FYI Lo Temp

alegghead

As a owner since 7-3-10 I have cooked 3 times before I had temp troubles.On Monday I cooked a 13lb turkey, had trouble keeping temp at 350 but got turkey cooked. Today before I cooked pork tenderloin I scrapped the coals back and to my amazement most of the holes in the firebox were full of ash.
From now on I will clean the vent holes before I cook anything.

When someone suggests this may be the problem, check it out, it seems to have been mine.

Little Chef

alegghead....Welcome to the forum!! 3 cooks, three days...you're right on track!! :laugh: Thanks for sharing your temp issues. Just to share back, a habbit we have adopted is (cold egg of course!)to put on a pair of rubber gloves, and move all the lump around to shake off ash etc. We pay attention at the grate, to make sure it is ash and free and no clogged holes. If we need more lump, we add fresh to the top, then light. About every 3-5 cooks, we make sure we remove the ash through the bottom vent with an ash tool or shop vac. You identified the problem eary without developing frustration, so congrats to you on that! A wiggle stick is also a great idea, to poke up from the bottom of the grate. Sometimes things settle after doing the above. The wiggle stick has worked every time for us to reopen the grate holes.

http://thirdeyebbq.com/WiggleRods.aspx

Also...check out this website. This IS the lump master!! There are significant performance differences from one lump to another. Check your brand here....perhaps you may find a lump you like better....though 3 cooks on one load of lump is pretty good.

http://www.nakedwhiz.com/lump.htm

Buckdodger

alegghead....LC is right on about keeping vent holes open. I get my lge stabilized at whatever cook temp I am going to use. I let it stay there for about 1/2 hr, to make sure I don't have to tweak, b4 I add meat or vegies. Happy Eggin.

Bob
Alex City, Al