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Cooking temp with the plate setter

canoeandcue
canoeandcue Posts: 41
edited December 2011 in EggHead Forum

How high can you get your dome temp with the plate setter in? I am having trouble achieving temps above 300F. Do I need to clean out egg completely and fill with lump to the top of the fire ring ? Cooking a standing rib roast last week, the fire ring was about 2/3 to 3/4 full. Wide open bottom vent and daisy wheel slid all the way open. All ashes from the bottom cleaned out before the cook. I know the "3 rib roast" would bring down the temp when put in, it never got above 300Deg. Is this normal?

Comments

  • BBQMaven
    BBQMaven Posts: 1,041
    If you are talking a LBGE set up like that, you should have been nuclear inside an hour. Are you sure the lower grate was not plugged? the dome thermometer is calibrated? the meat was not touching the tip of the dome thermometer?
    At the end of the cook was the Egg too hot to touch?
    Kent Madison MS
  • canoeandcue
    canoeandcue Posts: 41
    edited December 2011
    LBE Set up. Not plugged, Thermometer is calibrated to +or- 2 deg. no meat touching. The egg was hot to touch, but not real hot.  I really think the thermometer is working fine.  Plate setter - legs up with drip pan. What dome temp can you achive with the plate setter legs up? Does it have to be full with charcoal to the top of the fire ring? Thanks for any input.
  • stike
    stike Posts: 15,597
    did you, uh, throw the meat and the platesetter in at the same time, cold?
    ed egli avea del cul fatto trombetta -Dante
  • For pizza I got thermonuclear before putting the plate setter. Open vent, no daisy wheel, firebox cranked with lump and voila... 600 F within 15 minutes, the I put the PS, reduce the vent to an inch,and it stabilize to 550 F.
    BGE XL, Large & Mini, Black Wifi Stoker Cannes, France
  • Warmed up plate setter with the egg and meat was almost room temp. when I started cooking. Gamera06 do you have the platesetter legs down cooking at the felt line? I can achive that temp no prob. I have had this problem during a couple of cooks "leggs up" griddle on top with drip pan for gravy. Can you achieve this temp with a half full fire ring of charcoal?
    did you, uh, throw the meat and the platesetter in at the same time, cold?
  • gdenby
    gdenby Posts: 6,239
    Take the daisy wheel off. I've reached 550 with a platesetter in, but the fire burnt all the lump in maybe half an hour.

    Also assume the platesetter will take quite awhile to heat up. For a fire that produced a dome off 250, I found that when I added a room temperature platesetter, it took twice as long for the dome to return to 250, and by that time the 'setter was over 400F.

    For bread baked on a 'setter and pizza stone combo, it took over 40 minutes for the stone to reach 450.
  • njl
    njl Posts: 1,123
    I just found that I have a new (store's not even really built out yet) BGE dealer real close by, and so I stopped by and picked up a plate setter for the LBGE.  I knew to let the plate setter warm up with the egg, as you do with baking stones.  But I was still kind of surprised by how long it took to get the dome temp up.

    I'm experimenting with a round eye roast, and wanted somewhere in the 300-350 range.  It took surprisingly long to get above 200F.  I did eventually get to 350F with the wheel's small vents open, and the main part just open a crack...and bottom vent open about 1".  I was pressed for time, so I actually put the meat in before the egg was up to temp (just over 200F), but the fire had been burning probably close to an hour.

    I guess this is more or less normal with the plate setter?

    I lit the egg today a new way for me.  Corn oil soaked paper towel from below.  I didn't think it was going to catch from just one, but I setup my fan at the bottom vent before giving up on it, and found that with the extra air, it did catch.  So, one folded up paper towel, and maybe 2 Tbsp corn oil got the job done.

    Meat's been on about 1:40, and is nearly done.  No idea how edible it'll be.

    My buggy Taylor just told me it's at 120F.  For the second cook in a row, I've caught the Taylor shutting itself off for no obvious reason during the cook.  About 45min in today, I went out to check on it, and found the Taylor shut off.  It's supposedly got battery warning indicators on both the base and remote, and neither says the batteries are bad.  It's still using the original no-name batteries.  I guess I'll try some fresh Duracells...but if it does it with those, back to Costco it'll go.
  • stike
    stike Posts: 15,597
    open your vents more
    ed egli avea del cul fatto trombetta -Dante
  • You lit it from below? Like from below the fire grate? You will use a whole lot more lump like that.

    Steve 

    Caledon, ON

     

  • njl
    njl Posts: 1,123
    You lit it from below? Like from below the fire grate? You will use a whole lot more lump like that.
    I've been doing it that way for a while...it seems like a more reliable way to make sure the fire catches and keeps going.  Most people light from the top or near the top?  You pretty much have to get fire under the lump for it to catch, no?
  • rodent
    rodent Posts: 106
    I light from top if I am doing a slow cook.if I want to sear I light from bottom and get a hot fire quickly
  • njl
    njl Posts: 1,123
    Well...the just over 3lb eye round roast sucked.  Just as I'd read was likely, it came out pretty tough.  I don't have a slicer, so I sliced it as thin as I could with a carving knife.  The taste isn't bad (kids even ate it), but it's just too chewy. I have another, just under 3lb in the freezer now.  I think I may slice it into steaks and marinate the heck out of them.
  • njl
    njl Posts: 1,123
    I cooked the eye round to 130F.  While resting on a plate loosely covered with foil, it made it up to 140F.
  • Warmed up plate setter with the egg and meat was almost room temp. when I started cooking. Gamera06 do you have the platesetter legs down cooking at the felt line? I can achive that temp no prob. I have had this problem during a couple of cooks "leggs up" griddle on top with drip pan for gravy. Can you achieve this temp with a half full fire ring of charcoal?
    did you, uh, throw the meat and the platesetter in at the same time, cold?
    I did my first pizza with legs down as described in BGE videos and book, but then I switched to legs ups, grille at felt line and baking stone on the grille. It seems that more hot air around the stone helps cooking. BGE customers service told me so...

    I'm cooking short ribs indirect today, but that a low & slow...


    BGE XL, Large & Mini, Black Wifi Stoker Cannes, France
  • BakerMan
    BakerMan Posts: 159
    edited December 2011

    "How high can you get your dome temp with the plate setter in? I am having trouble achieving temps above 300F. "

    You should have no trouble getting your Egg to 1000 degrees even with the with plate setter in.  You want to make sure the grate and vent holes are clean before you light grill. Before lighting grill I always stir the remaining charcoal around and knock all the ash and small chunks down throught the grate.  Then I poke a all the ash out of all the round vent holes in the firebox.  Load charcoal and light from top with a wax/wood firestarted about an inch square.  Leave top up until charcoal is starting to burn strong and is smoking.  If I am cooking indirect, I always put platesetter in early and leave whether I am cooking low (200-300) or high (> 600) for pizza.

    Heres a link to a more detailed post on Temperature Control
    http://eggheadforum.com/discussion/comment/1145445#Comment_1145445 

    BakerMan - Purcellville, VA "When its smokin' its cookin', when its black its done"