225 degrees

Unknown

I see all of these folks smoken sholders at 225 degrees.
I cant get my egg to hold anything below 275 degrees.
What am i doing wrong?

jwitheld

john,
too much air, also try to control the temp before you overshoot.
too hot takes awhile to cool off. sneak up on the temp.

wingfoot

john,[p]I'm a rookie egger, but I've had no problem holding at 220. I just start shutting down the vents as the dome temp approaches 200 and let it ease up from there while making minor adjustments. Once it's set, it really doesn't move. [p]Mike

locolongball

john,[p]I'm guessing you are making too many adjustments. I light my egg in the middle of the lump w/ a MAPP torch; then leave all the vents open until I get to about 225, then shut everything down.. My bottom vent is moved to about 1/2 inch and never touched again.. All adjustments made using the daisy wheel. I keep a pretty close eye on it the 1st hour; after that I never seem to have any issues. [p]Anyway, hope this helps.. u might tell us how you have been controlling your temp, this would give some more info to help you...[p]
Happy Egging

Citizen Q

john,
Shut 'er down. Spin that daisy wheel closed, enough air will still circulate to keep a few embers glowing, which is all you really need.[p]Cheers,
C~Q

Unknown

wingfoot,[p]Wait a second here. I just been using the egg since the Waldorf fest and I have had a problem with low temps too. Prior to buying the egg I used the WSM where I would get a nice ash over all the coals then shut down the bottom vents and always leave the top vent open. The major thing here is to get all the coals burning, to burn until the white smoke stops. [p]But now you are saying to lite the fire, close the lid and let the fire to slowly climb up to 220-250. Are you then putting the meat on the fire? I assume many of the coals are still black.[p]I haven't done anything yet that required a long, slow cook but thought I would keep the bottom vent partially open and the top all the way open to allow the heat to escape out to keep the dome temp at 250. Is this wrong for the Egg? Is it really a combination of the top and bottom vents?[p]I'm confused[p]Howard

chuckls

Howard,[p]I get a nice long stable cook at 220 dome temp by filling the egg (I have a large) with clean fresh lump (not charcoal), say 1/2 the way up the fire ring. I make sure that I will get a good draft by scooping out all the used lump and saving it for a high temp cook.[p]I light a spot or two in the lump with my Mapp gas torch (see the link for tips on lighting your lump with Mapp gas). In the egg, you don't get the whole bed of coals burning unless you want to do a high temp sear (called "nuclear temp" by eggers).[p]Once a spot or two of the lump is well lit, I close the bottom vent to about 1/4 inch. I also close the top daisy wheel so it's open only a half inch or so. I then let the fire balance itself as it reaches 280 to 300 degrees. This will take 5 to 10 minutes, depending upon outside temp, wind, humidity, etc.[p]Many times when I am cooking at these low temps, I am cooking indirect. I find that, even if the dome temp is approaching 300, when I put the plate setter in for the indirect cook the dome temp in the egg drops to 240 degrees right away. It is important at this point to close the bottom vent to about the width of a credit card. Or less. Seriously! I also close the daisy wheel on top to about 1/4 inch max.[p]This is the time to put your meat in. I always lift up the corner of the plate setter and throw a couple of chunks of smoking wood at the same time. [p]The secret of the egg is that it will stabilize and burn for a long time with the bottom vent barely cracked, and the top nearly closed. Closed up tight (well not literally "tight") like this, there isn't a big draft fanning the flames and carrying off the moisture you want to keep during your long slow cook.[p]With a little practice, you'll find you will achieve stable low temperature cooks that can easily last 18 hours or more. While learning this technique, it is important not to "chase" the fire, by opening the vents alot, closing them alot and so on. Easy does it.[p]To summarize:
1. Use plenty of fresh lump in a clean egg
2. light the fire in just one or two spots
3. Don't let the fire get too hot before you damper it down
4. keep your top and bottom vents mostly closed
5. Use a plate setter (if you don't have one, buy one!)
6. Don't chase the fire[p]Happy eggin'[p]Chuck
[ul][li]Lighting your lump with Mapp gas (and how to build a fire)[/ul]

Citizen Q

Howard,
You are confusing briquettes with lump. With lump there are only two colors, black charcoal and glowing red embers. You do not have to wait for lump to ash over, if you do, it'll be 24 hours later and you won't have enough lump left to cook on.[p]While with briquettes, once the coals ash over, you've got aboot 20 minutes to cook all your food, or add more briquettes. That's something that always confused me, why is it that you have to wait for the coals to ash over before you cook, but then it's okay to add black coals to the fire while food is on? Or is it okay? Do you have to take the food off for the 20 minutes that it takes black coals to ash over when doing a low and slow with Kingsford?[p]That's gonna keep me up all night.[p]Cheers,
C~Q

Sundown

chuckls,
Your link was very well put together. I lifted the info with attribution in one place. Over the years I've collected a few of the better explainations of techniques that have been posted to e-mail to people when they are having problems. Presently I'm going into my second full season with my MAPP torch. All last summer and a good portion of the winter and still burning hot. Do they ever run out?

Fire in the Hole

As you can see from the responses, there are many ways to get the fire going in the egg for a low-n-slo cook. Not a one of them is wrong. I think one of the key things to remember is that it is important to catch the temperature below your target and build up to it. If you miss, it is still possible to bring the temp down, but it just takes a little longer because the ceramic mass holds the heat so well.[p]My set up for a low-n-slo goes something like this:[p]First, I completely clean out the egg. I then fill my large egg with fresh lump all the way to the bottom of the fire ring and insert my electric starter and plug it in to power. At this point the damper and the egg dome are fully open. Within a few minutes, I am getting a fairly good stream of smoke from the area of the electric starter.[p]I now remove the starter and fill the egg with mesquite chunks that have been soaked in water. I fill the egg with the chunks all the way to the top of the fire ring. Next, I set my plate setter directly on top of the fire ring, feet up, and place a 9x13 cake pan filled with water on the plate setter.[p]On top of the plate setter legs I place my cooking grid. If I am cooking ribs or more than one butt I am ready to go. Otherwise, I place my v-rack for a single butt on top of the cooking grid. Next I mount my Maverick ET-73 cooking chamber probe to a spot on the cooking grid in a place that is out of the way of direct heat from below and drippings from the meat above. By now, the wood chunks are beginning to let off some good smoke.[p]Now, some will prefer to get the temperature completely stabilized before moving forward, but I go ahead and load the meat into the egg at this point with the Maverick ET-73 food probe inserted and close the dome for the duration. Don't forget to route your temp probe wires in a manner to avoid the direct heat from below. Wrapping the wires in foil seems to be a popular choice, as well.[p]To me, this is the point where the smoke is at it most intense and I don't want to miss a moment of it. We are only a few short minutes from hitting the target temp anyway and I am one of those that don't like to open the egg once the cook begins.[p]With the egg fully loaded, the smoke starting to pour out of the open top and the temp beginning to rise, I watch the dome temp gauge and the Maverick and as the temps hit 200 degrees I put the daisy top on and close the damper to about the same size as the width of a close hanger wire. On my egg, I find that with the daisy wheel set with the large cover piece fully closed and the daisy wheel openings full open, the temp of the egg will hit about 300 degrees or so if the damper door is wide open. For a 225-250 degree cook, I set the damper door closed to the width of a clothes hanger wire and the daisy wheel set with the main piece fully closed and the daisy wheel piece 3/4 to fully open. Small adjustments can be made to any and all of the openings as you fine tune your temperature. I find that for the most part, the egg will hold any temperature you get it stabilized at for extremely long periods of time. A few minor adjustments here and there are usually all I ever have to do.[p]A bit long I know. But maybe this will help.[p]Good Egging!!

Groundfish

john,[p]Basically it is your air flow. I have found that my damper settings change dramatically between brands of lump. I start adjusting the dampers closed before the fire gets over 350. For low temps the daisy wheel is always closed and the inner wheel is anywhere from hardly open to open. The bottom damper may be from credit card thick open to all of the way. My fires always go out if I close the dampers no matter what lump I use. If my fire wants to sit anywhere between 210 and 240 I leave it alone. I have killed several fires trying to get it exact. Keep at it, you will get it.

Unknown

john,
Consider a guru, it'll hold your set temp for you effortlessly. Especially if you are doing shoulders, you have to sleep at some point.

chuckls

Sundown,[p]Thanks for the nice words. I'm on my second MAPP cylinder, one month away from my two year anniversary. Oh, and the first cylinder was half-used when I started![p]Chuck

katman

john,
check to make sure the seal is tight when the lid is closed. You might have a little gap letting air in. With a full load of lump I can keep a temp of 200 or even lower. If I close top and bottom vents completely the fire will go out quickly. If you can't do this you are getting air in.

Unknown

katman,[p]hmm. hmm. Nothing like a tight seal.[p]EJ

katman

Eskimo Joe,
A good greek always keeps his hip boots handy!

Adrian B.

john, are you talking about dome temp that you are reading from the external temp guage on your egg dome? If so, it reads higher than grid temp. I can keep my large egg at 225 grid temp all night with the BBQ Guru, but the dome temp will still read anywhere between 250 and 275.

Wise One

Citizen Q, briquettes have a layer o flime covered by a bit of pyrotechnic material. When all the pyrotechnic material has burned off you will see it "white over". And no, you should not put new briquettes on once you have your "white bed". You are just adding a bit of that pyrotechnic taste to the meat. As you implied, you can do some good cooking with briquettes but your cook time is quite limited. It also goes to explain why meat smoked on my BGE is so much better than when I smoked it on my little Brinkman (I was adding new briquettes four or five times during the cook.)

Unknown

john,[p]Since this post is so far down I'm not sure if the responders will see this but I certainly appreciate the detailed explanations. I will try a slow cook soon, I certianly feel more comforatble with it now. [p]Howard

Adrian B.

Howard, glad everyone could help out!

Smoked Signals

Howard,
I am confident that armed with your new information you will have great success.[p]Good luck and good eggin'