First Overnight Cook...

GirlyEgg

Well friends, I just put on 2 butts for an over night cook... marinated in jack and coke and then some dizzy pig Red Eye Express rub on top and I added some apple wood for smoking. The temp's been steady at 250 degrees for 30 minutes... I'll be up for another hour and check again in 30 minutes... but then it's off to bed and hope for the best! I should be okay with lump since I went back to the BGE (no more cowboy for me!)lump! I can't believe how nervous I am! I guess it's a good thing that I get up about 7a.. ha!

Big'un

GirlyEgg,
You'll do great! It is a bit windy down here SE of Atlanta, don't know about your set up, but that may factor in. As soon as the BBQ guru can provide internet access I'm gettin' one...may have to go stoker. How much do the butts weigh? Good luck.

GirlyEgg

Big'un,
Yea, it's windy here in town as well... The fire definitely started hot, with a lot of backdraft - luckily, I still have my eyebrows! I was able to stabilize the temp, so my fingers are crossed.[p]The butts are between 10-12 pounds each. The double pack was $1.31/lb, while the single pack was $1.67/lb. I doing these for a party, so I bought 4... 2 tonight and if it goes well... 2 tomorrow night...

Pharmeggist

GirlyEgg,
I hope you have as much success as I have the last time I cooked two Boston butts 7+ 1bs each and it took 20 hours 40 minutes to cook them :=) and I am happy to say I still had BGE Lump left in my Firebox without ever having to re-load.[p]Happy Egging, Pharmeggist

HungryMan

GirlyEgg,
Good luck. It will taste great. I bought the Guru for the overighters. Well worth it.

DynaGreaseball

GirlyEgg,[p]Good morning. Well, it's 7:45 am. How'd your egg do?

GirlyEgg

Well... I got up at 7a and the egg was down to 150 temp.. meat was 126 temp. I figure that the fire was out for about an hour. The meat is basically cooked, just not ready to pull at that temp.[p]I also decided that it was "safe" to rev up the egg again and put back on for a few hours to get to get the meat to 200 temp. I'm a bit disappointed at how fast the BGE lump burned. Previously, my day cooks all ended with some lump left over cooking at at 240 temp for 12 hours - which is more than my overnight....[p]I'm hoping it will be okay... we'll see...

WessB

GirlyEgg,
You mentioned getting a flashback in your earlier post....you should NEVER get a flashback on a lo n slo...you apparantley let way to much lump get burning from the very start...which resulted in you burning up all of your lump...myself and many others have gotten 30+ hours out of a single load of lump...you need to sneak up on your cooking temp when doing low temp cooks...start closing down the vents when you are 50° below desired....after the starter cube has burned out of course....When I read your first post from last night ( which I read this morning )I didn`t figure your fire would make it through the night.....Keep tryin tho..[p]Wess

Unknown

GirlyEgg,[p]did you get the dreaded "center burn" issue...where your lump burns a hole straight down to the bottom grate without spreading to the edges. even though there's a good amount of lump left near the walls of the egg, none of it has caught fire or even singed for that matter! that'll kill your fire pretty damn quick. it's happened to me on even 5 hour rib cooks...[p]after getting the TurboGrate (which has been discussed below), taht hasn't happened to me ever again. [p]so, if center burn is what caused your fire to go out (as opposed to just runnin the temp too high initially and burning through all your lump), then i'd recommend the TurboGrate. [p]

icemncmth

KaiserSoze,[p]I had that happen once...now I always light the lump in a couple of places...[p]And I can still get 30 hours out of a full load of lump..

icemncmth

GirlyEgg,[p]One thing I do when doing long low and slow cooks...is start the cook at around 6pm...that way it will have been running and stabilized ....and I can sleep without worry..!

GirlyEgg

I didn't get center burn, so I guess it was a too hot start... this second batch seems to be burning "hot" as well. Temp is steady at 250, but I can see the bright coals underneath.. vents are mostly closed... I'll need to buy some "gadgets" before doing overnight again... Thanks to everyone's help and support!

Avocados

You also need to really load up on the charcoal for those overnighters, more so on your Medium Egg. [p]I usually fill mine up somewhere midway in the fire ring (higher than just the firebox) for really long cooks.[p]Just be sure to leave a couple of inches clearance for the bottom of the plate setter.

WessB

GirlyEgg,
Seeing bright coals...I would think, either you haven`t let the egg stabalize long enough...or possibly your dome thermometer is out of calibration....And You REALLY should learn how to use the egg before buying gadgets to do it for you, it`s not difficult at all..merely a short learning curve.[p]Wess

Big Hoser

GirlyEgg,[p]As Wess said, you let your fire get too hot. Here's my routine for lo-n-slo's and hasn't failed me yet:[p]1) Clean out ash and make sure airholes in the firebox aren't plugged with little pieces of lump.
2) Fill firebox with lump to bottom of fire ring.
3) Open the vents fully and light lump with either propane weedburner in a couple of spots (30 sec ea.) OR the "stike method" (paper towel dipped in veggie oil, drop in center of lump).
4) Wait 5-7 minutes to let the fire get going. Temps should be between 150-200. Now I shut down the bottom vent to about 1/4" opening and daisy wheel to just the little holes open (these are the approx. settings for a 250 dome temp on my large). Drop in apple/cherry/guava wood on lump and put in platesetter and drip pan.
5) Wait for 20 minutes for the Egg temp to stablize at 250 dome and the bad smoke from the lump to finish burning off. I don't concern myself with a bunch of smoke from the wood (you can tell the difference from the smell). I find it takes 20-30 minutes for lump smoke to burn out.
6) Tweak the vents as needed if you're more than 10 degrees off your target temp. Wait 5-10 minutes for it to stablize, then throw on your meat. Total time from lighting the lump to throwing on the meat: 25-35 minutes.[p]I've only had to throw out one butt since I've nailed down this routine (and that happened because the fire went out and I hadn't filled the fire box up to the bottom of the fire ring with lump). I don't bother with arranging the lump "just right" and don't get center burn. I just stir the lump around with the ash tool before lighting and look to see that the fire has "bridges" from the center to the outside if necessary. I don't think this is an issue if you have plenty of used, smaller pieces of lump at the bottom (under the new lump poured on top) these small pieces act as a bridge for the fire. Also after a 16+hr cook, I still have plenty of lump leftover (usually enough to cook a spatchcocked chicken without adding any new lump). No "gadgets" either (although I do like my Maverick ET-73 remoter therm as a check. I just set the temp alarm to go off if the grate temp dips below 200 or goes above 275. Sleep like a baby now, and still don't need to fiddle with the vents or use a pit minder).
You'll get this down with a few more practice runs with brisket, butts, ribs, etc. And when has "practice" ever been so delicious?
Good luck and Happy Egging. [p]Dan

GirlyEgg

Big Hoser,
That's my general procedure. This was my 10th low & slow butt... which is why I'm so baffled... I did it the same way I did the other 9...[p]thanks!

Grandpas Grub

WessB,[p]Yesterday, I was doing some cooking/testing and noticed a flashback at 340° dome.[p]The flashback was below the gasket level but it was very evident.[p]I still hade some 'white' smoke exiting the egg and of course inside. When I opened the dome it appeared that the 'white smoke' ignighted into the flashback.[p]Kent