First Butt & dome temp

Tripmaker

After two attempts at small cooks, country pork ribs overcooked, and Simon & Garfunkle chix undercooked, I figure I better have a test run on a butt before serving guests on the 13th.

I have smoked butts and brisket in my Brinkman offset smoker with good results at 200-225 degrees. Everything I read, on other BBQ sites suggest a cooking temperature of 200-225 degrees. It seems most of you with experience on the BGE suggest a dome temp of 250. If the BGE retains heat better why is the higher temp recomended? I'm not questioning any ones judgement, it's just a learning curve for me.

The Brinkman requires constant attention to maintain cooking temperature. So far I have been able to maintain constant temperatures on the BGE with little attention after I get the egg stabilized. In the past I used instant read thermometers to check meat temp, but today I bought a Polder so I don't have to lift the lid to check.

Thanks for your help.
Jim

Grandpas Grub

Jim,

First off, the BGE dome temp is accurate and probably moreso than most ovens.

Think about how the egg works. Lump in the bottom, heat goes up to the cooking grid (cooking level) then up to the dome.

Dome temps are higher than grid temp. If you have your egg stable at 250° dome you are most likely about 210° to 230° at the grid and a few inches above.

We are also cooking butt's very close to 225°.

What size egg are you using?

Kent

Mike in Abita

I find that a dome temp of 250 is much easier to maintain. It allows for a little variations either way and still end up witha good cook. 250 is a general term and I take it to try to get somewhat close to that. If my egg settles in at 230 then I'm cooking at 230 Same with 260. You also need to rememner a 250 dome temp is close to 225 grid temp. If you would start off at 225 dome, grid would be near 200. It's a nice "sexy" tmp to cook at but you would have very long cooking time. Don't know about you, but I'd rather be eating rather than cooking.

gdenby

I've been guilty far too many times of trying a new cook on guests. So, good idea to give it a go before serving guests.

The rule of thumb, and it is a rule of thumb, is that the dome temperature is about 25 degrees higher than the grate temperature, with the grate at lid level. I measured a few times, and I saw much the same. For the three to five hours, the grate was 25 degrees lower than the dome. The grate temperature usually didn't approach dome temp till 8 hours at least, longer if the piece of meat was large.

I've had more lo-n-slo cooks where the Egg held its temperature constant for 6 - 8 hours than not. However, for the ones where the temp sagged or soared, I was glad I checked every 4 hours. Its fairly easy to correct a fire that has crept down to 220 dome, or up to 270, rather than trying to pull up one at 190, for instance, at 4 a.m. So, plan on a 4 hour check. Its not too hard to get up and think "Well, its just fine!" as opposed to sleeping in some and finding a great big butt sitting over down around 160, or worse, at 200 8 hours before company arrives.

Tripmaker

Thanks guys. What you say makes sense.

Gramps, I bought a large BGE.

gdenby, I plan to check every few hours throughout the night. Especially until I get confidence in a long burn time.

Mike, Yes I like to eat. But sometimes it's about the journey. Getting there is part of the fun.