keeping low temp

Texan

Last night I started my egg around 10 PM cooking a brisket. I got the egg to 250 and checked it about every hour to 2 hours. Up until 4:30 this morning it was fine. At 4:30 the egg temp was 140, this fire was going out. I tried opening the vents but nothing helped until I took everything out and got the coals going again. So far the egg temp is 275. I cannot get it down to 250 without shutting down the vents which will put out the coals. What amd I doing wrong?

Bacchus

I have found that 275 deg at the dome is a fine temp for doing low/slow. It is more like 255deg at grid level. That maybe a small touch too hot, but in the end, very little if any difference will be discernable.

stike

put the meat back on and the temps will drop a bit. you can't come down quickly, because there is a lot of latent heat sitting in the dome. there is no significant difference between 275 and 250. put it on at 250 and just close it a bit if you really want to (eventually) be at 250.

sounds like you may have not had enough fuel, or it burnt straight down. having only large chunks of lump can sometimes short-circuit a fire, because the fire may not find a bridge to cross over to a new piece of lump. if you built a too-perfect fire (all large lump on the bottom maybe), that could have happened.

AZRP

Set your daisy with the small holes open and your bottom vent 1/16" to 1/8" open and forget about it. 275 is not a problem, adjust your temp with the bottom vent. Bringing it down to 250 from 275 will take some time. -RP

Texan

I think you are right. When I took everything out to relight the coals I could see that only the coals in the center were burn and the ones around it were not. There were a lot of large coals in there and probably did not ignite. Next time I will break them up a bit before starting. Right now the meat is about 168 and going strong. I am keeping my fingers crossed and hope it is ready in about 4 more hours

Thanks

Beanie-Bean

You may have to use a wiggle rod from the underside of the grate to clear out the holes--the first time I did a low-and-slow, I got small chunks of lump stuck in the holes of the grate.

UnConundrum

Next time, try starting the fire at the rear edge of the charcoal instead of the center, let the fire burn across the fire box. Also, I haven't found that it's the big pieces, but rather gaps between the charcoal pieces. Try to pack them in when you fill your egg. The coals can create a "coat" of ash that insulates them from the next piece of charcoal. When you're cooking low and slow, there may not be enough burning coal left to jump across that coat of ash and an air gap. Packing better helps a lot with this. You should be able to go 18 - 24 hours at @ 225 with one load of charcoal.