Who all goes all night @ 250 w/o electronic aids

Mickey

Did my first allnight at 250 over the weekend.
The question is how many do this w/o electronics.
Put on at 11:30 and got up twice, done at 8:30....
What is the best time to get up and check so not to have bad meat?
Did let run 45 min's before putting meat on.

vidalia1

Everyone should do overnighters like that a few times to learn the technique and get a feel for the lo & slow settings. I do use a Digi Q now but have done 8-10 old school cooks first.

If you learn old school and something goes wrong like your power going out while using a Digi Q you will not panic.

Panhandle Smoker

I do it all the time. 250 is a good temp for over night cooks. I don't use any gadgets other than a Maverick remote thermometer that monitors the meat temp and the Egg temp with alarms. They can be purchased for about $39.00 Other wise if you check them every 4 hours you should be OK. Thats what I had to do before the Maverick, I decided I like to sleep a little better so the 40 bucks was worth it.:)

fishlessman

i usually put the meat in and stay up another hour, then check about 4 to 5 hours in even if its just to check the remote thermometer. the remote et73 is cheap insurance for overnights

fishlessman

i should add that heavey drinking is another trick to cook pulled pork, drink enough and nature will wake you up during the night :laugh:

Photo Egg

That's a good point. I need to switch from Rum to beer on over night cooks...
Funny but workable solution not to over sleep.
darian

Little Steven

Darian,

Unless you drink way too much and don't wake up :blink:


Steve

FlaPoolman

These butts went all night with only liquid assistance

Celtic Wolf

Battery Back-up..

Doug in Eggmonton

I've done overnight butts at 250 unaided and it works out fine. I really like the Maverick for the ease of mind though...

Doug.

NoVA Bill

I do it all the time - I don't have the fan gadget. But have started using the ET-73 so I don't get up during the night to check on the fire.

i start my butts around 8PM so they're finished early in the day. Might change that if I were to plan a meal around the pulling of the butt.

Photo Egg

Guilty once or twice.
darian

ibanda

My small will go 8 hours at 250° before I need to clear some ash with a wiggle stick to get more airflow. I sleep pretty good. Will probably pick up a Maverick someday though.

Unknown

There are are at least 3 different times when your cookers temp control can be a problem. 1) When you put the food on the cooker you need make sure your temp is stable. 2) When your meat reaches its plateau it will start to dump BTU's and the cooker temp will rise. 3) Ambient temp change...when the ambient temp changes it changes the temp of your cooker by the same amount. Anyone got a 4th?

Spring Chicken

I agree with vidalia1 about learning how to do it without gadgets and then move on up to whatever makes you happy. It's not rocket science to maintain a steady temperature but until you know your Egg it can be a bit tricky.

When I got my first Egg, Lily Large, back in 1999, the store didn't tell me anything about using a Daisy Wheel to adjust the temperature. All I had was the rain cap which I tilted to various positions to maintain a temperature. I could easily maintain 225° or 250° until I ran out of lump. Then I bought a Daisy Wheel and had to re-learn everything.

But I never slept soundly on any of my overnight cooks until I got a BBQ Guru. I still don't sleep soundly but that's mostly due to a plumbing problem.

I also supplement my BBQ Guru with a remote just to be safe. Highly recommend both.

Spring "Accessories Are Fun Too" Chicken
Spring Texas USA

Little Steven

Mickey,

I've taken to putting a floor fan a few feet from the front of the egg on low speed. I find the ash doesn't build up as much.

Steve

2Fategghead

Bottom line I love my egg and I can wip up some good food.

Gadgets or no gadgets power or no power as long as long as there is food and lump I can cook something.

I got to where after everything was stable and one to two hours into the cook I could pretty much leave it run for four hours or a little longer before checking it.
Tim

PS now I have the ET-73 and The CyberQ II

Bacchus

I do it all the time. I have gotten to where I can get it to hold all night without getting up to check or worry. I make sure it is stable, then i open the lower vent ever so slightly right before going to bed. That way if it does "move" it will be up instead of down, and by just a little. If the temp goes down it will not stop until out unless acted upon.

AZRP

I think there is a problem with Chris's legs, he looks shorter than you. -RP

DrZaius

I have done a few butts without a fan. I recently had a 4 butt cook for coworkers and I borrowed Vidalia1's DigiQ and man that was the bomb. No worries at all and the butts were perfect. The piece of man was great. I am planning on a CyberQ in the future.

Celtic Wolf

1) The egg will bounce back rather quickly (15-20 min). This isn't a major problem unless people fiddle with the vents, then it is a major problem.

2) Not sure what you mean it's dumping BTUs? If anything it's absorbing energy from the fire. You may see a slight drop in the internal temp of the meat during the plateau, but that is do to heat being drawn out of the meat by the fat and collagen rendering out. The Egg's temp will not be affected by that.

3) Unless you are an ice road trucker or a vulcanist
the ambient temp won't be much of an affect on the egg. The ceramic mass holds heat nicely.

Celtic Wolf

Put the meat in and make sure the egg came back to temp.

Just follow the food safety guidelines and check it ever 4 hours.

I like to sleep and my Guru's give me the peace of mind to do so. Plus the shear mount of meat I cook on my eggs exceeds what most people cook and the gurus make sure the eggs stay at 250 with large masses of meat.

However, before I got the three NanoQs I usually had one or two eggs cooking a mass of meat without the temp control and I still slept. Now I just sleep better.

Unknown

1) If your cooker is stable at 250 and you put 20lbs of cold meat in it the load has changed and the temp will not stay at 250 you need to get the cooker stable after the food is in I guess was my point.

2) dump was a poor choice of words. The meat slows absorbing the btus as it cooks with a spike coming from the plateau being reached. I learned this from unconudrum. He has sent me charts that show this.

3) Ok you are mostly right about this one since it is a ceramic cooker. I guess my point was for more for inefficient cookers.

love the cornbread recipe make it often.

[Deleted User]

I do a handfull of overnight cooks per year and they go fine without the fan.

I put them on early as I can, check the temp and poke it with the wiggle rod before going to bed at about 11:00. Check again during the night (when I'm up for a plumbing check)and poke it with the wiggle rod , check again early in the morning (6 or 7:00).

I use the maverick ET-73 but don't use the alarms. I never heard them when they went off anyway.

Nature Boy

LOL!!!

Celtic Wolf

1) That may be the case for other cookers, but the ceramics bounce back quickly. No extra effort is needed to get them back up to 250, except the effort it takes to turn around and go back into the house without playing with the vents.

2) I am usually asleep during the plateau, so I'll take your word for it..

3) One of the many reasons we love our cookers

Grandpas Grub

:laugh: :laugh:

It would probably talk all night to get 'em done.

GG

Fossil Frank

I do my all nighters the old fashioned way, without electronic aids. It just doesn't seem right to do it any other way. Half the fun of doing pulled pork is sleeping in the garage when cooking. I've never had any problem about waking up to check the temp. My last cook was my best one yet; the temp never varied more than ten degrees either way all night. There are no electronic gadgets in my future.
Frank from Indiana

mojo

I also enjoy cooking overnight without the power ventilators. That being said, there is definitely either a DigiQ or CyberQ in my future. I just wish one of those devices would come with a remote monitor (like the ET73). Well, maybe that's not entirely correct ... I guess one can monitor the temp remotely with the CyberQ, but I really like the alarm function and portability of the Maverick ET73. But 4 probes (2 for the guru and 2 for the Maverick) seems like a lot of wires exiting the cooker. I wonder if the Guru people are looking at that as an option?

Grandpas Grub

 
As you can see, cooking either way works great. I love both my Stoker and DigiQII.

I have had a fire go out when letting the Egg contorl the cook by itself and when using the DigiQII (q2). After the vertical burn with the q2 I use the Maverick ET-73 along with the q2 to make sure there no out of range temperatures. The egg is too far away from the bedroom to rely on the q2 alarms.

For me, the ET-73 is a must with or without a powered vent system - most of the time I don't want to get up during the night unless there is a problem. The ET-73 is also nice or cooks where I just don't want to be bothered with checking the dome temperature during a cook.

The ET-73 isn't needed, but it sure is nice to hear an alarm should the food be done or the pit temperature gets out of range - up or down.

GG

Grandpas Grub

 
The BBQ Guru boys have a model that has powered vent system that has remote receiver.

Stoker easily connects to a computer and has alarms.

GG