lighting lump ???

Bordello

When lighting the lump, should the bottom vent be all the way open as well as the dome?????? Still experimenting.[p]Thanks,
New Bob

Char-Woody

New Bob , yuppers! till ya get a good ignition for low or slow or until your eggie is rockin red hot for your steaks and chops and burgers.
C~W[p]

Big Murth

New Bob ,
Open top and bottom and let her rip. Suggestion: Establish your target temperature slowly, BEFORE you put your meal items on the Egg. Last night, I was cooking Nature Boy's Mustard Lime Chipotle Chicken Pieces, and made the mistake of putting a Large Egg's full grid load of chicken on the fire, shortly after I got my fire and smoke wood going. It took 20 minutes to reach the minimum 300 degree range, and in the meantime, I had both holes wide open, putting an excess of flames on the chicken, while the dome temp was trying to overcome all of the cold mass of the chicken I put on initially at 150 or so. Also, building up slowly to your target temp is better than having it shoot way over, and trying to choke it down afterwards. Good luck!!

Nature Boy

New Bob ,
I leave the bottom vent wide open, and I leave the lid open until the firestarter burns up. Then I close the lid and leave both vents wide. For a low/slow I let the dome temp get beween 180 and 200, then I close the bottom vent to 1/8 inch or less, and apply miss daisy, then ease into 250 dome.[p]For direct grilling at 300-350, I let the dome temp get to 400 with a nice large base of glowing coals, then close the bottom vent to 1/4-1/2 inch..daisy optional. Temp usually drops to 300-350 after adding food, and stabilizes there.[p]For turbo temp grilling I just leave all vents wide open.[p]Everyone does it a little different. This is just how I do it.[p]Happy end-o-the weekend!
NB

Unknown

New Bob ,[p]I have found that maximum air flow is the key to a quick start fire. Thus, leave the vent open and the dome up. I also have found that by sitting the fire cube on end directly on the center of the trivet with lump placed around the fire cube while still leaving space for airflow allows for the easiest starts. As soon as I light the firecube, I place a large lump or two over top of the cube (the large lump now supported by the pile surrounding the cube). After about 5 minutes or so, the starter pile of lump should have its edges burning red hot and you can add the rest of your lump needed for your cook.[p]It has taken some experimenting to figure this out, but I have been using this technique for the last 7-8 start ups and I have noticed a much faster ramp up time to temp. To cook at about 350F takes about 10 minutes to reach temp this way. Steak searing can be done within about 15 minutes.[p]Regards,
E1

Big Murth

Eggcitable One,
Sounds great...but how does one do this when you've already got a bunch of leftover lump from the previous cook in there, and you don't want to stir things up and have your Lodge trivet fall into the hole at the bottom of the firebox and spill all your lump into the bottom of the Egg?
Per Tim M's suggestions, and since I now use the metal trivet with the maximum airholes at the bottom of the box, the fit is loose, and Tim M says not to stir the lump or your ash too much to keep it from flipping--that the ash will find itself down through the holes naturally. Always thinking---pretty scary!!

Unknown

Big Murth,[p]I use the ceramic trivet that came with my BGE, and since the first time I used humpty, I have always had leftover lump in the firebox when starting my new fire. Unlike Tim, I always stir the old lump before lighting the new. I stir the old to make sure the air holes are clear as possible. Then I push the old lump away from the center of the trivet until about a 3-4 inch diameter of the trivet is visible. I put the fire cube down and then surround it with the new lump. I have never come close to flipping the trivet or losing more than a few small pieces of lump to the ashbox.[p]Happy Lighting!!
E1