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Long cooking times

DirtyBuddha
DirtyBuddha Posts: 5
edited November -1 in EggHead Forum
Hi everyone.

I am relatively new to my medium egg (should have got the large :S ).

The other day I had a large Boston Butt and wanted to cook the bejeebers out of it. I was thinking, let it cook slow all night and about noon, scrumptious falling off the bone meat.

About 2AM we checked the egg, and it was spooling down.
I peeked in and I had ran out of charcoal. OK, I carefully lifted stuff out and poured more charcoal in.
I filled the burn cup thing to the top. I took a shortcut and used the nasty firestarter cubes..arg, grill still smells like chemicals. I now use the electric starter or a MAP torch (thanks of those suggestions people).

It ran out again, I dunno 8 hours or so later.

So is there a trick to long burns, can I put charcoal above the burn section?

Is it just a limitation of the Medium?

And what is safe to scrub the egg and get rid of the fire starter smell?

Thank you all in advance!

And contrary to the tone of this post, I LOVE my egg.
Everything has come out great, even the Boston Butt that I pulled out several hours than I was planning.

S

Comments

  • Fidel
    Fidel Posts: 10,172
    Fill the egg all the way to the top of the firering with lump. It won't hurt a thing.

    It may be the brand of lump you are using, but I have gone over 18 hours on the medium with lump to spare using BGE brand. I've done many briskets, butts, and picnics on the medium and have never run out of lump.

    What was your dome temp during this cook? I typically go at 250 +/- 10 degrees for low and slow cooks.

    As for your nasty chemical smell, a sustained burn of 450-500 degrees should get rid of it.
  • Buckdodger
    Buckdodger Posts: 957
    On my Large I fill the fire box to the top with Lump.As I'm filling I layer my Hickory or what ever wood flavor I want in the lump. I make sure the vent holes in the firebox are clear. I use Thermos fire starters...odorless and work real well to get things started. Leave bottom and top vent open till lump gets started good. Put in plate setter and grid in and get egg stable at 250 dome. Daisy about 1/4 open bottom vent about 1/4 inch open.

    Put ur meat on and check it a couple of times the first hour. Make small adjustments and let 'er cook. don't open. If you have a meat thermometer....190 to 200 internal. 2 hrs per pound should do it. Hope this helps.
    Bob
    Alex City, Al

    Opelika, Alabama
  • Awesome Thanks for the quick response.

    I was using BGE brand, but I think I was being stingy on the amount I put in.

    I was holding around 250...I love the ease a constant temp can be held on these things.

    I'll try cooking the smell out.

    Thx

    Fidel wrote:
    Fill the egg all the way to the top of the firering with lump. It won't hurt a thing.

    It may be the brand of lump you are using, but I have gone over 18 hours on the medium with lump to spare using BGE brand. I've done many briskets, butts, and picnics on the medium and have never run out of lump.

    What was your dome temp during this cook? I typically go at 250 +/- 10 degrees for low and slow cooks.

    As for your nasty chemical smell, a sustained burn of 450-500 degrees should get rid of it.
  • EddieMac
    EddieMac Posts: 423
    First...I've never cooed on a medium and yes you should have purcased the large!!!....But don't be too hard on yourself....Mediums do the jobs quite nicely.....You didn't say which brand of lump you were using....but I was surprised that it didn't last that long.....A full load in the large easily goes 20+ hours.....So I would guess you need more lump......And I know alot of fellow Eggers are adventurous and use different types of lump.....And I have as well....But I keep coming back to the BGE brand.....which....while more expensive.....seems to be of a better quality than the others Ive tried.....And I've tried 4 or kinds...........

    I would like to think that I have a trained pallot......and I think I do.....But i've used the BGE starter squares over and over....and have never tasted anything.....My guess is that you probably don't let the fire burn long enough before loading up with meat.....I routinely let the fire burn for at least 20 minutes before loading the meat......Perhaps this will help.....

    And absolutely....positively use no chemicals on the inside.....bad idea.....Maybe load up some lump and let it all burn down without cooking anything....perhaps that will help........

    Eddiemac
    Ft. Pierce, FL
  • Thanks a lot.

    Buckdodger wrote:
    On my Large I fill the fire box to the top with Lump.As I'm filling I layer my Hickory or what ever wood flavor I want in the lump. I make sure the vent holes in the firebox are clear. I use Thermos fire starters...odorless and work real well to get things started. Leave bottom and top vent open till lump gets started good. Put in plate setter and grid in and get egg stable at 250 dome. Daisy about 1/4 open bottom vent about 1/4 inch open.

    Put ur meat on and check it a couple of times the first hour. Make small adjustments and let 'er cook. don't open. If you have a meat thermometer....190 to 200 internal. 2 hrs per pound should do it. Hope this helps.
    Bob
    Alex City, Al
  • Heck I almost got the small!

    I may trade a neighbor the medium for a Les Paul guitar and go out and upgrade to LG

    I use BGE brand charcoal, I was just following the book and bags instructions and only filling somewhere between vent holes and top of fire ring.

    Thanks!

    EddieMac wrote:
    First...I've never cooed on a medium and yes you should have purcased the large!!!....But don't be too hard on yourself....Mediums do the jobs quite nicely.....You didn't say which brand of lump you were using....but I was surprised that it didn't last that long.....A full load in the large easily goes 20+ hours.....

    And absolutely....positively use no chemicals on the inside.....bad idea.....Maybe load up some lump and let it all burn down without cooking anything....perhaps that will help........

    Eddiemac
    Ft. Pierce, FL
  • DynaGreaseball
    DynaGreaseball Posts: 1,409
    I have a medium. I consistently get about 20 hours out of a full load of lump when cooking low and slow. Something's not right there, but don't have enough info to be of any help to you.

    Just want to share a discovery I made last night about taste of starters. I never taste any chemical taste whenever I use them. Or I never thought I did. My wife does, however. Well, on last nights steak cook, for the first time with my egg, I left it unattended so I could run to the store while the fire was starting up. When I got home (about 45 minutes) it was hotter'n a $2.00 pistol, and the coals looked like something a blacksmith would be proud of. I quickly threw on the steaks to sear them, and finished them with a temperature of about 400° like a normal T-Rex cook. In my opinion, they were the best steaks we've ever cooked on the egg. More importantly my wife agreed.

    I assume from this experience that my palot is NOT as trained as well as I thought it was. Evidently, I've been putting the meat on way too soon, and others besides me CAN taste the chemical taste.

    New rule here...No steak on the grid 'til after at least 30 minutes of good hot coals at searing temperature.

    Lotta words here, sorry, but a great discovery for me. Hope it helps you too.
  • A lot good info here, thanks.

    My dealer was not selling BGE firestarters, so maybe that was the deal...I definitely did not wait 20-30 minutes either.

    I'll try your methods out.

    s

    DynaGreaseball wrote:
    I have a medium. I consistently get about 20 hours out of a full load of lump when cooking low and slow. Something's not right there, but don't have enough info to be of any help to you.

    Just want to share a discovery I made last night about taste of starters. I never taste any chemical taste whenever I use them. Or I never thought I did. My wife does, however. Well, on last nights steak cook, for the first time with my egg, I left it unattended so I could run to the store while the fire was starting up. When I got home (about 45 minutes) it was hotter'n a $2.00 pistol, and the coals looked like something a blacksmith would be proud of. I quickly threw on the steaks to sear them, and finished them with a temperature of about 400° like a normal T-Rex cook. In my opinion, they were the best steaks we've ever cooked on the egg. More importantly my wife agreed.

    I assume from this experience that my palot is NOT as trained as well as I thought it was. Evidently, I've been putting the meat on way too soon, and others besides me CAN taste the chemical taste.

    New rule here...No steak on the grid 'til after at least 30 minutes of good hot coals at searing temperature.

    Lotta words here, sorry, but a great discovery for me. Hope it helps you too.
  • Like Fidel said fill the lump all the way to the top of the fire ring leaving just enough room between the lump. this should give you the time you need. As for the smell from the starters have you tried using Mapp gas to start the lump? Mapp gas makes starting the lump fast and easy. BBQ Guru makes a nice device that uses Propane and Mapp called the guru golf Club. While it works with propane I think it works much better with Mapp gas.

    Guru Golf club
    http://secure.thebbqguru.com/ProductCart/pc/viewPrd.asp?idcategory=28&idproduct=116
    Everyday is Saturday and tomorrow is always Sunday.
  • Tommy
    Tommy Posts: 116
    Don't mean to state the obvious but add lump before the old has burned out and you want have to relight.
    But if you miss that window. (which I have)
    Put vegetable oil on 2 pieces of paper towel and twist them together in the middle making a cross put a few pieces of lump on top in the middle of your cross and light. No nasty fumes.
    It doesn't take a lot of oil so take it easy.
  • raider60
    raider60 Posts: 62
    I'm cooking a butt right now, and it's my first time doing it. I'd like to get the temperature down to about 210 degrees, but can only get it to about 250 degrees. How much can I close the bottom and top vents without worrying about the lump charcoal going out? Of course, I'm not sure how accurate the BGE temp gauge is, although I've calibrated it and have ordered a Tru-Temper gauge. Thoughts?
  • Eggtucky
    Eggtucky Posts: 2,746
    raider..250 dome is a great temp for pork butt...egg seems to settle in good at that temp..I have cooked for 18-20 hrs straight on 250 locked in like a pointing bird dog..at 210..the dome temp and finished internal temp on the butt are so close it will take forever to get up to temp.. after the butt breaks through the temp plateau (meaning the fat is rendered) I usually bump it up to 275 and have even gone to 300 on occassion...
  • raider60
    raider60 Posts: 62
    Thank you very much for the advce--I really appreciate it.