First overnighter in the egg

Don Marco

Howdy...

I just started my first BGE overnight eggsperiment.
Rubbed two boneless butts with KC Cowtown sweet spot and put em on the large with some hickory and two drip pans on top of the plate setter.

Current temperature is 223 F, got the ET-73 to monitor the temps and alert me in case it goes out of range.

Its now almost 10 pm over here and i plan to eat the pulled pork for lunch tomorrow with my co-workers.
Trouble is, i got to leave the house at 7 am and wont be back until 12 to pick up the (hopefully done) pork.
I´ve done that with other cookers like the Probbq Excel 20 or WSM before, but its my first long cook on the egg.

Any last minute hints from you guys to give me a good nights sleep and not **** up the pork are welcome.
I dont expect it to be done until 7 am ( 9 hours) to keep it warm until serving time.










Cheers,

DM

FrankC

Don,

I've only done a few overnighters, but I'm guessing you won't lose any sleep tonight. I use the same ET 73 setup, and it's never been a problem. Went to bed at 250 dome, woke up at 250 dome. 18 hours seems to be what the average time is for me to do 2 large butts. Good luck!

fc

Nils

First all-night cook and you want a good night's sleep, too? :laugh:

For a good night's sleep, a roll in the hay followed by heavy drinking will take care of that. It does for me!

With the two probes, not much to worry about. Sleep away!

My first all-nighter was a month ago - I was up every hour or so just to monitor the dome temp. Two more all-nighters since, I slept through to the morning both of those times. As long as you laid a good charcoal base for the fire, you should be fine.

There is a great post by Elder Ward "North Carolina Style Pulled Pork " in the recipe section on how to lay a fire - he does write a good story, too!

Grandpas Grub

You should have no problems the ET-73 will let you know if you set the alarms and have the alarms set to on.

To keep the butts warm when you pull, wrap in foil then in some kind of cooler with either newspaper or towels/blankets for insulation.

I use the foil, keeping the seal, to the top of the butts so there is no juice leaking and then I wrap the butts in a fleece blanket. I don't bother with a cooler. My butts have been hot after 4 hours of rest.

I purchased 2 yards (2/3 meter) of 50" wide fleece material for keeping the food warm for a long time.

GG

stike

where are you in the US that it's already 10pm?!?!?!

not sure what your question is about keeping warm til serving time. if it's going to be done at 7, and you want to keep it warm til noon, you can wrap it in foil and put it in a cooler. it'll stay warm (160+ for a long time.

if you want to slow the cook down, you could go lower overnight and then bump temps in the morning. meaning, you set grid temp for 210 or so. then in the morning, you can bump temps accordingly so that it finishes closer to noon.

i normally run 250 dome (which is maybe 225 at the grate, your current temp). but if i want to slow down a cook for your exact reason (done too early otherwise) , i go to 225 dome, which would be maybe 215 at the grid level.

Rick's Tropical Delight

germany

Rick's Tropical Delight

if you are still up, fashion a wiggle rod and poke it up thru the holes in the firegrate to stir the lump and knock down any clogging ash, then go to bed for 5 hours, get up and check it, then go back to sleep. wiggle rod if necessary when you check it

stike

...apparently a u.s. territory.
(i was looking at his profile... said US)

germany makes more sense.

i was trying to think how far off the coast of Maine his island would need to be.

Rick's Tropical Delight

i think the forum defaults to that if nothing is entered

anyway, this guy is an amazing bbq champion in germany and he blames the doc and me for getting his ceramics. i think maybe the doc might have had something to do with the acquisition ;)not sure about that though

Little Steven

Rick,

Doen't matter what you enter it still shows US.

Steve

stike

ach du lieber, was fuer ein stueck scheiss ist der Forum

(it's been twenty five years since highscool german, i'm sure i got that wrong!)

Egglicious

Get some sleep, as long as you have some control over the pit temp you should be fine. I have done many Butts, usually for two it takes around 17hrs. You can foil and wrap them in a towel when done and place in a cooler to keep them hot.


Good Luck,

I am sure your co-workers will love it.

Canugghead

I found that too. Did anyone request the mod to fix the incorrect country display? maybe it's not possible because our friendly neighbour in the south is the universe?

edit: never mind, found the answer here
http://www.eggheadforum.com/index.php?option=com_simpleboard&func=view&id=412246&catid=6

KingSmono

Hey, tonight's my first overnighter too!! Hope all turns out well for you! :cheer:

Buxwheat

Rick's Right. I have had several overnites go less than perfect because of ash blocking the grate on the bottom. Dome temp looked perfect until it finally dropped while I was sleeping. After a prolonged plateau, the meat temp dropped instead rising. Each time it ended up that my fire died. After using the wiggle stick and opening the drafts, I was able to get my fire going again and finish the cook. Careful fire building with large pieces of lump on the bottom like Elder Ward suggests will avoid this, but I'm beginning to think that taking the wiggle stick and poking it around in the grate holes before going to bed will probably make sure that the fire won't die while I'm snoozing. Definitely going to do this on my next lo and slo.

Rick's Tropical Delight

i learned that from mr thirdeye.

'wiggle the rod before bed'

:woohoo:

Buxwheat

Hell, wiggle the rod before bed, and wiggle it again in bed! See Nils post earlier.

Little Steven

Canugghead,

Seemed a lot of bother to me. Besides, I'm thinking of emigrating.

Steve

Canugghead

Steve, blaze the trail for the rest of us!

Don Marco

Thanks for the hints, the first low & slow overnighter was a huge success.

I could have slept all through the nigght if i would not have forgotten to set the ET73 Food Alert higher (after my last cook).
So i woke up to the alarm at 3.30 am just to see that the egg was runnign along at 230 F and the butts were at 160.

Got up at 6 am to find the egg still at 230.






I made myself a wiggle rod out of 1/4 stainless pipe a couple of days ago and used that to shake the ashes.
Took a shower, went to work and got back at 11.45 am to find the egg running at 230. Pork was at 195, perfect.


Took it all to work and made pulled pork sandwiches with cole slaw, onion and Roadhouse texas Tango BBQ Sauce.
The pork was some of the most juicy and tender i ever cooked. i could pull long chunks of meat fibers out of the middle of the roast without resistance.








Needless to say there are no leftovers.
I was also very surprised of how much charcoal was left.

@ Stike : I live in the northwest part of germany, so basicly im posting from your future :laugh:

@ RTD : You and Ray really raised my awareness for the eggs ( or should i say "eggwareness ?". Now that i tried my Eggs and the Primo a couple of times i love em more and more after each use.
I knew there had to be a difference to metal cookers but i never imagined it to be that huge.


Cheers,

DM