Medium BGE - New Owner - Maintaining Temp

Unknown

I bought the Medium BGE. I have used it 4 times now. The weather has been mostly hovering around zero degrees the last week or so in NE Wis. Wind chills around -8 to -10. Today I am indirect (with plate setter) cooking spare ribs. No matter what I do it seems that it is hard for me to get the BGE to hold a temp. Today (5 degrees out) it took me the about 45 min to get it to stablize at 350 deg. cooking ribs using JSlot's recipe. The BGE therometer is out about an inch and a half from the dome surface. The daisy wheel is open all the way and the vent is almost all the way open. Still hard to maintain 350 deg right now it's about 325. Can't seem to get it back to 350 deg.
Last weekend I cooked a pork roast indirect at 325 deg it was hard to maintain the heat near the end of the cooking time of 2 hours as well. After the BGE cooled down I looked in and saw that there were not too many pieces of charcoal left. Does the medium egg have to have more charcoal added during a lenghty cook? Or is is that I just don't know what the H_ _ _ I am doing? Suggestions please.[/b]

ToyCollector

Greg,[p]Did you check and make sure all the holes in the grate and fire ring we unplugged before the cook? More lump may be needed if it looks low, or if you started low.

RRP

Greg,
sounds like you don't have enough lump to start with. While a 350 fire isn't rip roaring it does consume lump. If you are referring to that crappy cook book, please pitch it - it implies to newbies that all you need is a handful of lump and that it will burn for hours - I keep my eggs filled to the bottom of the fire ring all the time. It's not a waste - you'll snuff the fire when you're done, but in the meantime the lump is there when Mr Egg works his magic and says "need more heat - burn more lump" while you're inside keeping warm. Don't worry about Wisconsin winter ambient temps as Mr Egg is just fine! PS welcome to the board!

The Other Dave

Greg, As well as the other suggestions, a common error is to have the lower most inner piece, the fire ring's slot, not lined up with the bottom vent. This is very important, so if I failed to describe it well, let me know and I'll try again.

Unknown

The Other Dave,
Thanks for the info. I noticed that it was not aligned correctly today just before I started the egg. Removed everything (except the charcoal) and aligned it to the opening. I finished the last slab I had after posting this message. Still could not get it above 350 until I opened the daisy wheel itself about a quarter to 3/8ths inches. Then it held right around 350 (give or take). I thought the purpose of the daisy wheel was that all you had to do was open the daisy wheel slots and the bottom vent and away you go. Apparently that is not the case?? Getting a little irritated by this. Do you think the large egg is easier to control than the medium? I wouldn't think it would be because it works on the same principle. Maybe it's because I am just not familiar with it enough - takes practice? Thanks again. I appreciate the help.[/b]

Shelby

Greg,
Welcome! There is a small learning curve to get the temp control issue down. Unfortunatley, you probably can't spend much time outside to observe/make minor adjustments, etc. Now that you've got the opening in the firebox aligned with the bottom vent, try loading up with lump and do a "practice" cook. Maybe have some burgers or something to throw on at the end, but initially, just try to get used to controlling the temp.
You and the egg will be fine.
(I probably shouldn't mention that I sat on my back patio sipping a beer in shorts as the egg cooked a turkey breast.)

The Other Dave

Greg,There is a learning curve, and just like every other leaned skill, some just do better than others on certain tasks. But we all learned to walk and ride bikes, right?[p]Regarding the daisy wheel, I flip mine completely open until temp is almost reached, then adjust the slots on the wheel. Sometimes I don't even fool with the lower vent until it's time to shut down. I think it depends on how ofen I have to lift the dome.[p]