Egg not cooking properly

greener66

Hi folks,
I've had an LBGE for roughly 5 years now. Since I bought it, it hasn't cooked low and slow properly.
Every time I try to cook something low and slow, it takes 2-3 x the time it's supposed to based on discussions here. For example, yesterday I cooked a <4 lb briskett flat. After 12 hours I had to take it off and it never reached 200 internally. I have a Digital thermometer that tells me the temperature at grill level and it's always 225-275 for low and slow, yet cooks take forever. Any thoughts or suggestions? I must admit it's quite frustrating.

buzd504

What does your dome therm say?

fishlessman

the hr/pound rules for brisket and pork butt are designed around normal sized pieces, they really dont work on smaller and larger cuts. a 7 pound flat comes in at 14 hours plus minus cooking 235 to 250 for me. thats the only rule i know for brisket. a 7 pound boneless butt is around 12 hours plus minus and i make it happen by lowering or raising the temps for the last few hours

saluki2007

Are you using Rockwood charcoal by any chance?

Botch

saluki2007 said:

Are you using Rockwood charcoal by any chance?

Beat me to it.    

lousubcap

What is your experience with larger cuts of protein at the same dome (calibrated?) Temp?  As mentioned by @fishlessman, once you get into the smaller sized butts and brisket flats the cook time/lb is longer in my experience.  

greener66

Larger cuts the same story. Did a 9 lb pork butt...took 24 hours

fishlessman

greener66 said:

Larger cuts the same story. Did a 9 lb pork butt...took 24 hours

i have to ask, are you putting liquid in the drip pan and calibrating before each long cook

greener66

fishlessman said:

greener66 said:

Larger cuts the same story. Did a 9 lb pork butt...took 24 hours

i have to ask, are you putting liquid in the drip pan and calibrating before each long cook

I've done it with liquid in drip pan, done it without. Doesn't seem to matter

jtcBoynton

Go back to using the dome thermometer after checking to see it is accurate.  Make sure your probe thermometer is accurate as well.  Only explanation for what you are describing is inaccurate thermometers.

fishlessman

greener66 said:

fishlessman said:

greener66 said:

Larger cuts the same story. Did a 9 lb pork butt...took 24 hours

i have to ask, are you putting liquid in the drip pan and calibrating before each long cook

I've done it with liquid in drip pan, done it without. Doesn't seem to matter

the liquid will definitely slow it down and keep temps lower in the dome nearer to 212 degrees regardless of dome reading. i could see a 9 pound butt going even 20 hours at your temp but not 24. 24 is how long it would go at a dome temp of 220 which is how we egged 20 years ago. try 250/275 dome temps, better smoke, faster cook, easier to control in an egg. zero difference with the finished product

lkapigian

I'm really going out on a limb, but what is your elevation 

flexfusion

Try the same cook at say 275º.  I have found exactly the same thing you are experiencing when cooking at such low temperatures. Most of the guys cooking on Shirley Patio stick burners are cooking between 250 to 275º. 

td66snrf

Probably should get rid of it. Where you located? 

Mark_B_Good

If the temperature around a piece of meat is 250F, it will pretty much ALWAYS need the same (similar) amount of time to cook in any device. It's thermodynamics and chemistry ... call it the laws of nature. It cannot be any different. The meat has a heat capacity and a heat transfer coefficient, and that should be more or less consistent. Subject it to 250F on the outside, it's simply energy transferring from the air to the meat and that rate is fairly standard.  Therefore, there cannot be any magic here ... we aren't in another universe. Something is either being measure wrong ... or information is missing. So here are some questions:

- how sure are you that your probe is the right temperature ... for cooks taking that long, you'd have to be probably 50F out on your temperature.
- where exactly is your digital probe set, on the side of the gride, close to the ceramic, or right next to the meat?
- has your meat gone to room temperature BEFORE you put it in ... or is it cold or even frozen inside (ice/frozen is a BIG killer ... it takes 1000 times more energy to melt 1 lb of ice than to raise the meat by 2'F.
- are you opening the dome often, and killing the atmosphere? It could take up to 10 minutes for ambient to re-stabilize after you open the dome.  Open it every 15 minutes and you're pretty much screwed.
- how wide open is your vent? The egg is designed to be like a convection oven, with hot air rising up the sides and then circling back down to the meat at the center of the dome.  If the vent is wide open, the meat is not getting that hot air, it's pretty much going straight out (I'm talking about with the convector plate on, shielding the meat from the hot air underneath it).
- are you getting good air intake? Again, the egg works like a convection oven ... not enough air circulation, and you can't get energy efficiently to the meat. Have you ever emptied the egg completely, taken everything out and cleaned up all the holes ... do you clean out your ashes by first stirring the charcoal bed and then using the ash removal tool to clean out ALL ash from the bottom through the vent? And is the vent completely clear and free of debris??

Something is up ... this is not normal.

RajunCajun

No need to add anything, sounds like good advice, IMO.  First thing I would check is calibration.  If that doesn't work you should buy better beer with the profit from selling your BGE to a friend for $100.