Bad charcoal, cold fire?

acegg77

Last night I topped off my egg with what was left of some lump (from Whole Foods... I've used this before.)

The bag had been open but was folded shut and stored in a waterproof box. It has been wet and damp in CA but the box was bone dry. It was slow to light and while eventually the fire spread, it never got past 280 degrees. It also had a snow-white (not usual gray-white) ash on it. I got no heat at all and it took 40 mins to cook a thin salmon fillet. 

I've never had this happen before (in 2 years of egg ownership.) I had all the vents open and I'm sure air was getting in there. The stuff would just not burn and produce heat.

Tomorrow I'm going to 'field strip' the egg and clean it out... but I keep the bottom area pretty clean at all times. 

Has anyone had this "cold fire" happen to them?

Thanks.

Al

pgprescott

Sounds like air flow to me.

McStew

Yah I have experience that with WF lump before my fire never got above 350 .... Never went back good luck finding good lump out here... Just resort to smuggling good lump in 

SGH

acegg77 said:

Has anyone had this "cold fire" happen to them?

I can honestly say that I have never experienced this before. Rain, sleet, shine or snow, the BGE has always came right up to temp for me. Even with wet lump. No joke about the wet lump. I have a couple of real large offsets that can be a pain and show their a$$ in real adverse weather. But the BGE never has. I guess that is part of the reason that I find myself using it more and more these days. It just works no matter the weather or circumstances. If I had to bet, I would say that you have a airflow issue, not a lump issue. Just my thoughts my friend. 

acegg77

Yes, it does sound like air flow. There are a lot of really small pieces in the fire bowl.  I'll know more when I clean out the egg tomorrow. 

Is there such a thing as 'bad' lump... that just won't burn worth a darn?

Someone here once said that when you clean the egg out to discard any pieces of lump that are smaller than marble (or was it ping-pong ball?) What is the matter with 'pellet' lump? No matter what size, it should burn, right?

SGH

acegg77 said:

What is the matter with 'pellet' lump? 

If compacted, it can and will clog air holes. 

SGH

acegg77 said:

 No matter what size, it should burn, right?

If it can get air, absolutely it will burn. But that is the problem with real fine pieces, they usually block the uptake of air in a kamado style cooker. No problem in a kettle or wood fired style cooker. 

acegg77

Yes, that makes sense, but I've never had that happen... I use the BGE 3 or 4 times a week all year round. Maybe I've just been lucky. BTW I usually use Royal Oak Charcoal (in the red bag.)

SGH

acegg77 said:

Is there such a thing as 'bad' lump... that just won't burn worth a darn?

In my opinion, some lumps produce better results than others. Rockwood being the very best. But even the $hittest lump will burn. As a matter of fact I usually use Cowboy for all of my clean burn outs. It's as $hitty as it gets but I can still easily wrap the temp gauge with it. 

acegg77

Someone should invent a charcoal strainer. Every once in a while you scoop all you charcoal out of the BGE and put it in the strainer and jiggle (sift) it and all the small pieces fall through (into a bag) and the big stuff doesn't and is thrown back in to the fire bowl. (The small pieces can go in the garden.)

acegg77

SGH said:

 I usually use Cowboy for all of my clean burn outs.

What is a "clean burn out?" I never heard that before... but I don't hang here too often.

Thanks.

SGH

acegg77 said:

SGH said:

 I usually use Cowboy for all of my clean burn outs.

What is a "clean burn out?" I never heard that before... but I don't hang here too often.

Thanks.

When the BGE gets saturated with grease from multiple or large cooks, I like to do a burn out. It cleans the heck out of the ceramics inside of the egg. Simply let the egg run at a real high temp for 20 minutes or so, and it's clean as a whistle. All of the ceramics will turn white again.  

dougcrann

How much of the lump in the Egg was small? If you load it up with a ton of small stuff it tends to pack tight...severely limiting air flow. Throw in some ash and you have a recipe for a cold fire. If I don't keep the air holes in the firebox clear I have troubles getting a hot fire. Have gotten in the habit of putting gloves on and stirring the lump to get rid of any ash and fines...when I got the gloves on I push the lump away from the air holes and clear them with a screwdriver 

Mikee

I use the 'pellet' size lump; mainly for low-n-slow. I place them towards the outer area of the firebox.

buzd504

acegg77 said:

Someone should invent a charcoal strainer. Every once in a while you scoop all you charcoal out of the BGE and put it in the strainer and jiggle (sift) it and all the small pieces fall through (into a bag) and the big stuff doesn't and is thrown back in to the fire bowl. (The small pieces can go in the garden.)

Google "kick-ash basket"

fishlessman

my egg in maine gets wet inside, maine is a snow and mud season state. i light the egg on friday just to dry out the ceramics, it will take an hour or two to punch thru the low temps, then its fine for the weekend. wet lump isnt an issue, wet ceramics and ash thats turned to mud is

acegg77

The "Kick Ash" thing is an interesting idea. Do any of you use it?

buzd504

acegg77 said:

The "Kick Ash" thing is an interesting idea. Do any of you use it?

http://eggheadforum.com/discussion/1190646/kick-ash-bucket-worth-it

acegg77

Thanks for the link. I'm going to order a KAB today... unless my local BGE carries it. 

acegg77

I have a whole grocery bag of used lump the size from marbles to ping-pong balls from previous clean outs. Are these so dense that they won’t light and burn at all? Seems to me that wood is wood and should burn? Maybe toss couple of handfuls on top before lighting?

 Someone told me to bury some wood chunks at the bottom (on the grate) and it will help the air flow. Any truth to that?

Maybe it is my imagination but out-of-the-bag lump is smaller than it was a couple of years ago?

malligator

@acegg77

I bought a KAB a couple of weeks ago after I ran into the same problem as you. I had friends over for pizza dinner and I could not get the temp above 300. The bottom vent was open and the daisywheel was removed. I took a wire hanger and poked at that fire grate and got it up to 400, but no higher.

With the KAB my BGE gets to 300 almost instantly and then climbs steadily to as hot as I want to let it get. HUGE improvement.

henapple

Rockwood. 

acegg77

Rockwood? Please explain. 

Are you saying that the small lump is not combustible?