Airflow Issues and Temperature Maintenance

SmokinHot1

I recently purchased a second large BGE and am having problems maintaining a fire under 300, requires constant monitoring and adjusting [high temp grilling & pizza not an issue].  This problem does not exist on my older [2001] BGE.  New Egg…fill w/ BGE or Royal Oak charcoal to top of lower fire box, start w/ BGE electric starter, allow temp to exceed my desired cooking temp [ex:  if I’m going to cook at 250 grate level temp, I’ll go to 350 dome temp], wood chunks on coals, place setter, drip pan, grill, meat [at or close to room temp], close dome and adjust vents.  Temps will lower to 250 but difficult to hold, requires an adjustment every 20 minutes.  If temp dips below 220, I’ll lose the fire completely and be forced to re-start.  At 250, bottom vent is open all the way and top vent holes are about 1/3 exposed.  On my old BGE, I barely get the fire going, add my protein, set bottom vent about an inch open with top barely cracked for 225, then I walk away for the next 8 to 10 hours and rarely make any adjustments.  Rep came out and said the location of Egg was hampering air flow????  It’s on a nest without any obstructions…how can that be?  Rep also claimed that Egg “needs to be adjusted every 20-30 minutes to maintain temp within range of 225-240” at the grate [ignored everything I had to say about my old Egg’s operation] and “if I want to avoid that, I should buy a “Flame Boss” for $325.”  Really?  I could have bought a Kamado Joe for $350 and a Flame Boss for $325…$675 and saved half the price of my new BGE.  The beauty of a BGE is that, when you’re smoking for 5 to 15 hours, you can stabilize the temp and walk away…which is the way my old Egg works.  I bought a second BGE based on my 14 years of BGE experience, which has been fantastic.  Clearly, there’s an air flow problem with the new Egg, but where [internal vent holes are clear, ALL ash removed, and fire box aligned with bottom vent]?  Anyone having to adjust their vents every 20 minutes or are you setting temp and walking away?  Any similar issues or comments?  Thanks for the help.

Homebrewguy

On my first cook I had to adjust more frequently, maybe once an hour or so. However, that being said, it was my very first cook and I was cooking around 225-230 degree range.

For my second cook, I ran at 325-350 degrees and pretty much set it and forget it. 

tfhanson

I got my egg back in February, so it's a new egg.  When it was new I could not maintain low heat either.  Speaking out of my a$$, there might be a breaking in time period. I don't know.  Also, after I got a Kickass Basket and removed the bottom grate, zero problems.

Jupiter Jim

I have been egging for 9 years and have discovered that not every egg will act the same. At one time I had two large, two medium's, a small and a mini. none of them worked the same, I don't know why but they did not. I learned what settings worked with each one and all was good. From your statement about filling the lump to the top of the fire box I would expect that the fire would be hard to keep at 225 without going out. I always fill to the top of the fire ring and more, what ever lump is left I use next time and never worry about not having enough lump for intended cook. I also have never understood why some folks need to cook at 225 temp, back in the day I struggled with that low temp as well and through trial and error figured out 250 was very easy to maintain and no one could tell the difference in the food at the table. I would also recommend that you get two Kick Ash Baskets and end the air flow problems with the stock fire grate.