Lowering temp

shannonlcorum

I don't know what I'm doing wrong, but I see one post after another about how someone cooks at like 170 or even 225. No matter how much I damper my egg, I can't get my temps down to less than 300. I have about 1/4 inch open at the bottom, and just a sliver at the top, and I'm still reading 375. I just boiled water and checked my thermostat so that should be correct. I adjusted it to 212 degrees. Is there something else I'm missing here?

DMW

How hot is your egg getting when you start it? You want to catch it on the way up. Once it hits 200* close the bottom damper 1/2 way. At 225*, close it down to 1/4 open, have the daisy wheel on top at this point very slightly open. With these setting small tweaks should be able to keepmyou where you want for a low n slow.

Doc_Eggerton

Never go more than 100 degrees over the desired target.  Take as much time as it takes to go up and down until you are steady, then leave it there for a good while before you open the dome to place the cook.  I do smokes at 180 for hours.

SGH

Try this. Start  your fire in the middle of the lump. Only light it in on place. Let it burn about 5 minutes and close the lid with vents wide open When temp hits 200 close the vents to where they are barley open. The temp will fall to about 150. Then you can slowly start bringing the temp up to where you want it and lock it in. I know lots of people wont like this but i find it easier to hold real low temps with a water pan. I use a 16x2 pizza pan and it works like a charm.Hope this helps my friend.

Little Steven

shannonlcorum said:

I don't know what I'm doing wrong, but I see one post after another about how someone cooks at like 170 or even 225. No matter how much I damper my egg, I can't get my temps down to less than 300. I have about 1/4 inch open at the bottom, and just a sliver at the top, and I'm still reading 375. I just boiled water and checked my thermostat so that should be correct. I adjusted it to 212 degrees. Is there something else I'm missing here?

1/4" is way too open. This is 200* to 250* for my egg on the low vent

I light the egg and leave the dome open until the lump is burning good. Then adjust the vents to where I know it is supposed to be, put the platesetter in and wait a bit. This is 200 to 250 for me. I fine adjust with the daisy

shannonlcorum

Thanks for all the suggestions. I think my problem is I'm letting it get too hot to begin with. I'll try dampering it down once it gets close to the temp I want, instead of letting it blast up to 600 when I first light the lump. 

buzd504

I've found it's really hard to drop it below 400 once you've really fired it up.  As others have said, it's much easier to hit temp on the way up, because the ceramics really hold heat.

Terrebandit

Is your gasket in good shape? You might have an air leak there.

shannonlcorum

I've only cooked on it about 4 times so I think the gasket is still okay. I imagine my problem is letting it get too hot initially. I hope, anyway. I'll work on that next time and see if it makes a difference.