Confessions of a overnighter failure

westernbbq

Pit viper, digi q guru.    You will never look back and you will dream about awesomeness on your Big Green Egg only to wake up to bbq perfection!

Golfguy77

Just go turbo. 6 hrs and you're done.  

chrisc133

+1 on the controller.

Robo2015

Another vote for a controller.....

fishlessman

set the low alarm lower, iset mine at 175. stabalize temps before the meat goes on and dont get picky, a stable temp of 235 is just as good as a stable temp of 275. temps are going to drop with cold meat in there, dont touch a thing, they will come back up as the meat warms. water in the pan causes problems with temp swings, dont use water. i used to lght at 7 and meat in at 11, i now light at 10pm and meat goes in at 4am so i can fish the morning into the afternoon, theres no one there to hear the alarm

hondabbq

Never had an overnight issue with my Maverick. Let it stabilize for an a half hour prior to putting it on. I set my maverick for 220 low and 310 high. Never a worry and I sleep well.

billt01

https://www.rocksbarbque.com/

thetrim

I did fill a 16" deep dish pizza pan on top of the platesetter with crushed beer cans under it on the last couple of low and slows.  I know there seems to be a big push against that on here.  I think it helped regulate the temps, keep them low, and avoid any temp spikes up by the cooking grid and upper portion of the egg.  Also adds much humidity to the cook (not that I need that in Tampa) which Mr Franklin is a fan of. 
Just another thought

RedSkip

@thetrim  What???  Empty beer cans won't help regulate the temperature...

 Aluminum's heat transfer coefficient is high, this is why beer companies use it for bottles.  Not only does it heat up really well, it cools down very quickly too.  Thus colder bottles, not really "colder" but they give the ability to cool quicker.

The egg as a cooking vessel is a good one, and with the tight seal around the gaskets and thermal mass of the ceramics, it keeps the humidity in the egg.  This is why many advocate not using a water pan at all.  The little bit of beer left in your crushed cans is doing nothing for the relative humidity within the egg.  

Focker

Water in the egg, or any cooker for that matter, is a heat sink.  More heat, energy, BTUs, is necessary to evaporate the water.  In relation to the OP's issues in this thread, instability, this may be a good thing.  Added steam, humidity, may somewhat halfass act as a water spritz, keeping the bark moist a little longer...that's it.

I choose to run waterless in my WSMs simply due to charcoal efficiency and convenience.  The fire in a leaky WSM is much larger than the egg's at the same temp.  But you'd be surprised how much charcoal I save doing this.  Close to, if not, 50%.  Would be less of an impact on the egg obviously, but you get the idea.

FarmerTom

Grillin_G_Ma, I too have had trouble maintaining a stable temp, but I've only had a M Egg for a little over 2 years. I got my XL after this past Christmas and I'm still learning on it.
   I had been filling it with lump (RW) to just under the platesetter.  I set my Maverick for 200-300 range and it was always swinging one way or the other without ever stabilizing.  Drove me nuts.  I noticed that I also always had tons of unburned lump left over.  So on my last low and slow, I dropped the level of lump to 2-3" below the platesetter.  Temp settled in much quicker and stayed stable for over 8 hours.  Had to make a very small adjustment and then it was good until finished.  19 hours total.
    I haven't done another L&S since this, but I'm anxious to see if the lesser amount of lump continues to help alleviate the wide temp swings for me.  
   I have no issue with anyone using a pit controller, but I'm hard headed enough that I refuse to get one until I can consistently maintain a temp without one.  And hopefully at that point I'll decide I don't really need one.  These da$n eggs are nothing but money pits.  

lkapigian

I used to obsess checking the egg all night just to find out I was always fine---then I bough a Pit Controller, now I obsess over useless data and being OCD checking the egg WITH the pit controller only to find it is fine

SmokingPiney

Pit controllers are nice when the wind is blowing 50 mph with Mother Nature putting 2 feet of snow on the ground while you're doing a low and slow.

FarmerTom

SmokingPiney said:

Pit controllers are nice when the wind is blowing 50 mph with Mother Nature putting 2 feet of snow on the ground while you're doing a low and slow.

I would have to agree with you in this instance.  I would have paid double for one back in the winter when it was 15°F with the wind blowing at gale force and I was trying to cook a brisket low and slow.  A miserable night from start to finish, though the brisket did taste great  in the end.  

buzd504

RedSkip said:

@thetrim  What???  Empty beer cans won't help regulate the temperature...

 Aluminum's heat transfer coefficient is high, this is why beer companies use it for bottles.  Not only does it heat up really well, it cools down very quickly too.  Thus colder bottles, not really "colder" but they give the ability to cool quicker.

The egg as a cooking vessel is a good one, and with the tight seal around the gaskets and thermal mass of the ceramics, it keeps the humidity in the egg.  This is why many advocate not using a water pan at all.  The little bit of beer left in your crushed cans is doing nothing for the relative humidity within the egg.  

I think he meant he filled the pan with water and used the cans as spacers.

RedSkip

@thetrim @buzd504

Good catch, my mistake.  I read that wrong...  

buzd504

RedSkip said:

@thetrim @buzd504

Good catch, my mistake.  I read that wrong...  

Lol, I read it the same way you did the first time.