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Fire...OUT

bariccardi
bariccardi Posts: 53
edited February 2012 in EggHead Forum
Happened for the first time today.  Have 3 racks of ribs on, after about 2:50 minutes I look at the temperature gauge, just under 200.  Open the egg and fire is out.  I checked it probably 20 minutes before and was right at 250.

-Cleaned ash before cook
-Had plenty of fuel (in fact still a bunch of charcoal was not burned)

Any ideas on why?  Never happened before

Comments

  • lousubcap
    lousubcap Posts: 32,174
    When you looked at the burn pattern, did it by chance burn straight down?  These things need fuel, air flow and the initial heat source to get the fire going-after that as long as all three are present then you should be good to go-sorry for the lack of any additional pearls of wisdom.
    Louisville; Rolling smoke in the neighbourhood. # 38 for the win.  Life is too short for light/lite beer!  Seems I'm livin in a transitional period.
  • How long did you let the egg stabilize before putting the meat on?



    Did you sort the lump or just pour it in there straight out of the bag?



    Was the bottom grate clean, or relatively clean, of little pieces and ash?



    Are you sure that the hole in the firebox is right in front of the lower vent?





    Are you sure that the thermometer is working correctly?



    Lack of air is always my first concern.  Small pieces of unburned lump
    and ash can definitely block airflow.  For this reason I build my lump
    for long cooks from the bottom up putting the larger pieces in the
    bottom and then the medium and small pieces more on top.



    If you had really big chuncks of charcoal the fire can possibly burn itself out if the lit pieces of lump are separated.



    Jackson, Tennessee. VFL (Vol for Life)
  • Thanks for the thoughts. More info

    How long did you let the egg stabilize before putting the meat on?
    Was stabilized for 45 minutes

    Did you sort the lump or just pour it in there straight out of the bag?
    No sort, straight out of the bag

    Was the bottom grate clean, or relatively clean, of little pieces and ash?
    Yes, cleaned prior to adding new coals and starting fire.  

    Are you sure that the hole in the firebox is right in front of the lower vent?
    Yes

    Are you sure that the thermometer is working correctly?
    Yes, have had many cooks over the last 6 weeks. When I opened the egg you could easily tell fire was out.

    It was odd.  Done many cooks over the last 6 weeks, no issues at all. Fire has always been easy to start, stabilize and, maintain.  Not sure where the issue was here....just want to make sure it doesn't happen again.

    Thanks for the help all
  • When you looked at the burn pattern, did it by chance burn straight down?  These things need fuel, air flow and the initial heat source to get the fire going-after that as long as all three are present then you should be good to go-sorry for the lack of any additional pearls of wisdom.
    Wasn't really straight down.  
  • gerhardk
    gerhardk Posts: 942
    Did the daisy wheel close when you checked 20 minutes earlier?

    Gerhard
  • gdenby
    gdenby Posts: 6,239
    "Wasn't really straight down"

    But did the fire get all the way to the bottom? That is a fairly common way for fires to go out, but it usually takes several hours.

    The only other times I had fires go out was when I lit in just one place, and had a fire with a dome temp of around 230. My guess in those cases is that a 230 dome might be from just on lump burning. Depending on how it burns, the fire doesn't spread.

    At any rate, I always light in at least 3 places. And I do bother with placing the lump by hand if I plan on cooking longer than 6 hours. At least, I put a couple of big lumps at the bottom to keep little pieces and ash from blocking the grate holes.
  • Did the daisy wheel close when you checked 20 minutes earlier?

    Gerhard
    Good question. I don't think so. Not 100% SURE