Long Cooks

Trojan Egg

I posted in a previous thread about Cooking a Boston Butt (8lbs) but forgot to ask how much charcoal do I use and how long do I let the fire heat up/to what temp before I start to cook?

Bacchus

Load it up past the top of the firebox. Stabilize Egg at 250ish.

Good Luck, and welcome aboard.

2Fategghead

What Bacchus said and let your egg stabilize for about an hour before you put your meat in and when you do don't change your vent settings they will restore assuming you stabilize your egg with your plate-setter in there as well. Tim

Also, Welcome to the forum.

Trojan Egg

How do you keep the dang thing from jumping up to 400+ degrees? I have already had to replace the felt gasket because the heat went sky high and when I tried to burp it a flame jumped out and bit me!

Grandpas Grub

 
If you egg is stabilized it won't jump up until you open the dome and let more oxygen into the lump. When you close the dome the egg will fall back down - that is if you don't play with the vent settings after it is stabilized.

GG

DynaGreaseball

Also, since you can always reburn lump that hasn't completely turned into ash, just always fill your egg up almost to the top of the fire ring. You won't waste any. Just stir up the cold lump to knock the ash off of the pieces before you add to it, or light it.

Trojan Egg

Thanks!

DynaGreaseball

Welcome to the singed arm hair club! (and eyebrows and eyelashes) I think we've all done it. If I remember, and I have a real hot fire and want to open the dome for any reason, I always make sure the bottom vent is all the way open, and Miss Daisy is either off, or fully open. Then, ya still gotta be careful, but at least you won't be introducing all that fresh oxygen into the egg from right around the felt and where your hands and arms are. Gloves are good too.

Dave in So Cal

This discussion raises a question for me. I know that we need to let the lump burn for a while to get out the VOCs. However, all the lump on a long cook is not lit when you put the meat on since the egg burns lump from the ignition source out.

Are the VOCs less volitile when the lump and egg are hot? How come we do not get the nasty acrid smoke as new lump gets involved in the fire?

Maybe I need a physicist.

Jeffersonian

What GG said...the trick is to not let it get up to 400* before you start throttling it back. When it starts getting up to 200-225*, begin closing down the upper and lower vents so it won't overshoot your 250* setpoint.

Mike in Abita

Here is what I have come up with as far as VOCs are concerned

The burning of VOCs does not have to happen on each piece of lump. The heat from one piece burning 6-8-10" away from another is enough to remove the majority of VOCs we are concerned with in lump charcoal. The best way to determine that the VOCs are at a more tolerable level is by observing the smoke. Less smoke or as its sometime known "Clear Blue" is lump burning with an acceptable amount of VOCs.

I use the words majority and acceptable in relative terms. Scientifically those two terms are too ambiguous.

On a side note, if you knew what those VOCs were you would not worry about Rutland gaskets, galvanized bolts off gassing, and a few other things that come up from time to time.

Grandpas Grub

 
From what I have read about burning wood/charcoal, as I understand it, the burning lump as it heats releases gasses. Those are the VOC's which we talk about.

Upon initial lighting, and the way we light, there is simply not enough heat to allow efficient burning of the gasses. Thus, we have the 'dirty smoke'.

The clean burn or clean smoke, is a bluish clear or a light white smoke. My thoughts are there is enough oxygen and heat to efficiently light and burn the new lump as the burn grows inside the egg. And, or there is not enough smoke/VOC's to be all that noticeable.

The flashback side of all this would oxygen starvation inside the egg. The lump is overheated and creating more smoke/VOC's and as soon as oxygen is allowed inside the egg, or the oxygen finds a way into the egg the smoke/VOC's will ignight in somewhat of an explosion - flashback. If we are in the way that leaping flame will bite us.

As said above opening the lower vent and top vents fully for a few seconds usually eliminates the flashback.

GG