multi-level cooks

GoKooL

What is your experience using multi-level grids as far as affecting cook times on meat depending on the level? With larger meats, I'm sure you can monitor internal temps of individual pieces with multiple probes (if you have them), but I can see it being a more cumbersome process with ribs.

Given the variation (slight) in temp based on the vertical position within the egg, has anyone found that this significantly affects the time of similar sized and types of meat? For that matter, anyone noticed a problem with cooking ribs vertically in a rack as opposed to flat?

I know the temp variation is relatively small, but we're often shooting for specific temps and 10-20 degrees over a period of hours must make a difference...or does it?

tjv

Temperatures in the egg are impacted by several variables: amount of lump, size of burn, airflow from slider to daisy wheel, type and size of indirect piece(s) and as you suggested distances.

Cooking in the egg is not so much about specfic times as you find with oven cooking. It's more about feel, experience and practice, lots of practice.

The best thing to do, if you are new to egging, is keep a brief log on your cooks. What went right and as important what went wrong with a brief description of the set up, cook and target temps. You'll find that after a while certain things will become natural actions. Plus, you'll begin to recognize and stay on top of minor flucuations during the cook.

One thing I find is: consistancy is key. Consistancy with good cooks develops good habits. Good habits over time builds the right kind of experience to pull off the occassional unusual cook and avert troublesome cooks.

The wealth of information on this board is huge, but for new folks it can be overwhelming, as the methods explained are as popular as the board's diversity. Just take it all in stride, the more you hang around here and the more you egg, the more comfortable you'll become with the information.

Lastly, recgnize you'll screw up no matter how long you've been egging. Heck, I burned brats and hamburgers for kids who came over to watch the UT Alabama game.

Feel free to email me your phone number if you want to discuss further: acgpinc@verizon.net

tom

GoKooL

Appreciate the comments.

I've had a large for 8 years now, but mostly did direct grilling until this past year--I was one of the many unwashed BGE owners that wasn't familiar with the forum or the excellent plate setter. I added an XL and have been experimenting with larger and longer cooks, with the guidance from this site and others.

I was thinking of buying one of the multi-level set ups and, after reading various posts about the differences in temps, was wondering if the slight difference in elevation would make a difference. Mostly, I was wondering about ribs as the other meats are more easily monitored by temp. I assume it would be akward to pull the ribs off the bottom level just to check the "bend", but I don't know. Or even to get an idea on how much longer the higher level meats take to cook on average, put the smaller stuff on top, etc.

Using the BGE is a lot like I remember fishing was when I was a kid...it's nice to catch the big ones, but it's just as much fun to keep the pole in the water and play around.

tjv

I find items on the lower grid do cooker faster. For ribs, I rotate grids, so all the ribs finish at the same time. I lay them flat because I foil during the cook.

The XL is my favorite cooker. t

GoKooL

Thanks. I like cooking mine flat too...I'll have to give it a try.

Ripnem

GoKool,

FYI, not 100% sure, but I think tjv is the founder and owner of the ceramic grill store.

www.ceramicgrillstore.com

It is everything BGE.

His adjustable rig/spider is next on my list.

GoKooL

That's actually what I was planning on buying...