Lots of unburned lump?

JackBurton

I did 13.5 lbs of butt the other day. Put them on around 9:30pm. When I woke up there had been a huge rainstorm come in and the temp was down to about 190 at 8:30 am. At 3:30am when I got up with the baby it was at 235-240. When I went out last night to clean up I noticed there was a lot of unused lump at the top and around the sides of the egg. The middle was pretty much used up. Is there a good way to light the coals so the side stuff gets used?

I followed Naked Whiz's advice and stacked large pieces on the bottom for air flow and I filled up just under the middle of the fire ring. It may have been the rain that caused the temp to drop or it may have been the middle coals burned down and the sides didn't get touched. I know over half of the coals were left unused.

Any help would be appreciated. Oh, I used two Weber starter cubes to get the fire going, placed off center about 8 inches apart.

Grandpas Grub

That's not uncommon, and is what is referred to as a vertical burn. It happens.

If using cubes I break them in half and light in 4 places off center.

Stir out the ashes and use the remaining lump on your next cook.

GG

vidalia1

I usually light my Egg in 3 spots. It is usually the 12, 3 & 9 positions. And yes you usually do have lump left over after an 18 hour slow cook if the fire is built correctly....

JackBurton

Should I light more towards the edges? I was closer to center. I just think it should have gone longer than it possibly did.

faithie999

i usually light in 4 spots (3,6,9,12 o'clock) about 2 inches in from the perimeter. i've not yet experienced a "vertical burn" altho i know it has happened for some folks. i've loaded the egg up to the top of the top ring and done 20hr plus cooks, with quite a bit of lump left.

ken