Plate setter pre heat

Johnnysmoker

i always seem to have trouble maintaining temp after adding plate setter in my large BGE. I've noticed some folks "preheat" the plate setters/pizza stone . Looking for ideas on this. Should I preheat it in my oven? I have two pit mitts, do I could unless there is a more widely preferred method. Thanks, yall!!

SmokeyPitt

I usually let my fire stabilize for a while before adding food any way, so the preheat happens naturally.  

After you light the egg, as soon as you are sure the fire is going (if using starter cubes, they are burned up completely), then add the plate setter while your egg stabilizes at the desired temp. 

If doing pizza, I let the egg burn a long time (sometimes 45 minutes) until I get a nice clean smoke so plate setter is nice and hot.  I add the pizza stone at the same time I add the setter. 

nolaegghead

For low and slows, temp at any given point in time doesn't matter much.  What does is getting good smoke and the time-weighted average temp you apply to your food.

Start your lump and put the plate setter in. You'll be fine. You're playing the long game, it can take an hour for my system to get up to 275, but I have good smoke at that point.  Chasing the temp all over the place is an exercise in futility.

I know people that start up and let it run for a few hours before they put their meat on.  Keeps the bugs at bay.

Johnnysmoker

Thanks. Nothing worse than achieving target temp, putting plate setter in, and it dwindles adding like twenty min more of wait time. Also, I start my egg using wax/pressed sawdust nuggets. Should I vary that technique? Maybe a few nuggets, on outer edges, not just in the middle?

nolaegghead

Just in the middle, maybe bias a bit to the front of the egg.  The draft from the bottom vent tends to favor burning stuff in the back direction.  Don't worry if it's 200 when you put your meat in and you're shooting for 250.  It doesn't matter. It's actually good for smoke and smoke ring, which is elusive on the egg.