Mildew and Slow to Heat Up

Gloria

Our Egg is being used for the first time tonight in over a month. When the dome was opened, there was mildew on the rack and inside the dome top, and it is taking FOREVER for it to get up to temp (500). We had rain this past Saturday...about 4 inches. Our lump is kept in a container and is usually dry. Is this usual when the Egg has not been used for this period of time? We are way past an hour since lighting up. My taters are going to taste like Wendy's and the asparagus is as limp as a, well, I won't go there!!! It has not rained IN the Egg. Any comments would be appreciated.

Gloria

Gloria,
Meant to say 600 and it looks like 500 is all she is gonna do tonight. But we are hungry and so are going to throw the lamb chops on anyhow. Still would like some comments.

Unknown

Gloria,
Was there some partially burned charcoal left in the egg? If so, did you stir the charcoal around with the ash tool to get rid of any old ash? The ash left at the bottom of the old charcoal may be a little damp and stopping up the air holes. Just a thought.[p]Regards,
Chuck Lane

Zip

Gloria,[p]
It is my experience If I leave my cooker uncovered in the rain and sitting directly on a stepping stone this will happen. It seems that the unglazed bottom of the egg will allow water to wick into the ceramics, much like a self watering pot for violets. There will be a considerable amount of water weeping from the walls of the cooker when fired up. What I have found to work for me is to put the egg on those little feet that comes with the unit to allow air flow and to keep water from wicking into the unglazed bottom due to direct contact to the saturated stone. [p]The other observations are that even when I do this, if the egg is not covered it will still get a considerable amount of moistue in the unit. This appears to be from the water wicking into the unit from the felt gaskets. When this happens, the dome will actually seep water and some funky stuff from the pores of the exterior of the dome. The only good thing about this happening is that the cooker gets really clean on the outside when wiped down when weeping. [p]If the mildew becomes a problem from just little use, you may just need to allow the egg to breath before shutting it down. What I found to be helpful for this is to shut down the bottom vent and leave the top off for about 10 minutes to allow the moisture to cook off that is trapped in the egg from the cooking process. This works very well for me to cut down on the mildew when it may be a few weeks between cooks down here in Florida with all the humidity we have. You may also try leaving the top off and bottom vent open while the egg is resting, however don't do this until the egg is completly cool. [p]
If the egg is really damp and the lump is possibly damp as well, try to start a small amount of fresh lump. Then add as much coal as you need to complete the cook. Sometimes a hair dryer is helpful to get the egg up to the higher temps, but there is going to be a ash problem if you put the grid in there while the dryer is going. [p]I hope this helps and just know that you are not alone with this. I used to deal with this all the time.[p]Ashley