I am not good at keeping the lid down LOL

BigGreenVOL

I always want to check how everything is going and open the egg up. Kills my temperature and is probably going to ruin a cook soon if I keep it up. 

How long till this habit goes away? Only had my egg for 6 days so far

SmokeyPitt

Take off the daisy wheel and peek down through the top

THEBuckeye

The adage goes " if you're looking, it ain't cooking"

There are some cooks where it's prudent to look. Pizza, for example.

On the other hand, for low and slows, all you need to check is your temp.

WIth more eggsperience, you will learn to trust the Egg holding temps and not have to check for hours at a time.

In other words STOP IT!  

Zmokin

Need something to watch, Get a Maverick dual probe, then you can look at the remote in your house, watching the egg temp and the meat temp all you want without opening the egg.  Your food will thank you.

DoubleEgger

Settle down Beavis. You're making life difficult for yourself. Leave it closed. 

BigGreenVOL

DoubleEgger said:

Settle down Beavis. You're making life difficult for yourself. Leave it closed. 

Lol

DoubleEgger

Let me put this in Tennessee speak for you. 

YEMTrey

Start two fisting beers while you cook.  That'll solve the problem!

jabam

Perfect time to mow lawn....make one pass, have a beer, another pass another beer and so on and so on. But you have to turn off mower after 6th pass and beer or you will cut off your toe!!

Carolina Q

Will never understand the lookin' vs cookin' adage. It's not even true! When the dome is open, there's plenty of heat hitting the food. Of course you're cooking! Unless you stand there with the dome open for 15, 20 minutes at a time, how much difference can the occasional peek possibly make? Especially with a cooker like the egg with its temp holding capability.

That said, when I put a butt on at 11 PM (with my DigiQ), I don't even go outside again until 10 AM or later.

I had forgotten that Peyton was #16 at UT.

THEBuckeye

I wonder what SHMBO would say?

theyolksonyou

Dude, chill, have a beer or something stronger. 

Foghorn

Carolina Q said:

Will never understand the lookin' vs cookin' adage. It's not even true! When the dome is open, there's plenty of heat hitting the food. Of course you're cooking! Unless you stand there with the dome open for 15, 20 minutes at a time, how much difference can the occasional peek possibly make? Especially with a cooker like the egg with its temp holding capability.

That said, when I put a butt on at 11 PM (with my DigiQ), I don't even go outside again until 10 AM or later.

I had forgotten that Peyton was #16 at UT.

You're right that it doesn't mean as much on the egg.  It is pretty true on thinner smokers that don't hold temp as well.  Especially since on a cheap offset smoker, opening the lid of the food chamber doesn't really increase airflow much to the fire in the firebox.  The egg has a built in auto-compensatory mechanism whereby holding the lid open allows more oxygen to the fire.

joytreg

Someone should invent a camera that you could keep in there to watch the food cooking. I'd love that! But I agree - don't open that lid! 

joytreg

Foghorn said:

Carolina Q said:

Will never understand the lookin' vs cookin' adage. It's not even true! When the dome is open, there's plenty of heat hitting the food. Of course you're cooking! Unless you stand there with the dome open for 15, 20 minutes at a time, how much difference can the occasional peek possibly make? Especially with a cooker like the egg with its temp holding capability.

That said, when I put a butt on at 11 PM (with my DigiQ), I don't even go outside again until 10 AM or later.

I had forgotten that Peyton was #16 at UT.

You're right that it doesn't mean as much on the egg.  It is pretty true on thinner smokers that don't hold temp as well.  Especially since on a cheap offset smoker, opening the lid of the food chamber doesn't really increase airflow much to the fire in the firebox.  The egg has a built in auto-compensatory mechanism whereby holding the lid open allows more oxygen to the fire.

THEBuckeye

joytreg said:

Someone should invent a camera that you could keep in there to watch the food cooking. I'd love that! But I agree - don't open that lid! 

I can see it now. Butt-Cam

theyolksonyou

THEBuckeye said:

joytreg said:

Someone should invent a camera that you could keep in there to watch the food cooking. I'd love that! But I agree - don't open that lid! 

I can see it now. Butt-Cam

You should google that

SMITTYtheSMOKER

Set your timer and walk away, its cocktail time!

jtcBoynton

Don't worry about "... is probably going to ruin a cook soon if I keep it up." It may change the time until done a bit but won't ruin a cook. When you open the dome, yes the hot air escapes. When you close the dome the hot air is again trapped and the temp will recover quickly. Just don't leave the dome open for long periods. Open it up, take a look, get a good whiff, take a picture and then close it back up. Should take less than a minute. Temp in the dome will recover in a couple of minutes or so. In a 10-18 hour cook that will not be noticed.  The internal temp of the meat will not even blimp from the opening. 

Sameydog

I look once in an hour and a half cook of chicken.

I trust the Egg to not let me down...and it hasn't. It does drop a bit on a peek but it recovers quickly. On the other hand I wouldn't peek too many times.

Bill

Tinyfish

Fight the urge.  Tie a mouse trap to the handle.

XC242

The great thing about this is it's your egg and your food. If you want to lift the lid and take a peek go for it...

henapple

THEBuckeye said:

joytreg said:

Someone should invent a camera that you could keep in there to watch the food cooking. I'd love that! But I agree - don't open that lid! 

I can see it now. Butt-Cam

SMITTYtheSMOKER

Just remember keeping the lid open makes the fire hotter, more difficult to maintain steady temps if you're letting too much oxygen into the Egg.  Your gas grill and your oven loose heat when opened too long, although you do let heat escape, the heat source will grow.  Much harder to cook with a Egg running much hotter then planed.  You'll get it, keep cooking!

SGH

To each his own, but I look frequently. Especially on unit #6. When you are loaded down with several hundred bucks worth of meat, you would be a fool to just hope for the best. Contrary to popular belief, the draft can and will move on a heavyly loaded smoker. It will hunt for the path of least resistance and usually take it. This problem is not as pronounced on a reverse flow as it is on a direct tuned unit. Nonetheless it's still present. This is where opening the smoker and making adjustments determines if you succeed or fail. When a small fortune is sitting in the smoker, I darn near wear the hinges off of it. Look all you want brother, it want hurt a thing unless you are cooking bread or cakes. I'm not convinced that it's really a issue then. May put it to the test.

Ladeback69

When doing steaks, pizza or any high temperature cook over 450  I look about every 3 to 4 minutes.  When doing low and slowstart I don't lift the lid much tell its done unless the temp drops.