it run. The XL definately burns lump differently than my other eggs. Not saying I dont love the XL...It`s a beast..[p]Wess
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  • JK
    JK Posts: 93
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    WessB,
    Just stating what the store owner told me, had an issue now it's gone. Good luck.
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  • Unknown
    Unknown
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    Bubba_T,
    I am not an expert by any means but here is my ideas. I treat the egg as two systems(forgive me I am trained as an engineer). system one is the fire and then there is the second system which is the heat capacitiveness of the ceramic shell.
    Say in the case that you are too high. As a beginner you close the vent killing all the air flow lessening the fire and hoping the temp will drop. You still have the heat stored in the ceramic giving you a fairly high dome temp reading. As the fire goes out then when the dome temp falls you don't have the fire level to support the temp you want. So you open the vent and get a big fire going which will eventually will drive you over the desired temp you need. [p]My suggestion is to establish the tweak you think you need and then do half of it and then wait longer before you tweak again. Also picture the fire size in you mind and also how much heat you have stored in the egg ceramic parts. As you tweak temperature guess what you will happen to each system. Your food, place setter and pizza stones are also heat capacitors.[p]It also seems that you are in fact chasing the stored ceramic temp with the temp produced from the fire.[p]I hope this was helpful and not a ridiculous rant. [p]
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  • Unknown
    Unknown
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    I have a large egg.

    A couple of things that were making it difficult is that I was trying to find the exact place on both the daisy wheel and the sliding door that would give me the right temps. I think I was making it more complicated than it needed to be.

    I turned the daisy wheel so the holes are fully open, and decided I'd work my temps with the bottom sliding door. Have gotten a lot more consistency with that.

    Have been locked on 230 (at the grate) for a while now, and the two 8# butts are at 185 after 14 hours. Barring catastrophe, I'm turning for final approach.

    It'll turn out ok - just the getting there hasn't been easy.

    This is my 3rd butt cook since I got the egg. First one I ran outta lump and finished em in foil on the gasser (they were very good). Second one I cooked 4 butts - it went smooth as silk and honestly I think it was some of the best pulled pork I've ever eaten (and I've spent a lifetime searching for the perfect pulled pork, sauce and Brunswick stew).

    This butt cookin's been a challenge.

    There's some chance I've been a little too focused/obsessive about having perfect temps because of the new gadget (Maverick). Also, I was later getting them on than had planned, so once it was up and going (and the "bad" smoke gone), I was in a hurry cause I was tired and ready to go to sleep.

    Anyway, I appreciate all the feedback and egg-wisdom. As soon as they're done, wrapped and in a cooler, it'll be time to start thinking about the turkey breast for tomorrow.

    Bubba_T
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  • FlaMike
    FlaMike Posts: 648
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    Bubba_T,
    I agree with all the responses so far, but one more thought.... I let my starting temp settle in for about an hour on every cook (except for hot dogs). That way you get past the initial fire temp on the thermometer, and let all the lump, ceramic, wood chunks, etc. settle in and work together. It sure works for me.
    Mike
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  • ab ovo
    ab ovo Posts: 67
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    Celtic Wolf,
    a beer? My recommendation is to let the egg dictate how many beers you have :)

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