Temperature Control

bhugg

So, this is only my second time to fire-up my Egg, and I am trying to control the temp.  I am not trying to re-invent the wheel, so what do I need to know.  I lit the coals, and once they were going, I shut the lid.  At this point, the temp sky rocketed to around 450.  I then shut down all vents, and I have not been able to get a temp below 350.  Any pointers are greater appreciated and needed.  I have been asked to smoke the Thanksgiving turkey, and if I cannot control the temp, might as well decline the challenge.

Shiff

It takes a long time to cool off the egg, so you need to close the vents up as the temperature rises. If it gets too far above your target temperature, you'll have to wait for it to cool down.  Here is some info on controlling the temperature:

http://www.greeneggers.com/index.php?option=com_simpleboard&func=view&id=746823&catid=1

Ham and Egg

Don't decline, whatever you do.  You've already found that the BGE heats up quickly, so stick around until it hits your target temperature and close off the airflow to stabilize the temps.

I've found airflow is the key.  When I'm cooking brisket, I usually wait until it hits around 200F, then shut the vents (top and bottom) until they're open only a sliver...and it sticks at 200 all day long.  The more oxygen moving through the egg - the hotter it gets.

Once the egg is up in high temps, it is hard to bring it back down without just extinguishing it and starting over.  Which, if you have time, is a perfectly good solution as well.

Good luck!  Experiment - cook yourself a turkey!  :-)

FxLynch

If you are going for lower temps, don't light a whole lot of coals on fire.  If I am smoking at 250, I only use one small lighter block.  Then as soon as a few coals are lit I close the lid with the bottom vent open and top vent off.  I let the temp start rising and put the top vent on at 200, start closing it and the bottom till the temp levels off at 250.  I never let it get super hot if I am using low cooking temps. 

Good luck, it takes a little while to figure it out. It took me a couple times to get the temp control figured out, and thats after using a weber grill for 16yrs. Until you are pretty comfortable, I would stay right with the grill while stabilizing the temperature. 

bhugg

When you first light your coals, when do you shut the lid and focus on the temp?

FxLynch

Thats the part that requires some trial and error.  If you are going a low temp cook, I'd say within 5 minutes of lighting I have the top closed.  You really only need a couple of them going to get started.  Then it will very slowly heat up.  

If I am cooking at 700 degrees, let it burn for a while open then when I close the lid the temps shoot up super fast.

bhugg

I think that is where I made my mistake.  I will try again tomorrow.  

ribmaster

It is better to have bottom closed and top at a sliver. I shut it down at 200. 1//4 inch on bottom and sliver at top.

If it gets too hot I close the bottom.

paulheels

Keep playing with it, and you will get the hang of controlling the temp.  I suggest cooking cheaper meats at first.  One tip I will give, never close the  top, Daisy Wheel, completely.  This is for low and slow.  If you are cooking steaks or burgers and are searing, you will close the wheel.  But that is just for a short time.  During long cooks, the particulates need to escape.  

Paul

BakerMan

As a new Egg owner I 'll share what I have learned in the past few weeks with my Large Egg. The following is what I have observed as far as temperature control and has worked for me cooking wings, tenderloins, beer can chickens and pizzas.

The trick is to be consistent each time you build a fire and cook so you are not trying to control what "appears" to be random events.

 

Temperature Control

There are three factors that control how much heat your Egg produces and your ability to control it.

• The amount of charcoal you light initially and total amount of charcoal in the grill.

• The amount of intake air from the lower vent
• The amount of air that can exit the upper vent

 

For the purpose of my discussion I classify heat into three ranges

• Low - 200-300

• Medium - 300-500

• High - > 600

 

Charcoal Lighting

The more charcoal that lights initially the hotter your fire will be. If you light the fire and leave the the lid up until most/all the charcoal lights you will have a tremendous amount of heat that will be hard to regulate. Closing the grill at this point and trying to lower the temp to cook at low/medium will be tricky because so much charcoal is burning and producing heat. On the other hand, if you light the fire, wait until an amount of charcoal that will fit in your hand is lit and then close the top it will be easier to adjust the vents for low/medium cooking and maintain a constant temperature.

 

Air Flow (upper/Lower)

With the combination of lower and upper vents you can limit air flow to the point the coals go out or open the vents and get the grill going like a blacksmith's forge and every range in between. The trick is to not let the grill heat run away but instead plan ahead for the type of heat and duration you want. Also limit the number of variables each time you cook.

 

Preparation

Before lighting a fire I always stir the remaining charcoal in the firebox and knock all the ashes into the the lower reservoir. I also make sure all the vent holes are clear. Performing this step will insure consistent, predictable air flow each time you build a fire. Once the ash and air holes are clean I fill up the firebox with charcoal. I like to start with the same amount of charcoal (combination of new/used) each time I light the grill. Now you are ready to light the charcoal.

I have found that using the guidelines below I can set a desired temp and maintain it for severals hours.

 

Low Heat

Light the charcoal and leave the top up until you have several pieces of charcoal lit that is about the size of your palm.

Lower Vent - Open about 1/2 inch

Multi-function Top - Slide top closed and open rotating vent so holes are unobstructed.

Stay with grill and close lower vent as you approach tour desired low temp. You can fine tune with rotating vent.

 

Medium Heat

Light the charcoal and leave the top up until you have several pieces of charcoal lit that is about the size of your palm.

Lower Vent - Open about 1/2 to 1 inch

Multi-function Top - Slide top halfway open and close rotating vent so holes are closed.

Stay with grill and close lower vent as you approach tour desired low temp. You can fine tune by sliding the top open/closed.

 

High Heat

Light the charcoal and leave the top up until you have approximately 1/2 the charcoal lit.

Lower Vent - Open about 1 inch to start

Multi-function Top - Remove and set aside

 

Stay with grill until temperature is stabilized. If you walk away before temps are stabilized the grill can easily hit 1000 degrees and "freak you out" as the gasket catches fire (been there, done that) Use lower vent to regulate temperature.

Keep in mind these are guidelines. By insuring ash/ air vents are clear and using the same amount of charcoal each time you cook you have removed two potential areas that can cause inconsistent results. After you try this a few times you will start to get a feel for how the grill reacts and you will feel comfortable controlling the temps.

 

Temperature Probe

A wireless temperature probe is a must have. Once you get the hang of regulating your grill temp the wireless thermometer will allow you to relax and monitor the meat without having to constantly open grill (lose heat/smoke) to check the temperature. A lot of people on the forum like the Maverick ET 732 (see below). I already own the Oregon Scientific and it works great.

 

Maverick ET732

 

Oregon Scientific

 

Hope this helps,

stike

The daisy is a dimmer switch. Too hot? Shut it a bit. Too cold? Open it.

No idea why some wanna make it difficult.

Eggscriber

Sometimes when I light my BGE, I partially close the vents before I walk away.  This way I dont have it "wide open" and if I get distracted doing prep or having a few beers, I dont return to a red hot kiln ;-)

Little Steven

"a few beers". So unlike you. )

LPofFive

Just into my second smoke on my BGE and learned quickly how fast it can heat up and how long it takes to bring temps back down if you don't stay close by.  Great pointers BakerMan - very helpful - thanks.

bdad

Thank you stike

Mattman3969

If you are using starter cubes don't shut the dome until they are burned out. They put off a high amount of heat and cause false temp readings.
Low heat smoke - full load of lump, light 2 cubes & 9 & 3 o'clock, walk away and have a beer. Once flames are gone and you have glowing embers shut the dome When you get within 50-75* of target temps start closing your vents. For a 250/275* smoke my bottom vent is open about the thickness of a quarter and top vent pedals are barely open.
If this is only your second cook I would recommend that you play around with temps. Just fire up the egg(no intention of cooking) and aim for 250* and let it settle in for an hr or so then open vents a bit and aim for 350* and so on intervals of 100*. Each time let the egg settle in Make mental notes if where your vent are during each stage. This helped me the most. I am in the process of learning this on my small which is way different than my large.

twlangan

As several others have already noted, air flow and the control of it is key. Low temp cooks (200-300), I often have my lower vent open only a sliver once the coals get burning. My opinion is to use the bottom vent as your main control rather than try to control with the daisy wheel. Others find the top works better. You just need to find what works best for you. Keep trying - I got frustrated a couple of times early on after coming to Eggland from a gasser. It is easy to over think temp control at first. After a few cooks, you will just seem to "know" what is going to work for whatever temp you are going for.

Also, I have found that the weather - both in the days leading up to a cook and the day of the cook - will change how you set your vents. I have found that having a lot of rain or humid weather leading up to a cook seems to add moisture to my Egg. It seems to take more air to get/maintain a given temp under these conditions. We have been hot and dry here for the past couple of months and I'm finding myself having to keep my vents closed down more to keep temps under control. I am also having a lot less issue with mold in the Egg when going several days between cooks lately due to lack of moisture.

Stew21

Keep at it, I was asking the same question recently and had a lot of good info from the eggers on the forum that helped me out. I have found that if using fire starter blocks you need to use two at 3 & 9 o'clock (as suggested above) every time and need to wait for the flames to go out before closing the lid. I also seem to have better luck controlling the temp by either opening the DW fully or taking it off and then using the bottom vent to control the temp, especially with the plate setter in. Someone else also pointed out that the screen on the bottom vent will effect your air flow, found that to be very true.

edieeason

I, too am a new BGE user and have one question I can't seem to find the answer to.  I have had great success cooking  foods that don't need long smoking/cooking times. However, on two occasions when trying to cook a brisket, after starting the coals, waiting for the white smoke to die out, and closing the lid right before it reaches around 200 degrees when I have the vent open about an inch and the daisy wheel open enough to keep the temperature around 225 degrees, my coals die out and the temperature plummets.  The second time I tried I waited and when I saw the temp drop, I opened the vent just a tad.  I could not get it to stabilize and it ended up dying out again (I had to go to bed and hoped that it would continue to cook).      How do I maintain low temps without the coals dying out? 

SoCalTim

bhugg said:

I think that is where I made my mistake.  I will try again tomorrow.  

Hey brother, I've been where your at. fact is we've all been there. I can remember my first 4-5 cooks going thru what your going thru. I almost said 'screw it' and threw in the towel.

I can proudly say, a year has passed ... I now have tons of cooks under my belt and thou no expert I have them temp control issue under control.

I control the temp ... it no longer controls me.

Best of luck, you'll get there. 

Tim

SoCalTim

edieeason said:

I, too am a new BGE user and have one question I can't seem to find the answer to.  I have had great success cooking  foods that don't need long smoking/cooking times. However, on two occasions when trying to cook a brisket, after starting the coals, waiting for the white smoke to die out, and closing the lid right before it reaches around 200 degrees when I have the vent open about an inch and the daisy wheel open enough to keep the temperature around 225 degrees, my coals die out and the temperature plummets.  The second time I tried I waited and when I saw the temp drop, I opened the vent just a tad.  I could not get it to stabilize and it ended up dying out again (I had to go to bed and hoped that it would continue to cook).      How do I maintain low temps without the coals dying out? 

225 is hard to hold not using a temp control device. Bump the temp to 250 and look what happens. I think you'll be very surprised and happy.

rayofsmoke

I asked the very same question last Friday on my first post on this forum and got a lot of the same good advice.

I intended to smoke a pork shoulder Saturday, I thought I had the time, silly me, I should have known  that plans had been made for me, so I went back to the original plan and did ribs using the tricks I got here to control temps.

I put on fire starter cube on a lump pile that I knew was enough to last the 5 hours and then some required, once that side of the pile was lit fairly well I closed the lid and when the temp reaced about 205 I started to shut the vents down.

It did get above my 225/230 target, but I was able to halt and lower it a lot easier than the full blown fire I was struggling with in the past, once in the sweet spot it stayed perfect, my I-Phone I-Grill app has a running temp graph and the line stayed straight as an arrow between opening the grill to warp and unwrap the ribs.

A lot less stressful, thanks all for the advice.  

Bojangles

when I first started on my BGE, the most important lesson that I learned (the hard way) was:

It's very easy to quickly raise the temp on your egg, it's damn near impossible to quickly lower it.

I mostly do low n' slow, I like to start a small fire and creep up to temp, that way I don't overshoot.

jhl192

It helps to know what your two vents look like at your target stabilized temp. This way, when it gets close to your target temp, you can shut them down to where they will need to be and then walk away for a while. When you come back your fire should be stabile close to where you want it. Even if you come back two hours later they should be close to your target temp!

Ragtop99

SoCalTim said:

edieeason said:

I, too am a new BGE user and have one question I can't seem to find the answer to.  I have had great success cooking  foods that don't need long smoking/cooking times. However, on two occasions when trying to cook a brisket, after starting the coals, waiting for the white smoke to die out, and closing the lid right before it reaches around 200 degrees when I have the vent open about an inch and the daisy wheel open enough to keep the temperature around 225 degrees, my coals die out and the temperature plummets.  The second time I tried I waited and when I saw the temp drop, I opened the vent just a tad.  I could not get it to stabilize and it ended up dying out again (I had to go to bed and hoped that it would continue to cook).      How do I maintain low temps without the coals dying out? 

225 is hard to hold not using a temp control device. Bump the temp to 250 and look what happens. I think you'll be very surprised and happy.

Yup.  225 is tough to get.  Don't sweat it either.  The Egg is very forgiving.  I haven't seen anything that cooks at 225* that doesn't also cook great at 250*.  

DieselkW

I have to agree with the 225 vs 250 crowd. I had a fire go out and had to remove everything, keep the bugs off, and start over. Dinner was an hour late... that's an extra hour with in-laws I will never get back. ;-)

I find it helpful to ensure the entire lower box is vacuum clean (use a shop vac, or your wife will not be happy). I always start with a clean egg, and fill to the same level even if all I'm cooking is a burger. 

Consistency is the key. If you smoke both on Monday and Tuesday and don't have the same coal level and cleanliness conditions, how can you expect the same results? It's truly about air flow, so the air flow path must be the same day to day to get the same vent position equal to the same temperature. Same with fuel load - if you light half as much coal you will get a different temperature. I know my long (12 hour) smokes end up at a lower temp than when I started. My guess is ash buildup and lower fuel level results in a temperature change. 

My pinky finger is exactly the correct width for 300 on the bottom vent. The top vent is a bit more forgiving - I find the daisy mostly closed with that same pinky opening a half moon to maintain 300f.

More or less than 300 is then a simple matter of tiny adjustments. I needed 425f for a Poppa Murphy's pizza and got it dead nuts on 425 by luck increasing both vents to "thumb". I suppose a small metal pocket ruler would be a good thing to keep in the drawer with my matches. 

If I had a recipe that needed 225f for an hour per pound, I would cook at 250 for an hour per pound and not worry about it. I think it's around 100f when meat stops taking on smoke anyway. The rest of the time needed to cook can be done with heat and foil without smoke. 

Ragtop99

DieselkW said:

I

My pinky finger is exactly the correct width for 300 on the bottom vent. The top vent is a bit more forgiving - I find the daisy mostly closed with that same pinky opening a half moon to maintain 300f.

More or less than 300 is then a simple matter of tiny adjustments. I needed 425f for a Poppa Murphy's pizza and got it dead nuts on 425 by luck increasing both vents to "thumb". I suppose a small metal pocket ruler would be a good thing to keep in the drawer with my matches. 

I use a similar measuring system.  
I thought about adding some notches to the draft door frame every1/8" to make it easier to tweak.

matt121966

I think this is a great thread. I just picked up an XL yesterday for my combination birthday and Christmas present. 

Had my family, inlaws and my Dad for New York Strip steaks. Wanted to keep it simple for my first cook. And man, did I have a fire !!!!! I hand cut my strips from a large vacuum sealed chunk of meat. So there was a big chunk of fat on each piece that should have been trimed away. So once my fire reached 600 I threw my steaks on and a minute late had a roaring fire. I closed the air vent tight to extinguish. But when I opened the egg introducing air back into the mix - it would burst into flames again. Lots of smoke, hard to see, steaks were OK, looking forward to the next attempt.

Too much fat on the steaks ???

Too much lump charcoal ???

I am going to have a ton of phun with this thing. Had about three neighbors come over - 'you got the egg ???' Very jealous.

matt121966

Just how much lump do you put in?

theyolksonyou

Depending on my plans, I'll either fill up the fire bowl for a short cook or way up into then fire ring for a long cook. Regardless, I leave old lump in and relight.

Smoker317

This is just for info only, I have an XL egg.  We bought Walmart pepperoni pizzas to cook this evening.  I did  a basic clean out of the egg.  I shook the fire grate and then did a basic cleaning of the ashes as in I scooped out what was easy.  It was 44 degrees with null wind when I baked the pizzas.

I used my $9.00 electric heat element that I bent in my vice about 45 degrees and lit the last of my BGE lump..

After the lump started, I pulled the electric lighter and prepped the pizzas with extra cheese, etc.

I wasn't gone but a few minutes and the temp.  had the gauge nearly pegged!!  I put the daisy wheel on and opened half way with the bottom vent opened all the way.

I waited until the temp got down to 650 or so and threw the each pie on.  They were awesome. 

The last pic is a reading off the bottom vent with the screen open.

I took the IR thermometer pics with a FLUKE 62 MAX.  I have no idea how accurate it is...