Sun heating up the egg. What to do?

acertain

So I'm doing my first butt on the egg, and the dome temp was locked into 250 and going great. Then the sun hit the egg and the temp is up to 270. Should I close down the vents more to try to get the temp down, or is the reading somewhat misleading because the sun is heating up the dome, but the grate isn't really that hot?

Thanks.

Andrew

AZRP

How much of an opening do you have on the bottom vent? -RP

BamaFan

Close the vents some I guess. I'm a rookie too !

Bevo

I cooked two pork butts yesterday and the afternoon temperature was 101*. So I only needed enough additional heat to raise the dome temp to 250* (or an additional 149*). After the initial lighting of the lump, my lower vent wasn't open more than 3/16 of an inch, and the daisy wheel openings were very slight. The end result was two great pork butts.

Bevo (Colin in Austin)

Crimsongator

You can close it slightly on the bottom vent if you want. The big picture is that 270 in the dome is not a major difference from 250 when doing low temps and your cook may be slightly shorter.

AZRP

I think the temp climbing is just coincidental with the sun hitting it. More likely the vents are open a little too much and the fire is just catching up. On my large, 250 dome means the small daisy holes are open and the bottom door vent is cracked open about the thickness of a quarter, under 1/8" With this setting I'm controlling the temp solely with the bottom vent. -RP

Rascal

I'd apply a good sunscreen (SPF '30' or grater) 8 - )

Unknown

"If you come to a fork in the road, take it." Yogi Berra

I just love Yogi-isms!

I'm sure that you've seen this:

[ul]http://www.yogiberra.com/yogi-isms.html[/ul]

Unknown

Woops. I meant to post this one:

[ul]http://www.umpirebob.com/DATA/yogiisms.htm[/ul]

Rascal

I love it! Thank you!! 8 - )

acertain

Thanks for all the advice. I think that AZRP was right. I had the bottom door open about 1/4 - 1/2 inch. I shut it down and everything's back to where I wanted.

Andrew

Jeffersonian

Do you even need to light the lump in an Arizona summer? :laugh: