Some Newbie questions about controlling temp

JimF · May 2007

Today was the first time that I have used my new egg that I got at the Waldorf eggfest. I did not cook anything, just wanted to play with getting it to hold at different temps. I filled the fire box with charcoal and used two firestartes on top of the charcoal. Left the lid open and fully opened the bottom vent. After 10 minutes I saw that the firestarters had gone out so I closed the lid and adjusted the top and bottom vents. I did not put any food on. I got the temp to 250 in about 30 minutes and it appeared to be holding there. I did not make any further adjustments but after about an hour I noticed the temp had crept up to 300. I fiddled with the vents and got it back down to 250 but it took a while to drop. It held there for a couple of hours but it seemed like it took me about 1.5-2 hours to get the temp stable. Inoticed the same thing happened when I bumped the temp up to 300 and then noticed an hour later that it had crept up to 375.[p]What causes the temp to creep up like that and how do you compensate for it during a long cook without constantly watching the egg?[p]I know that the temp is going to change as you get things going but how do you do the initial vent adjustments to hit your target without fiddling around for 1.5 hours?[p]After holding the temp at 250 for several hours I opened the lid and saw that the it was only the middle of the charcoal that was burning and that all of the charcoal around the edges had never been touched by the fire. I am afraid that on a long cook the fire will go out after the middle of the charcoal has burned up.[p]How do you get the fire to spread evenly over the charcoal?[p]Thanks for any help you can provide,
Jim[p]

uncbbq · May 2007

JimF,
I have the same issue at times. I'm not sure what causes it, but I think it may be the thermal mass coming up to temp. I do know, however, that if you remember what your 250 setting looked like, it will likely look essentially the same every time. You are wise to play with the temps without food. Realize, though, that when you put cold meat in there the temp will be artificially depressed for what could be quite some time. Don't fiddle with the airflow while that's coming back up to temp.
As far as the central burn-down, try starting your fire in a couple of spots. Also, the airflow seems to be greatest in the back of the egg, under the hinge, so I try not to start a long cook right there. And make sure all of your air holes are open and unclogged. There really is something to the Elder Ward fire building method (Naked Whiz site).
Hope this helps.

Some Newbie questions about controlling temp

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