Small steaks and daisey wheel question

Humptywaspushed

New Egger here,  I've done 4 650 runs at Steak, using NY Strips that are about 3/4 in thick.  Each time they are slightly beyond medium- med well range.  I started out at 3 mins a side with a four and a half minute dwell. and I'm down to 2:15 per side and and 3 1/2 dwell followed by a 5 min rest. Still slightly more done then I would like.  Good flavor, just a little over cooked.  Not sure what the answer is yet, less cook time per side, less dwell time or less rest time.  Any suggestions?

 

Daisey wheel question.  Man, I get the temp right, holding right where I want it, open the grill to put the meat on, and bang, there goes the daisy wheel, sliding to a new position.  What am I missing here?  The screws on top don't seem to want to adjust, and I dont want to force them (yet).  There has got to a better way.

Dan in StL

I remember having that problem too, but it was self-correcting.  After a few more cooks, enough gunk will build up on the daisy wheel so gravity alone won't move it.  That being said, try experimenting with the orientation of the daisy wheel.  As I recall it works best when the lid slides to the right.

Boileregger

Make sure you set the DW so it is centered with the thermometer, this way gravity won't be working against you. To do this, line up the two screws directly with the thermometer, and make sure that the outside one is facing the front. This should help a lot.

lousubcap

The below link will give you options on the steak ??, address how to position the DFMT (with pics) and probably the best intro site for ceramic cooking out there-bookmark it.

http://www.nakedwhiz.com/ceramic.htm 

njl

With the egg cold, play around with the daisy wheel.  You'll find that by rotating the entire daisy wheel top such that a line through the two screws points straight back, gravity will keep the daisy wheel exactly where you set it when you open the dome.

BYS1981

For a 650 cook I would try cooking with no DW. I do no DW for 450 or higher; just use the bottom damper to control temperature.

Smokin Professor

Ditto to what the other have mentioned about rotating the daisy wheel to a sweet spot where it stays in the same position. Another option is to lift off the daisy wheel when you want to open the egg and put it back on after you close it.

stike

the steaks are too thin for adding a dwell onto the sear.  a lot of the methods for cooking steaks here assume thick enough steaks that require a sear 9for the sear's sake) and another roasting period (the dwell) in order to raise the internal temp without over-searing.

if you are an incj or less, just sear.  and try warming the steak before hand (on the counter, in a ziploc resting in hot water, etc.) so that the sear will be enough to finish cooking

The Cen-Tex Smoker

Also sounds like you need a therma pen. Don't worry about the time until you know what that means for temp. If you are a time guy, make notes of the internal temps (taken With your new flame thermapen from BOWHUNR's thread from yesterday) when you check your times. Time means nothing. Only temp.

stike

yep.  listen to C~T.  too many variables to be able to time a steak.  how thick? how cold when it goes on? etc.

i think, too, we've been trained by advertising images to assume w all need our own steak on our own plate.  buy them thicker and split one with your wife (or whomever), rather than thin them down and risk overcooking