Learning how to light and get Egg to temperature

Golfnut34

I purchased a Large egg about a month ago and have used it approximately 10 times.  The first few times we used it we had no problems getting it to 350-500 degrees within 10-15 minutes.  Ever since then we've struggled.  I'm using Egg charcoal, fire starter bricks, and a propane torch to light it.  When its open it burns nicely but it quickly slows down when the lid is closed.  I'm assuming this is simply an air flow problem and I have charcoal fines plugging up my intake holes on the bottom.  How often does one need to clean out the burn chamber to prevent this?  FWIW, it is often windy where I live and I have to move it around to protect it a bit.  Hopefully I can build a fence to keep it behind.

Golfnut34

Interestingly enough, after I typed this I checked my temperature and it was almost up to 500!

Botch

It's best to clean out the ash in the bottom every two or three cooks, and to take all the internal ceramics out to clean around them 2 or 3 times a year (a tiny bit of ash falls thru those 6 holes, and eventually builds up).  Your airflow assumption was correct.  
An accessory Kick-Ash Basket, and Kick-Ash Can, or a small shop vac, really help in cleaning out the ash.  
Finally, Welcome, and be sure to post pics of your cooks!  Plus any other questions, this is a good group.  

lousubcap

Welcome aboard and enjoy the journey.  Above all, have fun.
The BGE runs on three components, Fuel (lump), air-flow (which you control) and an ignition source. 
With the dome open you effectively have an infinite supply of air to the fire so it will get very hot.  The key is to manage the air-flow to control the temperature on the dome thermo.  Shut the dome with the top and bottom vents wide open and you will be cruisin past 700*F in no time.  Throttle the air flow either thru the bottom or top vents or some combination and you will manage the fire size and the associated cook temperature.
Give the search function here a look as there are countless threads on this topic.  All above-FWIW-

Hansm

I use Rockwood Lump and Royal Oak tumbleweeds. You can get the tumbleweeds at Tractor Supply, they are nearly identical to the Fogo tumbleweeds. I do not like the the waxy BGE fire starters., leave a taste in  the food. Make sure your firebox has no dust or small chunks that clog holes, air flow is critical. I give the fire basket a quick shake of a steel bucket and add more lump. I use 3 tumbleweeds in a triangle around the center. Light them and leave the dome up for 10 minutes and then shut dome with bottom and dome vents wide open. 

Skims_Smokehouse

Every single cook I start with stirring the leftover coals and trying to get the most ash and tiny coals through the grate and into the bottom chamber as I can.  Then I scoop out the bottom chamber with my ash tool (which happens to be a big spoon).  

Every once in a while, I'll remove all leftover coals and put them in a paper bag.  The smaller the coals, the less air flow.  Those smallest pieces will also clog the Green Egg's basic grate. I'll put in new coal and place the largest chunks from the leftover bag back in.  I'll just pour the whole leftover bag back in over the large new pieces if I'm doing high heat cook.  

If I'm about to do a very long cook like brisket or pork butt, I take apart the whole egg and clean out ash that falls behind the firebox.  Quite a bit accumulates back there, so you do want to make sure you do that once in awhile.  

Sometimes during a very long cook, I'll notice the dome temp taking a dive.  That's usually fixed by opening the bottom vent all the way and then tapping very lightly on the ash grate.  The goal is to loosen the ash clogging the grate.  Close the vent back to where you previously had it. 

You could also take everything apart and stir the coals, but doing that during a cook is kind of a beating with the Green Egg.  I once had a medium sized egg, and I occasionally had to take everything apart to add more coal.  For this, you need high heat gloves and a surface that can withstand the high heat of the Conveggtor.

One of these days, I'll look into getting a Kick Ash basket.  I bet it would fix my clogging issues.  Mid-cook clogging is extremely rare and very minor, so I'm not really all that motivated to upgrade.


Some tools you might like to have:

a long metal ash tool
work gloves dedicated to handling charcoal
bags for ash (mine are just paper lunch sacks)
dust pan and brush
apron (ash is very messy!)

johnmitchell

Welcome to the forum and have fun.

Ybabpmuts

@Skims_Smokehouse

Fantastic post, really. 

SB

Mark_B_Good

I clean out before EVERY cook ... why guess. It's so easy, stir up the old coals rigorously, scoop out ashes at bottom. If you do it every cook, you'll have at most one ash pan for a large ... 

How open is your air intake and vent when you try and hit 500F?

lousubcap

@Golfnut34 - tonight I was doing a reverse sear caveman cook and recalled your above thread-
Below is a pic of a part of that cook with the top and bottom vents wide open.

You can get the high-temp every time you want it with air-flow.
Hope this helps.

Botch

That's gonna singe your bearskin loincloth there, Caveman, er, Cap'n.  

Mr1egg

I leave my top and bottom vent wide open until it hits around 200. Once that happens I start closing both slowly until I reach my target temp. 

nealmgb

To avoid the smell of burning arm hair or eyebrows heed the caution warning

tm255

Golfnut34 said:

I purchased a Large egg about a month ago and have used it approximately 10 times.  The first few times we used it we had no problems getting it to 350-500 degrees within 10-15 minutes.  Ever since then we've struggled.  I'm using Egg charcoal, fire starter bricks, and a propane torch to light it.  When its open it burns nicely but it quickly slows down when the lid is closed.  I'm assuming this is simply an air flow problem and I have charcoal fines plugging up my intake holes on the bottom.  How often does one need to clean out the burn chamber to prevent this?  FWIW, it is often windy where I live and I have to move it around to protect it a bit.  Hopefully I can build a fence to keep it behind.

I had similar problems when I first got my BGE.  IMO, the key to resolving it was twofold: 1) Cleaning out the ash that accumulates between the firebox and the wall of the BGE -- I was only cleaning out the ash that accumulated on the bottom of the BGE in the burn chamber, and 2) Being mindful of not letting a lot of small pieces of fresh charcoal accumulate and block air flow.  I don't stack it piece by piece but I try to get larger chunks on the bottom and I put the "trash" little pieces on top.  The little pieces tend to accumulate at the bottom of the bag so I've always got two bags open, one closer to full that I get the big pieces out of and one closer to empty that I use to top off with little pieces.

I tried different starting methods and ended up picking up a few of the plug in coil thingies on clearance for $1 each.  The first one is still going strong after 12 years, and I like it better than cubes, Weber chimney, propane torch, etc.

Mark_B_Good

In terms of my routine with each cook ...

(1) stir coals every time, clean ashes out of bottom
(2) load fresh coals to fill firebox.
(3) I create a small cavity in the middle of my coals ... and build a roof over it with longer coals ... that is where I will lite my fire.
(3) I use a propane torch ... no need for a fire starter. I generally burn my torch for a good 3 to 5 minutes to get a nice core of embers, leaving the lid wide open the whole time.
(4) I close my lid with my top vent and bottom air feed WIDE open.  I DO NOT have my plate setter or grid in at this stage ... just coals.
(5) When I get to my target temp ... I then add the plate setter and the grid in ... and I normally add a deep pan of water as a temp sink.  That cools the atmosphere ... and I then wait for it to start re-approaching the target temperature ... when I'm 70F to 50F of it, I start closing the vents in probably 2 or 3 steps to the typical positions I have memorized for my target temperature.

Now, in terms of getting HOT ... if I carry on with point (4) and do not control it, I spike to 700F ... it gets bloody hot! So ... my thoughts are, you either aren't getting the air in due to ash blockages or (and I think this is probably more the issue), you don't have a decent core of embers before you close your lid. It has to be red, red hot in that core before you close that lid ... a good 3" x 3" x 3" cavity surrounded by coals right in the middle.