How Much Lump In LBGE

Boss Hogg

I did a pork butt cook last night that went much longer than I anticipated and wound up having to add lump to finish the cook . How deep can I go with the lump? Only to the top of the curved fire box (that holds the grate at bottom) or can I go above that? If so, how high?

Brian in PA
Tired from staying up all night for a cook that shouldn't have taken that long!

bubba tim

What temp were you cooking at? If you fill to the top of your fire box, you should be good for well over 24 hours. Just don't peek a lot. :P

Boss Hogg

250 deg. dome. I had some REALLY BIG chunks of lump which I think caused a bunch of airspaces. If I would have realized the cook was going to take so long, I would have been more careful loading the lump .I think my other mistake was the way I put the butts inside. Usually I put them side by side on the flat grate. Last night I put them on a V rack. To make them fit, I put a long skewer through both butts. I think the effect was to turn two 4 lb butts into effectively an 8 pound butt :ohmy: .

Brian (yawn)

lowercasebill

you can go to the top of the fire ring

Crimsongator

You can tke lump up to the top of the fire ring. You may want to be just below that to allow some small room for the platesetter to set.

bubba tim

What size Egg? My view point is with a large. 250 is higher than I cook at but it still should have been able to cook off 8 lbs of butt. This should be an easy fix.

WessB

You can fill it all the way to the top of the fire ring..BUT..you shouldn't have to..top of the firebox should easily get you more than 24 hours....make sure your thermometer is calibrated...and make sure you get the egg stabilized before adding your meat..

Boss Hogg

Hey Bill!

Good seeing you at Fred's last Sat. How's that Porter holding up? Is the fire ring the 4" ring the platesetter sits on top of?

Brian

WessB

250 dome is more realisticly 230 or less grate temp...should still be fine..

Boss Hogg

It's a large egg. I think mt main problem was the big hunks of lump that allowed for a lot of airspace in the lump. Thanks for your help.

Boss Hogg

Gene,

I only planned on the two 4lb butts taking about 8 hours. I think skewering them together is what made it take so much longer. The cook went 14 hours to get it to 200 deg. internal.

Thanks
Brian

Crimsongator

If they were touching tightly on a skewer, they probably acted like an 8# butt.

Boss Hogg

I calibrated the thermometer about a month ago. The egg was stabilized and burning a steady 250 degrees for 30 min. before I put the butts on the Egg.

egret

I religiously fill mine to just under the top of the fire ring when doing a long cook. I may have something go wrong with the cook, but, running out of charcoal ain't gonna be one of 'em!

Boss Hogg

Yeah, they wrer all snuggled up .I had to sleep on the downstairs sofa so I could keep checking on them to see if they were done. Sorta like my much younger days when I would come home late

Boss Hogg

Good advice, Egret. Thanks

WessB

By rights..you should have not had any problems then..are you talking about a large or an XL...what brand of lump??

Crimsongator

Even when I use my pitminder, I usually get up and check the egg. Next time skewer them but leave about a 2" gap. Then they won't act like bigger butts (I am really trying hard to keep from mentioning "acting like big butts" and calling some out on the forum :evil: )

lowercasebill

firer ring is the 4 inch ring on the top of the fire box.. still some porter left , good stuff this time of year..

bubba tim

14 hours is about right. You had 250 dome which is about 220 - 230 grid. That's 1 3/4 lbs per hour. How was the pork?

Boss Hogg

Large Egg-The really large pieces of lump were Big Green Egg, topped off with Humphreys.

Boss Hogg

Pork was great. I was worried it would be dried out but it was really moist. I only had a little bit since it was a) breakfast time, and b)I was trying to get to my office. I really made it for some HS football players my son has over to the house each week. Going to warm it up for them with some Coca Cola in the crock pot. They must like it, they're in the playoffs :woohoo:

Brian

WessB

You certainly shouldn't have run out of lump....butts are butts and some take longer than others..but you had everything right..you shouldn't have had any problems..next time will most likely experience more normal results..

bubba tim

You done good son! Just add more lump and don't peek!
You can look your fellow Eggers in the eye and say, I didn't BAKE! Unlike that Zippy-I-am-a-sissy-baker-Lip.
:woohoo: :woohoo: :woohoo: :woohoo: Nothing but love to you Marc.

Boss Hogg

Wow! I'm not touching that one. The Zipster is one feisty dude

Laker

I fill mine to the top of the ring and easily do 14 hours plus doing pork. It would help to clean the firebox and then sort your lump by size and built your fine with small on top and sides and larger in the middle.

Quit peeking and let her cook.

Boss Hogg

Laker-Will do. Learned my lesson.

Brian

Canugghead

I've done pork butt three times, varying from 4lb to 6lb to 8lb. I followed Elder Ward's advice religiously when filling up my LBGE with lump. Never had problem with running out of lump BUT, consistently, all three times at dome 250*, my butts took almost 3 hours per lb!

Just replaced the dome therm with a tel-tru. next time when the egg is stabilised I'll verify if there's any significant discrepancy between tel-tru and BGE therms dome temp. If necessary, I may try the butts at 275 dome.