New egghead

First, fill your firebox with lump for ALL fires. Next go at your first opportunity & light a fire & LEARN temp controll. Start shooting for approx. 250 (low & slow temp.) When you are at about 200 set your vents where they should be for 250 & let it stabalize. Most are open about 1/8" at the bottom & daisey pedals barely open for this.
If you accomplish that then try to let a little more air in & hit 350 (a good roasting temp.) Once you are stable there, then if you want you can go higher for grilling/searing but you should have the idea by then.
Less air = lower temp. More air = higher temps.
When you shut it down, the fire should go out in approx. an hour. Once cold, stir the leftover lump to shake the ash through your grate & add more lump as necessary. Lastly, learn to cook anything to an internal temp. not for a particular length of time.
Hope this helps, welcome & good eggin to ya.

Here's my two cents worth after a year of egging. I find the brand of charcoal can make a difference - for grilling I use Cowboy charcoal as it heats up quickly. For low and slow and overnight cooks I use Wicked Good Charcoal which seems denser and can hold a temp for longer. If I use it for a quick grill, I get frustrated waiting for it to heat up and end up constantly adjusting the vents and chasing the temp dial.

I light the charcoal with a MAPP torch (about $40 including the igniter bit). It gets the coal up to temp quickly and impresses the ladies. You'll find we all have our own preferred methods, I guess there's no right or wrong.

Check the thermometer by dipping it in boiling water - if it's off, you'll have to grip the bolt on the back with a pair of pliers and twist the dial. I checked mine over the summer and found it was about 50F off at boiling temps.

I won't give any tips on cooking techniques, other members have waaaay more experience than me, I'm still learning.

Have fun, and good luck with the rib. I'm doing beef tenderloin which cost a small fortune, and I'm similarly nervous about screwing up.

forgot to add: although you probably don't want to fork out more cash at this point, an instant read thermometer from Thermoworks is also very useful (about $90 bucks or so online).

Welcome! Lots of great advice so far.

A standing rib roast is a great cook and pretty forgiving. Here is one method:

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

Plan on lighting your fire an hour before you want to put it on to get the fire nice and stable. Don't fuss over the temp of the egg too much. If you are shooting for 325 and it settles in at 350 no big deal. DO watch the internal temp of the meat. I highly recommend some kind of probe style thermometer that allows you to monitor the temp of the meat with the egg closed. If you don't have time to get one of those- then a simple "oven going" thermometer you can get at any grocery store will suffice. Just put in in the top so you can look down through the daisy wheel to check the temp.

Good luck!

Do follow the link listed above by bwag829. The list of newbie info Grandpa's Grub put together is pretty complete.

You don't mention if you have a quick read thermometer. If you don't, get at least a $10 - $15 pocket therm. They are not terribly accurate or quick, but are of great use telling when meats being cooked are just about ready.

Forget most of what you know from metal cookers. Ceramic cookers are way different. The big thing is that the Egg has really good air flow control (assuming the lid seal is tight.) That is the key to regulating the fire no matter how much lump you have in. Even a couple of handfuls of lump burning with the top and bottom vents all the way open will give a hot, if brief, fire.

You mention you made a pizza, so I guess you must have a stone, or something to block the heat from the lump. The difference between grilling direct and indirect is large. If cooking on a grill raised to the lid level, and a dome of 350, you can burn burgers. Placing something underneath, even a pie pan, will pretty much guarantee that any burgers above it will not char. Of course, you can always overcook by leaving them in too long, but most likely they will not end up cinders.

When cooking, keep the lid down as much as possible. For quick cooks, like burgers, brats, chicken pieces, etc., you will only need to open every 10 minutes or so with temps between 300 and 400. Keep the lid open for the shortest time possible. And don't be distracted by temperature variances after you open the lid. If the vent positions do not change, the heat inside the Egg will pretty quickly come back to where it was before opening the vents.

Good luck. All the posts so far have had good info, and if you are a little careful, the roast should be fine.

Again, do get a thermometer if you don't have one!

That would be an interesting race. Ive had my egg for a little over a year now. I forget who on this forum recommended me to get it as hot as possible and then drop it down. It doesn't take that long at all to drop it to your desired temp. Ive always done it that way.

 
Congratulations and welcome to the forum.

You need to learn to control your egg, which is a simple task. There are some links above which will be of great help. Of course, you have watched the video/CD and read the manual. Also, make sure you calibrate your dome thermometer.

A Standing Rib Roast is a great cook, easy and very rewarding. I didn't do a sear (before or after) and you are not going to see that medium cooked ring around the outside edge of the meat. Love the medium rare and wanted the whole cut to be that way.





Here is a link with instructions to cook a great Standing Rib Roast (Prime Rib)

Cook your food to temperature and not to time. Get a Thermapen.

Again congratulations on your new egg.

GG

Get ahold of some Wicked good charcoal, and give it a try its some good stuff its all I use! happy egging!