Little short woman crying and pulling out hair...IS THIS A MISTAKE..she asks

Sandi · May 2000

I know ya'll are about *tired* of me. Got the egg day before yesterday, had a table built and all in place yesterday evening. Decided that before I actually *attempt* to cook on it, I needed to fire it up and play a bit, which I did last night. Wadded up newspaper, placed about 30 chunks on it, left the bottom thingie open and the daisey WHATEVER open...Highest temp I got was MAYBE 220...before it completely fizzled. Decided I didn't have enough paper OR coals...couldn't WAIT to get home from work tonight (EVEN skipped local Happy Hour for this) Used more paper, more coals, and I'll be damned...got up to a WHOLE (Maybe) 140....WHAT AM I DOING WRONG???? I figure, going at this rate, I'll have something cooked on the thing by this time next year. Told the people that hauled my old grill away not to get *too* attached to it!

JJ · May 2000

Sandi,
Relax, all's well. Load up the lump charcoal to the top of the fire box. Open the bottom vent and remove the daisey wheel to get high temps. Leave the dome open until the coals get a good start then you can close the dome. Need more info let me know.

Earl · May 2000

Sandi,[p] Not sure if you have a electric outlet close to the egg but
i have used a electric starter from day one. It gets things
going in just 5mins. Not trying to spend your $$ but it is
a good buy. If not then as JJ stated, remove the top all together with bottom open full. Then tell the new owner of
your old grill, you were kidding.
You'll get the hang of it soon.[p] Earl

mollyshark · May 2000

Sandi,
From one short woman to another...something not sounding right here. First of all, is the hole in the firebox directly lined up with the sliding vent door? Like can you just about stick your hand through the sliding vent door and not hit solid egg immediately. If the holes aren't lined up, you're cutting off all your oxygen. [p]Are the coals actually burning? Are you using lump charcoal and not briquets? How much paper are you using? I always use those little firestarter cubes and they don't make such a mess. I wonder with all the paper if you are filling up the bottom with ash from the paper burning. Stir your coals around and make sure the ash falls through the holes. Then clean out the ash through the vent door. I can't fathom, if all is correct, you can't get a fire going! Let us know.

Gfw · May 2000

Sandi, check out the link... fire starting made easy!

[ul][li]Fire Starting[/ul]

Char-Woody · May 2000

Gfw, dang good archive post, they about covered it. I have heard of the grate not being in place and laying on the bottom of the BGE with the firechamber sitting on it. That surely isn't the case here is it??
Some even missing the grate entirely.
Holler Sandy..we all make mistakes, but the BGE isn't one of em..:-)
Char-Woody

Smokey · May 2000

Sandi,[p]Not to worry. Our good friend TimM has a web site to help you (OK, many of us are a little posessed by the green thing)![p]Anyway, check the link below.

[ul][li]TimM's new users guide[/ul]

Unknown · May 2000

Sandi,
I recently had the same thing happen. We moved not long ago, and I was using the egg for the first time in our new home. After discovering I was out of what I normally use - "Weber Fire Starter cubes", I tried the newspaper thing. Like your attempts it didn't work at all. The lump never actually caught. Keep your chin up, you'll love the egg. I would suggest the cubes or as others have mentioned, the electric starter. Tomorrow night we're going to the Memphis in May BBQ contest. There are 250 teams entered this year! I think a "multi-egg" trailer will be in attendance - can't wait to see it! [p]Best of luck,
Wade

TOROLNSTND · May 2000

Sandi,
Fret not little lady. Newspaper does not work very well in a tight space like the egg, it needs to burn directly underneath fully exposed kindling to light properly. You need an electric starter to get your coals going good or a parrafin based starter such as Pine Mountain brand Firestarter Logs (a 3-4 inch chunk of log works just fine).
Set the starter log on top of the lump and nest it in but leave it some room to breath. Using long wooden matches or a long neck butane lighter set the corners on fire and let it catch. Once it catches close the dome with the chimney open and the lower vent wide open. Flame that sucker up! Let it climb all the way to 750 deg and above, Let the flame shoot right out the chimney! It wont hurt your egg. Once your satisfied that you have a fire going close the bottom vent and place your daisey wheel on top in the closed position. Let the fire die down and KEEP THE DOME LID CLOSED!!! (If you snuff out the fire and then let a large amount of air in at once you WILL BURN YOURSELF!! Ever see Backdraft?) Let it cool down to 200 degrees or so and then open the bottom vent halfway and the daisey wheel the same. Play with the vents for a while and you'll be amazed at how fast and easy it is to regulate the temperatures in your new egg. Congatulations and good luck with your egg.

JimW · May 2000

Sandi,
Once you get a good fire going with either an electric starter or starter cubes (paper alone just simply does not work), don't let the temp get out of hand right away if you're not going to do a high temp sear (steaks, chops, etc). It takes the Egg rather a long time to cool down with all those coals roaring away.
JimW

Tim M · May 2000

Sandi,[p]
I actually got out a hair dryer the other day to get humpty Jr up to grilling temps. The problem was too much charcoal dust from the bottom of the bag (I waiste no carbon)clogging the ceramic grate holes (I just added an expaned metal grate which works mucho better!). There use to be many posts about slow temp rise and low max temps and a common solution was to use a hair dryer to get a little extra oxygen flowing. Never do it with food in the Egg as the ash blows around, but boy does it get the Egg up to temp fast! Might be worth a try sometimes.[p]Tim M

Little short woman crying and pulling out hair...IS THIS A MISTAKE..she asks

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