Heat and Fire on a Med BGE

NoVA Bill

Looking for some advice. When starting out I stir the lump before I light it off to get the ash down and make sure the lump is up to top of the fire box. I hesitate to fill any higher because I have a plate setter with the feet up in place.

Tonight I'm doing a 4# brisket in my med BGE - I've been cooking on the grill since I rec'd it on the 24th. I can get the heat up no problem can stablize at a deisred cooking temperature. But tonight and on rib night I can only get a sustainable temperature for two or two and a half hours. Tonight with the vent wide open and the daisy wheel removed I can only get just short of 300 degrees after two+ hours. Lump is all coals but only about at a 1/3 of the fire box.

Oh yea, if you remember me I'm the guy that burned out his gaskets on the first cook and there is a small gap in between the top and bottom on the back of the unit - the guys that set it up will make a service call when the gaskets come in. I could do it but they set it up so their bad.

Any suggestions for this tender foot?

Thanks.

RRP

good chance the holes in the fire grate are clogged up. The small piece settle toward the bottom when you stir. Stir again and look at the grate as you do.

NoVA Bill

I hear you, I look at the air holes and make sure they're open before lighting the lump. BTW - that's one impressive nest of eggs you have!

RRP

thanks - clarification perhaps - I wasn't meaning the 6 holes in the fire box wall, I mean in the metal grate at the bottom. Clogging there is a very common cause of low temps as the fire is starved for air. Also if you have been doing a lot of cooks the ash may be building up and it needs to be cleaned out. BTW welcome to Eggdom!

jeffinsgf

Bill,

It sounds like you're a little light on your fuel load, and in my experience, used lump burns up faster than new. Something in the way you wrote that leads me to believe that your fire was more old lump than new. I have both a medium and a large. I've had the medium for almost 10 years, and it takes a little more than a level firebox to do a good low and slow. Mound it up into the ring just a little bit and use no more than half used fuel.

NoVA Bill

Thanks to both of you. I'll check out the ash level tmo and make sure I mound the lump higher and watch the level of used lump and I'll give'er another burn.

JLOCKHART29

I use my Medium 4 or 5 times a week min. It is all I have experance with but the platesetter really knocks the temp for a bit when you put it in. I think it messes with the air flow more than the large it seams. That said I bake bread at 425 for 45 min. no problem. Like you I stir my lump down before relighting. Make sure you clean out the ash afterward and as others said that the small pieces of lump may be cloging your bottom grate. For long cooks or high temps with platsetter I discard the small ones. Lump is chep realitive speaking. Also don't worry about over fill ing the Egg with in reason. I try to not have much lump left from a cook as it does tend to burn faster but like tonight when I set it up for an overnighter I will fill it up to with in 1/3-1/2 inch of the platsetter.

NoVA Bill

More good feedback - thanks. Glad to hear the med BGE will make an overnight burn.

NoVA Bill

okay... the ash box was full - my bad. I was suprise just how small it is and how quiclkly it filled up, right at a week of cookin' - guess I'll need to pay more attention to ash removal and a full fire box of lump.

Thanks!