Keeping the Temp at 250?

THEBuckeye

I am a new egghead but have several cooks under my belt. I did my second beer can chicken yesterday - turned out great by the way.  I monitored the temp as to not get above 250-275 at the start but no matter what I did, short of shutting it down, the temp leveled off at 300. Charcoal was slightly below the line, I had two medium size apple chunks for smoke.  Any suggestions?

TexanOfTheNorth

Below which line? How wide did you have the bottom vent open? Were you cooking direct or indirect?

FWIW, you may want to try spatchcock next time. I have done another beer can chicken since I started spatching mine. Cook them at 350-400* raised direct; you don't even have to flip them although some do to crisp up the skin a bit more.

THEBuckeye

The grate/charcoal line. As the temp increased I went from an inch or two open  to a 1/4-1/2 inch on the bottom and open to a fraction open on the daisy wheel. It was indirect with a drip pan with water. 

Was it the water?

I've done a couple spatchcocks. Love it. I go direct at 350-400 for appro 50 minutes. I thought I'd make more of an event on a Sunday afternoon with the Beer Can. 

TexanOfTheNorth

The water pan could certainly have contributed to your problem. Also you may just need a little practice catching and controlling your temp. For 250-275* you really shouldn't need the bottom vent open more than about a 1/4 inch or so. Start adjusting when you're within 25-30* of your target. Once you overshoot your temp it can take a long time to get back down. Finally, when I'm trying to cook in the 250-275* range, I'll typically only light my lump in one place (usually the middle for me). Seems to be easier to keep the temp down that way as opposed to lighting in several spots.

Hope some of this helps.

ShadowNick

To maintain 250 on mine, i usually only have the bottom vent open the thickness of a credit card and the daisy wheel open just sliver.  It'll hold 250 rock solid for hours with that.  Sounds like your vent was just open too much.

hondabbq

I have personally found that the wind speeds will vary the opening of the top and bottom vents. If its is calm the vents need to be opened up more, but the opposite if there is any volume of wind from a breeze to windy. I would tend to assume the guys that say they leave the top and bottom open the same for every time they cook are in an enclosed environment or well sheltered.

JRWhitee

The new eggs tend to burn hotter, like Shadownick said try just a credit card width. +1 on spatchcock I used to do beercans but not anymore. Oh yeah, ditch the water pan not needed and it effects the temperatures.

saluki2007

Agree with everything above.  You really shouldn't ever need a water pan when cooking in the BGE.  It took me a while to convince myself it wasn't needed.  It can really mess with your temperatures.  As the liquid in your pan evaporates, then the temperatures will steadily creep up until there is no more liquid left.  Can end up being anywhere from a 50-100 degree difference start to finish.

THEBuckeye

Thanks. Good tips one and all. 

henapple

If you don't spatchcock your chicken you'll lose forum privileges.

JRWhitee

I almost forgot, Go Bucks!

buzd504

hondabbq said:

I have personally found that the wind speeds will vary the opening of the top and bottom vents. If its is calm the vents need to be opened up more, but the opposite if there is any volume of wind from a breeze to windy. I would tend to assume the guys that say they leave the top and bottom open the same for every time they cook are in an enclosed environment or well sheltered.

The amount of ash in the bottom will affect airflow as well.  My settings change quite a bit if I haven't cleaned my Egg out in a while.