Thank goodness for gravy!

The Goose

After lusting after BGE, I finally "bucked up" and bought one, specifically because I was hosting Thanksgiving. My kitchen was too small to make a full T-giving dinner so I thought I could cook my turkey on the BGE. I purchased a polder DT thermometer, as well. I must have been nuts!

Needless to say, things did not turn out as planned. I lit my BGE about 1 hour before turkey went on, just to make sure I was able to adjust the temp. Well, the thing would not stop lingering around 400 degrees. Finally, I thought I got the temp right at about 325 and left it for a while, the temp dropped to 250 degrees. After only about 2 hours, my turkey thighs were at about 150. So, I checked the breast and it was at 100 using the polder! What the heck! When the breast reached about 150, I decided to check with my cheapo insta-read theremometer. It read 170!

This was such a disappointment. I had been dreaming of succulent, tender, juicy turkey.

* Was my thermometer a dud?
* How should I have lit the egg fire?
* What is the proper way to adjust temperature? Meaning, bottom vent vs daisy wheel.

Clearly, I needed a few trial runs...instead of making family my guinea pigs. Thanks goodness for great wine and great family! At a loss about the BGE but not will to give up.

Thanks
DJ

lowercasebill

first , do not dispair..
you want a thermopen www.thermoworks.com [just do it]
does not matter how you light the fire.. alcohol, fire starters, mapp gass weed burner.
watch the temp as it goes up and adjust as it gets close bringing the temp down is problematic.
go to www.nakedwhiz.com and read everything. yes everything. including mad max turkey
hang out here read post and learn ..
welcome and happy holiday season
bill

Celtic Wolf

I will bet you put the that big mass of cold turkey and pan into your stable egg and shut the lid.

Because the temp dropped you immediately dove for the bottom vent and adjusted it.

If you do that you will be chasing the temps all through the cook.

I think you need to check that calibration of all the thermometers.

Zippylip

everything bill said, plus go ahead & use your family as guinea pigs, after a little while, with the food you crank out from the egg, they will be quite pleased as such

Tennisbum

takes awhile to get use to BGE I am new to it as well but you will get better with time. I have learned a lot from the board and all the suggestions provided. Hang in there it just gets better and better.
gp

Sundown

Like sex, getting used to an Egg takes time. Like sex, the more you practice the better you get at it!

Peter (Celtic Wolf) hit on the head I'll bet. Now for my 2¢ worth;

Light you lump in one, two or ten places shut the dome and practice with the vents. Work mostly with the bottom vent because that is the one that will make gross adjustments the Daisy top will make the finer adjustments as you get used to everything.

There's a learning curve and if you hang around and ask question you'll get through it fairly fast. Good luck.

civil eggineer

Is that with a partner or solo?

It wouldn't hurt to fire up the egg some time with a 12 pack of beer. :blink: Adjust the openings...drink a beer, then see what happens. Repeat until you pass out or run out of lump.

stike

honestly doesn't sound like you did anything wrong.

was it dry at 170 in the breast? was it done "too soon", "too late"?

the difference in temps in the breast meat between the two thermometers could be simply from picking different spots to measure the temp, hitting bone, etc. If not, then one of them is off. but usually it's operator error (at least in my house).

you didn't really give us much info to go on. did you use a platesetter or some other indirect method? was the platesetter in the egg getting up to temp before you put the bird in? as CW said, adding all that cold mass drags your temps down artificially. think of an electric oven. the display reads 325, but that's not necessarily the actual temp. you put in the turkey, and the display isn't going to go way down like a thermometer would. but in an electric oven, you shut the door and walk away, and the thing returns eventually to your set temp. same for the egg. opening the lid will drop temps just by cooling the thermometer off. then, adding a cold turkey will create cold air in the egg. the thermometer goes down. thing is, the fire is the same fire as when it was at 350. in fact, it probably GREW while the lid was open and air poured in. if you just leave it alone, it will return to your desired temp. if you panic, and see a 'cold' egg and start fiddling with vents, you will have entered in to a dance with the devil.

an open egg will give you a hot fire, but a cold thermometer. you shut it, see the 'low' temp, and add air. there's ALREADY a growing fire from the open lid, and so there you go. temps rocket up. then you choke them back, etc. etc.



turkey in the egg will cook more quickly than an electric oven, and it will be far moister. even at 190 in the breast (don't ask how some of us know), the meat will be moist when carving. maybe not moist for leftovers the next day though.

The Goose

Thank you to everyone who responded.

I took the advice about "chasing the temp" and changed the way I light my egg. Previously, I would light it, wait about 10 minutes (it would be around 600F) and then try to cool it down. Now, I light my BGE with all vents open and then when it gets close to my desired temp, I put on the daisy wheel and close the vents slightly.

I have had 2 great successes and my family has enjoyed the fruits of my labor! My first success was cooking "championship backyard ribs." The BGE held steady at 325F and I felt so confident that I actually left it for about 1 hour. The ribs came off with a lovely smoke ring and were so tender and juicy. The ribs were mowed through in no time!

My 2nd success came tonight with Simon and Garfunkle chicken. It was so juicy and succulent. Unbelievable! Needless to say, my guinea pigs have not complained a bit.

Thanks again!
Dina