Need critique on 1st slow cook (lengthy)

Sandi

Have had the egg now close to two months. Have cooked a couple of steaks on it along with another thing or two...can't recall...but nothing slow cooked. My Wally World had brisket this past weekend for .66/lb. NEVER had a brisket before, unless the was the corned beef version. Decided to get the brisket, used Nature Boy's marinade and directions. Never having had brisket before, all I can tell you is this: 1. It wasn't shoe leather tough...in fact it was very tender. 2. Wasn't as moist as I thought it may be. Now...I have a couple of questions on getting to the desired degree for a slow cook. I filled the thing up to the brim with fuel. Put my electric starter midway through the fuel in the center. Got it going.....let the temp rise to about 350, then started shutting down, etc. to get to 250. It ALWAYS fell lower, so I would let it rise again and try over. Bear in mind...and YES, I KNOW BETTER, that I was doing this at my house with the intentions of spedning the night elsewhere. Got it (or so I thought) right at the 250 mark, took a shower, went to the grocery store (this all took about an hour) got home and the temp was at about 180. Opened it wide open, AGAIN, got it to about 350, shut it down and watched it drop immediately to about 260. Stayed there for about 15 mins...I went to a friends house, we went out for drinks and afterwards came home to check on it (2 hours later) and it was at about 300. (I had the daisey wheel just BARELY open and the bottom slide open about 1/8 inch. Thought that looked pretty good...so left it for the night. (OH...did I mention that when I last checked the thing at approx 8p.m. (for the last time) after having had put on at 2p.m.) the internal temp on the meat was at 175 and it was tougher than shoe leather?) Arrived home the next morning at approx. 9:30 and the egg was colder than...well...YOU KNOW! So....what did I do wrong...even though the meat is quite tasty and tender. When cooking at a low temp..do I need to initially run the dome temp up HIGHER and then try to bring it back down....what gives????

Spin

Sandi,[p]Congratulations on your first low and slow cook. I am glad that it produced a meal that you feel might be better.[p]Spin[p]

Nature Boy

Sandi,
Sounds like quite an experience you had!! You probably learned more than you realize from your adventure. It really can be a roller coaster to control the temps, especially when you get way past your target temp. [p]As I don't use an electric starter, I can't advise there. I use a firestarter, and get a nice group of coals going in the center of the lump pile, and when dome temp is somewhere around 180, I close my bottom vent to maybe 1/2 inch, with daisy wide open. If you slowly bring the temp up to your 250 target, you have a much better chance of maintaining it.[p]I think your fire got too big, then by the time the eggs temp came down, the fire was almost out. Then you opened it up again, and the fire got big again before your temp rose. By the time your temp rose, the fire was large, and you had to start all over. [p]Good luck.
NB

JJ

Sandi,
Nothing wrong with an electric starter. I used one for many, many years. For your low and slo place the starter on top of the coals to get it started. When the coals get to about 150* place your brisket and or butt in the EGG and then slowly allow the BGE to get to 250*. Start to close down the vents during this process. Assuming you are using a drip pan the bottom vents will be about 1/8" to 1/2" open and the daisy wheel about 2/3 open. (You will have to experiment with those settings to adjust to your EGG) It is very easy to set your temp if you slowly let it rise rather than get it hot and try to damper it down. Once you achieve this method of controlling the dome temp you will never have any problem of the fire going out on you again. 175* internal temp for brisket is way to low and is just finishing breaking down the fat. 290-200* is what you are shooting for. Hope this helps you.

Sandi

Sandi,[p]Perhaps if I actually STAYED home, long enough, to watch over one cook...I would LEARN SOMETHING????

Sandi

Spin,[p]You understand, all too well! "Preicate your post as I do all others![p]egginonegginon!

Unknown

Sandi, Whats more fun..cookin or ?? Good try but next time run up the BBQ flag, and use a good battle plan..:-) Good info down below!
Cheers..C~W[p]

JimW

Sandi,
For a low and slow cook using an electric starter, try getting just a few coals going. Then pull the starter out. Adjust your vents to catch the temp on the way up. Then the coals will maintain an even temp.[p]Also, I have found that filling the Egg with lump just up to, or maybe just a hair over, the top of the fire ring is sufficient for 20 plus hours of cooking time. Perhaps the sheer quantity of lump you used might have contributed to your roller coaster ride.
JimW