Lump quantity....

patrickcudd

I'm a long time Webber griller......  More charcoal, higher heat......

Well, I have tried to limit the lump in my BGE because I don't want to get it too hot.  This has bit me in the ass twice now on brisket.  So, my question is, do you all fill it up with lump for long slow cooks?

GATraveller

All the way up to top of fire ring or a bit more. Better to have too much than not enough. 

SmokingPiney

Fill it all the way up. With the Egg, you regulate the heat by air flow from the vents, not the amount of lump. 

dsrguns

I fill it up for any long cook. The amount of charcoal doesn't really effect the amount of heat, it's the amount of oxygen that controls the temperature. Start with a small fire and let the egg come up to temperature slowly. As others have stated, it's easy to bring the temperature up in the egg and more difficult to bring it down.

theyolksonyou

Better in the egg than in the bag. Fill'er up!  The egg is controlled by air flow. It'll only get as hot as you let it. 

pgprescott

The egg is different. Fill the egg up to just past the transition in the firebox at least. Light it in one spot with the lid open until you have a softball size area going and then close the lid and let it go a bit longer while watching the temp. Once the temp starts to rise towards your target, start to close the top and bottom vents gradually. 1/2 way to start and wait, then gradually more.To hold 250, you will have only about 1/8-1/4" gap at the bottom and top in the end. Once you've done this numerous times, it will become much easier to recognize the relationship between the fire in the box and ultimate temps. If you over shoot the temp by 50 degrees, I would just go with it. Your food will be fine just get done more quickly. 

lousubcap

First up-welcome aboard and enjoy the journey.  Above all, have fun.  
Now to answer your question.  A couple of things-BGE fire is air flow controlled (assuming you have enough lump and got it going).  So, temperature control (aka fire volume) is a function of the amount of air flow through the bottom and out the top which dictates the size of the fire and thus the cooking temp.  You can control by top or bottom vent or combinations of each (preferred for low temp cooks).   Within reason, you cannot overload with lump charcoal.  Fill it up to close to the top of the fire ring and manage the fire volume with air-flow.  (You can reuse the remainder of lump for the next cook.)
For a low&slow cook you will need a fire going in one spot  with about a softball/grapefruit sized volume for the duration ( the limited volume coupled with the quantity of combustible lump is how the BGE can run for 20+ hours at low and slow temps without any charcoal reload).  So get a small hot fire going and enjoy. 
The key  is to get things stable via air-flow management and then let the BGE do its thing.  FWIW-

Skiddymarker

As noted above by @lousubcap and @pgprescott, you only need a a small amount of the lump lit, the fire will follow the air and fuel, which is why you light on the top. Also different from the Weber world, you do not need nearly as much smoke wood, suggest you start with about 25% of what you want for the full cook. Mix the chips or chunks throughout the lump, the fire will find it as the cook progresses. No need to soak and because you control airflow, chips work just fine, whereas in a Weber they tend to flare and burn too quickly. 
The egg by nature works like a slow motion minion method in a WSM. Good luck and always keep your glass full. 

YukonRon

For any long cook I fill it to the top. What lump is not used, can be used on the next cook. I have a dinner party coming up, brisket will be on the XL, 225F with pecan smoke. Bourbon, will be had. It will be a long cook.

SmokeySailor

In my limited experience I have found that the amount of lump is a factor in temperature control, hence the suggestions for only lighting a small portion of the lump.  The more that's lit, the hotter the Egg will be and if you only have one or two layers deep of lump with all vents open it's not going to be as hot as if you filled it to the top of the firebox.  I found this out when I started the Egg with a small amount of lump and had to add more b/c it wasn't hot enough to cook the chicken to my liking.  It also has the added effect of raising the coals up closer to the food.  Now at which point are you only restricting airflow rather than increasing max temp as you add more lump, I don't know but I did a burger burn last weekend with a fresh add of lump up to the top of the fire ring and it was way too hot and would flare up out of control (grease of course plays a role) in the time that it took to flip the burgers and that's with all vents closed.  Now I know in your case you're not trying to get the temp up, but I somewhat disagree that the amount of lump is not a factor in the temp of the Egg.  But for long slow cooks, like many suggested, fill it up and only light the lump in one area thereby controlling airflow and the amount of coals lit.  Maybe I'm wrong but I'm learning.

Smokin_Trout

Almost to the grooves where the platesetter sit in, center lit. This is after it was burning with the lid open for about 20 minutes. 

jtcBoynton

@SmokeySailor    Temperature is controlled by the amount of lump that is burning at a given time. The amount of lump burning is controlled by air flow.  Amount of lump in the egg is not important.  However, there is a heat gradient that needs to be considered when cooking direct.  The distance from the burning lump to the item being cooked is important in direct cooks.  What you are seeing is the effect of distance from the lump to the meat and not the quantity of lump.  You can control the distance by lowering the level of the lump (by putting in less) or raising the level of the cooking grid.

SmokeySailor

@jtcBoynton I think we're debating the same side of the argument if you will, I'm just not very good at expressing myself   I agree with everything you say except that the amount of lump is not important.  The way I think of it is that radiant heat is a factor of surface area of the heat source and distance from the heat source, all else being equal.  If I put one solid layer of charcoal down and grilled one inch above it the radiant heat would be the same if I had a pile of charcoal 1 ft deep and grilled one inch above that.  Although the amount of heat energy (temp) in the cooker would be significantly different.  Same as if I heated a plate of cast iron or a block of cast iron to the same temp.  If the surface area facing you were the same then the radiant heat would be the same the instant you removed the heat source, but the block contains far more heat energy and would provide a larger temperature increase in the same volume of air.  As I increase the amount of lump burning I'm increasing the heat energy (temp) of the Egg.  Of course charcoal only burns at a certain temp so overall temp stops increasing when energy addition = energy losses.  In other words, the temp of the cooker increases as more lit charcoal is added starting with one lump up to X lumps but at some point the addition of one more lump does not add to the overall temp but only decreases the distance from the lump to the grill surface, increasing the radiant heat and searing your food.  So a double handful of coals could sear your steak but not get the cooker up to 700F.  So the amount of lump in the Egg is not important after a certain point.  Man I hope I didn't completely waste your time, as I said, I suck at explaining myself

patrickcudd

I loaded it up tonight with a small fire that I promptly forgot about (I was cooking dinner for tonight as well....).  I added lump and cherry and have a sustained temp of 250.....