Daisy Wheel Leakage and low temp?

Unknown

I have the Large BGE and a daisy wheel.When my daisy wheel is closed all the way it still leaks air/smoke out the top.If I do a med/high cook ,say 350° to 400° then try to bring the temp down to 225° for a low and slow or extinguish the coals completely it takes hours even with the daisy shut and the bottom slider open a credit card width.
What am I doing wrong??
Help
Carrera85

stike

Carrera85,
It's tough to bring the temp down to 225 after 400.[p]I shut down completely. No credit card width or anything. And no daisy wheel. Throw the rain cap on.[p]Not only does the BGE hold all that heat, but even open the tiniest bit, you'll still have a lot of lump burning.[p]What you wanna do is snuff the thing.[p]When you shut it down totally, it'll drop as fast as possible (but not 'quickly' by anymeans. maybe half an hour) from 400 to 225. When you hit your target temp, reset the lower vent and toss on the daisywheel, and what little lump there is that is still burning will hold the temp.[p]...I also 'burp' the lid once or twice to let out the hot air, but that's probably a no-no since it lets in oxygen in volume.[p]remember, even shut down the BGE isn't airtight. your coals won't truly snuff out if you shut down as long as needed to drop 200 degrees.

ColoradoCook

stike,[p]I always use the rain cap to snuff out the Egg, never the daisy wheel.[p]When I want to achieve a temp (i.e. 250) I always go 50 degrees above, then adjust the slide and daisy accordingling to back it down and stabilize at target temp. If I am adding any mass to the setup (i.e. bricks, plate setter) I'll warm it up 50 degrees above target temp and then through in the plate setter. The Egg will drop in temp and begin to heat up the additional mass. I'll generally get the Egg 50 degrees above target temp again and then adjust accordingly for my target temp.[p]CC

Unknown

Thanks Gents!
I will try your methods!! I dropped the ceramic top off and broke it into 1000 pcs the first time I opened the egg so I will have to come up with something to cover the top completely.Any suggestions??
Thanks!

stike

ColoradoCook,
good point about adding mass...[p]I always find that the temp drops 40 or 50 degrees when I add my firebricks and a big ol' pork shoulder.

stike

Carrera85,
short of ordering a replacement, u dunno.
maybe a brick with felt on the underside

ColoradoCook

stike,[p]Not to different from when my wife jumps in bed and puts her cold feet on me...I have to warm up her mass before we can get cooking. :-)[p]CC

ColoradoCook

Carrera85,[p]Short of picking up a new one how about a clay flower pot or the clay water pan from a clay flower pot. Put a little BGE felt or Rutland gasket material on it and you're in business.[p]CC

Smokey

Carrera85,[p]I found that the medium cooled down faster, but the large has more mass. Cooling it down can be like stupping a heavy truck ... just takes time, but it's great at holdiing heat for a long time!