getting started

Jo

I've only recently purchased my egg. At first I had no problem getting the fire started. 6-10 min just as the man said. Lately I've been having a lot of difficulty getting my egg up to temperature. Yes, I remove the ashes after each grilling. Yes, I use the Green Egg charcoal (even though it sells for $17.00 a bag here). I've been trying to get the temperature up for a half hour now without any luck. Lots of smoke, no heat. What am I doing wrong?[p]

Unknown

Jo,
may be not enough lumbs!
I have had opposite effect on my egg where I could not bring it down to below 300 without removing some charcoal.

BlueSmoke

Jo,[p]You might check the alignment of the firebox - if it's not aligned with the draft opening it restricts airflow to the coals.[p]Ken

BeerMike

Jo, Make sure all the ashes are down through the grate and the holes in the grate are not plugged with little pieces of lump. Good air flow is important.[p]I once used a lot of little pieces of lump. It took forever for the temp to climb! The problem here is there is little to no airflow. [p]Hope this helps.[p]BeerMike

Unknown

hho,[p]Oh yah. You need more lumbs. I'm not sure where to get any lumbs, so I've just been throwing all my food on the egg over the small lumbless smokey fire. It sure tastes awful..and takes forever to cook too. To top it off..since my wife knows I can't cook for beans..without lumb at least..she left last week saying she was in search of lumbs for me, and I haven't seen her since. She's probably holed up in a Denny's somewhere drooling over a chicken fried steak or something. So let's see..smokey undercooked food..or the wife..smokey undercooked food...or the wife...hmm..I'm starting to think lumb is way overrated...far overrated. Today I had a little celebration of my own..I sat out on the patio..gnawing on some undercooked smokey chicken kabobs..as I watched the set of false teeth she left behind..slowly burst into flames in the egg..and as I did so..I dreamed of her sitting in that Dennys.. gumming that chicken fried steak to death...but for some strange reason..it was just then that I started to miss her..[p]lumbless and loveless in NH

The Naked Whiz

Jo,
There are only two reasons why your fire might not be getting as hot as before. First is airflow. Check the holes in the grate and the firebox. If you remove the ashes, did you remove the firebox? If so, did you replace with the hole in the bottom aligned with vent in the bottom of the egg?[p]Second reason might be not enough lump. Are you adding more so that you have close to a full firebox?[p]TNW

WessB

Jo,
Along with all of the other good advice..do you by chance have the ceramic charcoal grate?? the new steel one allows much better airflow, secondly, have you calibrated the thermometer recently?...Also fill the lump to the top of the firebox each time you add lump...when I light up looking for high temp the bottom vent is wide open and nothing on the top...lastly, what are you using to light the fire, if it is starter cubes you may want to use more than one. Use several placed in different areas of the lump......HTH[p]Wess

Sundown

Jo,
"Yes, I remove the ashes after each grilling."
I'm not sure why you remove the ashes after each cook. Don't bother, just stir the leftover lump a little before you start your next cook to make sure the grate holes are clear, add some fresh lump and light the Egg up.