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Egg would not get hot

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Unknown
Unknown
edited November -1 in EggHead Forum
Ok, got out a wild turkey breast and a couple of pheasants and brined them to cook last night. Started the egg up a 5 pm and when I had a real good fire going I put my plate setter in and my pan of water. Put the birds on a v rack and that egg would no get over 200 degrees. Anyway after 45 minutes I fired up the oven and finished the cook in there. I have noticed I have a problem with heat when I use the plate setter. I have a medium egg and cleaned it out really good a couple of months ago. Made sure no ash in bottom. Only reason I could think was maybe the charcole was some of the smaller lump coal and was getting trapped in the vent holes. Any answers on what has been the problem with yours in the past. Rick
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Comments

  • Hoss
    Hoss Posts: 14,600
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    You gotta preheat the platesetter too.If you get the egg to temp without the placesetter in there ,when you put it in it will suck up all the heat.Adding the water in the drippan also contributed to heat absorption.Lite the egg, put in platesetter bring the whole setup to temp then put on your food. :)
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  • Unknown
    Unknown
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    Ok this makes sense. I should have built the temp up to around 350 and added the setter and water. This would have shown me that I had good draft and not cooled down so much. Thanks Rick
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  • Crimsongator
    Crimsongator Posts: 5,797
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    You should clean the ash between about 3 cooks or so. No need to pull everything out, just run a shop van in it and clean out the ash. Every couple of months is OK for the whole thing (fire ring, box and grate).
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  • dayzed&confused
    dayzed&confused Posts: 178
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    I can tell you by experience that small pieces of charcoal will make it hard for your egg to "breathe". My experience was trying to get enough heat to cook steak. As long as I had the lid up the charcoal on top could get hot but as soon as I closed the lid the temp droped. The cure was to unload the egg and put some large pieces of charcoal in first to keep the airways open, then throw out all of the really small stuff. Hope this helps
    San Angelo, texas
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  • BobS
    BobS Posts: 2,485
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    confussed wrote:
    Ok this makes sense. I should have built the temp up to around 350 and added the setter and water. This would have shown me that I had good draft and not cooled down so much. Thanks Rick

    I do not think that you needed the water at all. In any case, I think that everything but the birds should have gone in before you added the birds or you needed at least 30 minutes to stabilize after you put the plate setter in.
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  • NibbleMeThis
    NibbleMeThis Posts: 2,295
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    First and foremost, I'd agree with all. Get the plate setter preheated too. Also, I like to do a full clean out every few cooks, even pulling out all unused lump, putting fresh lump in and topping with the used lump.

    That said, I can be lazy :blush: and getting down to small reused lump can definitely clog the holes of your fire box grate.

    Therefore I came up with my "ash hole cleaner". :ohmy:
    DSCF2069800x600.jpg

    It's simply a metal skewer with the tip bent 90 degrees. After about 15-20 minutes after starting a fire, I peak into the bottom vent (using safety glasses of course) and for any holes I see that are darker than the glowing ones, I give them a poke or two. This pushes the lump back into the fire box and lets the ash fall down.

    It's a simple trick but it seems to work for restoring airflow mid-cook when you already have hot coals and think "Dang....I should have cleaned it out first"

    :)
    Knoxville, TN
    Nibble Me This
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  • Cory430
    Cory430 Posts: 1,073
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    I agree with Bob, you don't need that pan of water.
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  • stike
    stike Posts: 15,597
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    no water. doesn't do anything for you but suck up heat
    ed egli avea del cul fatto trombetta -Dante
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  • Ripnem
    Ripnem Posts: 5,511
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    Wild Game :woohoo: We just finished up some Pheasant ourselves. Keep that Baby clean and try and avoid the little lump. It will then have the ability to get to any reasonable temp in short order. Mine gets to 400 in about 6-8 minutes with the torch lit in 3 places.
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  • Unknown
    Unknown
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    Thanks guys. I think I know where the mistake was made and I really appreciate all of the answers. Rick
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