New to BGE

Eruption

Hello All!  My wife just got me a Large BGE for an early birthday present.  I did my first cook in it last night and I have a question.  Most of my BBQ experience has been with Weber kettles and it is common for them to burn hotter when new.  Is this the same case with the BGE?  I did a beer can chicken indirect last night and got the temp up to 400.  It stayed pretty steady and after it was done and I took the bird off I cloced the bottom vent to 1/8 inch and the top barley cracke just to see if I could get it down to 250. After 30 min I checked on it and it was still at 400.  Any ideas?  Thanks!

cazzy

That is mostly due to the ceramic and how much heat it retains.  I heard a lot when i first got the egg that it's always easy to go up, but much more difficult to bring the temp down.  That's why several eggheads like Reverse Sear, roast then go nuclear as opposed to TREX.

When setting your temp...until you know your egg by the back of your hand, start with settings you know and gradually open them up to inch towards your desired temp.

Good luck and welcome aboard!

RRP

Welcome aboard! The big difference between an egg and a weber is once you get the egg hot the heat is retained by the thick ceramic unlike the thin walled metal weber. That's why we suggest you sneak up on a temperature and try not to go over as it is a bear to get cooled back down in a short period of time.

Little Steven

Eruption said:

Hello All!  My wife just got me a Large BGE for an early birthday present.  I did my first cook in it last night and I have a question.  Most of my BBQ experience has been with Weber kettles and it is common for them to burn hotter when new.  Is this the same case with the BGE?  I did a beer can chicken indirect last night and got the temp up to 400.  It stayed pretty steady and after it was done and I took the bird off I cloced the bottom vent to 1/8 inch and the top barley cracke just to see if I could get it down to 250. After 30 min I checked on it and it was still at 400.  Any ideas?  Thanks!

You are going to think I'm nuts but close it to the width of a credit card and wait. You can put a large piece of meat on at the higher temp and it will come down. As you get some ash buildup and so on your openings will get larger but a ccompletely clean egg doesn't take much air in.

henapple

Welcome to the forum and the egg world.

Eruption

Thanks for all of the replies everyone!  1 more question.  For a low and slow cook, is it ok to put the meat on before all of the charcoal is lit if I have clear smoke?  Or should I wait until it is all lit?  Thanks

cazzy

Eruption said:

Thanks for all of the replies everyone!  1 more question.  For a low and slow cook, is it ok to put the meat on before all of the charcoal is lit if I have clear smoke?  Or should I wait until it is all lit?  Thanks

Once you have clear smoke, you're good.  

henapple

Don't fire up but one spot. Slowly bring it up to temp...you should never light all of it. If I'm shooting for 250..at 250 I'll put the placesetter in and wait till it settles back in.

RAC

Welcome aboard!

lousubcap

Welcome aboard and enjoy the journey-and +1 with @henapple on the low&slow fire.  The BGE is able to run for extended periods of time ( 20+ hours on one load of lump) at low&slow temps due to the fact that it is an air-flow driven machine.  You control the air-flow and limit the amount of lump that is burning at any one time.  And "when the smoke smells good, it is "good".