My first overnight cook

Markzzz

Hi everyone, First time posting here after much lurking and a few months worth of acclimating to my medium egg. I did my first overnight cook last night and it definitely was not the smoothest! I guess you have to start somewhere though.....Anyway, I purchased an 8 pound bone-in pork shoulder and brined it in a bourbon brine recipe I found on the Internet for 24 hours. Prior to going in the Egg at 250 degrees with lump and hickory chunks, I rubbed it down with some mustard and Bad Byron's Butt Rub. Here is the problem that I ran into: I didn't put nearly enough lump into the Egg. This caused me to have to refill at 5:30 in the morning and again around noon the next day! (I filled the Egg each time to the top of the fire ring). Refueling twice extended my smoking time an extra 3-4 hours....I guess I'm gonna really have to pack the lump in as high as possible next time. It also doesn't help that I live in Michigan and it was 30 degrees overnight! The pork ended up tasting great even though I lost a few hours of sleep.

Markzzz

I used big green egg lump. The knife is a shun classic

lousubcap

You can fill til the platesetter is about sitting on the lump load and should be able to run long enough to complete the cook, figuring 2 hrs/#, in one shot.  If you refilled at 5:30 AM and then again at noon something doesn't add up... But all's well that end's well.

Markzzz

Yeah I couldn't believe I was requiring so much lump. In order to maintain 250 at the grid, I was continually opening my vent more and more until it eventually was completely open. Shortly after my vent was completely open, my grid temp would fall and my coals were cashed. Anyone here live in cold areas and run into these problems on long smokes?

CeramicChef

What was the total time you spent with meat on the grate? A full load of lump has always been more than enough for an 8# butt. You've got something else going on here. What is strange is that you had to keep adjusting your vent during your cook. Frankly, 30*F is not that cold; I've cooked in much colder and never had any of the problems you've encountered. Do you have a tight seal on your gasket? Are the bands securely tightened? Is everything aligned correctly? This is quite puzzling. Two + loads of lump ought to have cooked much, much more than an 8# butt!

Markzzz

I had the meat on the grate for roughly 15 hours. I would imagine 3 hours were somewhat wasted after reloading due to my grate temps falling and having to get back up to 250. I don't have any smoke leaking from my gasket and I haven't fried it either. I haven't re-tightened any bolts since I bought it and I have been meaning to. What do you guys do with your Daisy Wheel on long cooks? Roughly holes halfway closed and only adjustments for temp via bottom vent? That is typically what I have been doing. Thanks for your input. Hopefully I don't have this same problem again...

texasrob1051

I had a similar issue but had blamed issue on re using some leftover coals from two previous cooks. Was able to get my dome back up, didn't have to build fire