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So far, so good 1st time

Egg-on-Medford
Egg-on-Medford Posts: 160
edited November -1 in EggHead Forum
So far, so good, I guess...

First time out. My friends who I had dinner with didn't get how you can "cook" something at 250*....

Got the egg going to an anal 250 on the nose and plopped the pork on. Hovered for around 30 min and it stayed at 250, so I hit the couch. 250 at 3am. Now 210 at 5:30, so I opened the vent a little, worried that I'd get no response and that my fire had extinguished. But, up it went, so I adjusted it back to 240-250 and am gonna take another nap. If I stand in the right place, I can smell pork a 'Qin. I will not open the egg....I will not open the egg......I will not open the egg.

Comments

  • bubba tim
    bubba tim Posts: 3,216
    You may want to spring for a digi II, you can sleep the nite away. Set it and forget it.
    SEE YOU IN FLORIDA, March 14th and 15th 2014 http://www.sunshinestateeggfest.com You must master temp, smoke, and time to achive moisture, taste, and texture! Visit www.bubbatim.com for BRISKET HELP
  • Yes, I probably will, since I LOVE my sleep. But, I wanted to do it at least once "the old fashioned way". Amazing how opening one more column of holes in the mesh can make a difference in the temp.
  • Egglicious
    Egglicious Posts: 150
    Been there done that. Then I sprung for a DigiQ, now I sleep the night away!! Enjoy the pork when it done and let us know how it turns out for you.


    js
  • Bacchus
    Bacchus Posts: 6,019
    Sounds like you have a good day planned.
    I have been a proponent of doing it without a powered draft controller, now I am on the fence, and suspect that soon I will be shopping for one.
    Good luck, it is going to be awesome pork.
    You have a meat thermometer and are familiar with "plateau" ?
  • Had a little setback around 7-7:45. Fire apparently went out and temp down to 180. Had to add charcoal and relight. The person I left in charge while I went to exercise didn't open the vent enough and it was only around 200* until 10:00. Now back up to 250*.

    Checked the internal temp at 8am--145*. Outside looking quite good.
    I do remember reading about plateau--around what temp is it again? I'm shooting for 190 ultimately, right?

    My wife is out getting ingredients to make coleslaw.

    I think I didn't put enough charcoal in, given what it was down to at 8am; hopefully I put enough in to finish it off.

    QUESTIONS: How high should the charcoal pile be initially and how tightly should it be packed?? I tried to put big pieces at the bottom to avoid blocking the holes. Also, I used veg oil soaked paper towel to light; I'm definitely gonna get the BGE natural lighter wafers. How many should I use and should they be towards the bottom or top or middle?
  • Here it is with the rub on last night.
    Porkpre.jpg

    Here we are at 3 am going well at that point. Our backyard bear, Yogi (wood carving from Eagle River, WI) watching in the background. He says Hi to all Eggers.
    BGEYogi3amCook1.jpg

    Here's my drink of choice for this cook. Pappy van Winkle 15 yr old bourbon. Excellent stuff.
    Pappy15.jpg
  • Cory430
    Cory430 Posts: 1,073
    I fill mine all the to the top of the fire "ring" (not the box). Also, instead of adjusting your vent wider, I would try and first clear out the holes in the grate with a bent coat hanger. Try at all costs to avoid moving your vents once you have them set to the temp that you want.
  • Grandpas Grub
    Grandpas Grub Posts: 14,226
    LOL, Some day I want to go from the west coast to the east coast. However, I have no desire to do it in a covered wagon or hand cart.

    GG
  • Grandpas Grub
    Grandpas Grub Posts: 14,226
    Egg-on-Medford,

    There is very little of using cubes or paper towel/oil.

    There is a difference how you light the lump. One spot or several spots.

    At times the air flow (even with a q2 or stoker) will tend to vertical burn without much side burn. If that happens there is not much you are going to do about until you find the fire has exhaused the lump in the path of the burn.

    For long cooks I light my large in 4 - 5 spots including dead center.

    I do fill to the top of the fire ring but I have never used all of that lump on any cook.

    Don't play with the vents. Adjusting them during the cook will often result in the fire going out or over shoot of temp.

    I wouldn't pack the lump - you need the air flow.

    GG
  • Bacchus
    Bacchus Posts: 6,019
    I load my lump up to the mid way of the fire ring for long cooks, and usually have more than half left, well more than half. But I like it to be full.
    Plateau will be between 160-185deg, and it could hold there for quite a while. Resist the urge to crank up the temp. 195-200 is best for pulling it off, IMHO.
  • thanks for the advice.

    GG: do you light it towards the bottom and pile on more charcoal?

    It went out again after about 5 hours and we had to reload and relight. Back at 250*.

    I'm hoping my error was in the initial piling and lighting.

    If I do it right, should a medium be able to burn at 250 for 15-18 hours?? Hopefully someone will say they've actually done it.

    coleslaw is made and chillin.
  • Grandpas Grub
    Grandpas Grub Posts: 14,226
    A very stupid question - sort of. You are using lump correct?

    A large filled to the top of the fire box (bottom of the fire ring) will give you a lot more cook time that 5 hours.

    Filled 1/2 way into the fire ring you should get 10 to 24 hours or more. Filled to the top of the fire box 24 hours plus more cooks after that.

    I try to make sure the fire grate is not plugged, no ash on old lump if using old lump. I try to get some medium to large lump at the bottom, then some mediumm size pieces and up to the upper end of the pile smaller pieces. Some folks just dump out of the bag and they have great success.

    I light at the top of the lump using paper towel/oil, or starter cubes (not very often) or MAPP. When it is very cold I use a weed burner.

    I light in at least 3 spots and sometimes 5. 3, 6, and 0 o'clock. If I am concerned aobut my fire which is not very often then I add a center spot and 10 o'clock.

    If you are only filling lump up to just above the air holes in the fire box you might run low of lump after 5 or 6 hours, but I would think it would burn longer than that.

    I have done a lot of high temp cooks and a lot of long low temp cooks and I don't think I have ever had to re-load lump. I have had the fire go out one time and had to relight.

    GG