Problem with Indirect

Unknown

I had problems with indirect cooking my last two times. I have been using a plate setter inverted so that I could put my drip pan between the upturned legs. I did a turkey last night and had to remove the fire ring so that the turkey would stand on the turkey setter or whatever you call that metal cone. My problem is that this caused me to place the plate setter right on top of the lump. I think I must really be lmiting the air flow. I had the temp steady at 300 for about 1/2 hour and then when I put the plate setter on. Temp dropped down to 225 and it took me almost an hour to get it back up, even with the vent and top fully open. Is there another way to do the indirect that I am missing. Thanks in advance.[p]jake

The Naked Whiz

jake57,
If the plate setter is actually touching the lump, it is going to severely restrict your fire. Even if it is barely above the lump, your airflow is going to be so restricted, that the fire is going to have a tough time burning. You need to figure a way to set the turkey in there without having the plate setter on the lump or else put the turkey on a conventional rack.
TNW

Borders

jake,
Removing the fire ring should be a last resort. I can't think of a reason to do that. There's no need to put the turkey on anything other than the cooking grid when you have a plate setter in place. Dont worry about stands, etc.
You are right. You're limiting the air flow, and wasting the great convection heating of the Egg by taking out the fire ring.
However, putting the plate setter in always lowers the temps for a while, because it's cool, and you have to opne the top of the Egg a while to do it.
Scott[p]

katman

jake57,[p]I've cooked plenty of birds on my eggs and never used one of those cones. My largest turkey was just shy of 24 pounds. Squeezed it into one of those aluminum roaster pans (breast down) and set it on a sheet pan on the top rack. Flipped the bird to breast up an hour or so before it ws done. This was my usual approach before I got the platesetter.[p]Now I set the platesetter legs up on the fire ring with a drip pan. The bird goes on the grill. The platesetter seems to add a half hour or so to the time to reach a stable cook temperature.