Egg Temp Plummet Overnight

rmacarth

Hey all,

Tried my 2nd butt again last night (went on @ 7:30), but yet again I've run into the same issue so I hope you can help. 

1. I can't seem to get the temp below 250* no matter how hard i try. I had the top and bottom vents almost closed and still, 250* 

2. I went ahead and opened both a little more (top @ 20% and bottom at about 3/4 inch). Temp was fine when I went to bed at midnight, but I woke up this AM and the temp was down to 0*. This happened my first time too. 

Any ideas of what I'm doing wrong??

Thanks for your help!!!!

Foghorn

This is probably an airflow issue.  As the coals burn, they fall down and clog up the charcoal grate, eventually choking off airflow.  There are a variety of ways to prevent this.  They include:

Buy a temp controller with a fan and an alarm.

Get a different charcoal grate with bigger airspaces (Hi-Q).

Hand stack your lump with largest pieces on the bottom and throw out anything that is too small.

Or do what I do.  I have an XL. I dump the charcoal and fill nearly to my platesetter. Then I clear a place in the front to make sure at least one hole in the charcoal grate is completely unobstructed. As long as I do that I have never had a problem with an overnight cook (have done 20 hours and then cranked it up for burgers and still had charcoal left over). With this method I can also get to temps of 700 for pizza with the platesetter and a XL pizza stone in place. This is easy and foolproof. 

theyolksonyou

Assuming you didn't run out of lump. Airflow for sure. Below 250 is not easy to maintain overnight without a controller IMHO. I'd run it around 270. No harm on the cook, less maintenance and you get to eat sooner.

rmacarth

Thanks y'all! This is very helpful!

RedSkip

I find that 265F on the grate runs the dome around 300-310F. If you are shooing for 250F or less @ the grate , know that the dome temp is going to be higher.

Additionally, I find higher temps are easier to maintain and decrease cooking times with very minimal effects on quality. As many folks have stated, +\- 25F temp swings are nothing to fret about.

cottonseed

All this.

Its hard to run a naturally aspirated sub 250 temp on the egg.