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New egger from Birmingham

jleon401
jleon401 Posts: 33
edited July 2012 in EggHead Forum
Happy Friday the 13th and hello to all fellow Eggers!!! I have recently purchased a LBGE (nest and side tables) and have done a few cooks i.e., whole chickens, ribs, and burgers. Looking forward to doing some long low and slows in the future and will be utilizing the plethora of knowledge and experience from the forum. Look forward to reading and chiming in on future post, and share cooks in the future.
LBGE, Smoke Hollow 4-in-1, Charbroil Big Easy, and Weber Smokey Joe.

Comments

  • Newville
    Newville Posts: 84
    Welcome jleon. Enjoy the journey!
  • vidalia1
    vidalia1 Posts: 7,092
    Welcome to the group...be sure and post pics of your cooks. Hope to see you in Atlanta Oct 19 & 20 for Eggtoberfest...
  • JwgreDeux
    JwgreDeux Posts: 139
    I'm also in Birmingham, and a newbie.  I've got a few cooks under my belt and have learned a ton from this forum.  Welcome and enjoy.
  • Welcome aboard! New Egghead here too!
    HOTTY TODDY!
  • jleon401
    jleon401 Posts: 33
    Appreciate the warm welcomes and will do what I can to attend Eggtoberfest! I hear it is a blast and a heck of and experience.
    LBGE, Smoke Hollow 4-in-1, Charbroil Big Easy, and Weber Smokey Joe.
  • Welcome sir. New egger here, also from Birmingham. Roll Tide

    Killen, AL (The Shoals)
    XL, Small, Minimax, and Mini BGEs
  • lousubcap
    lousubcap Posts: 32,162
    edited July 2012

    Welcome to all-what follows are some things I learned from the "school of hard knocks" that you may find useful (or not...):

    A couple of things-BGE fire is air flow controlled (assuming you have enough lump and got it going).  So, temperature control (aka fire volume) is a function of the amount of air flow through the bottom and out the top.  You can control by top or bottom vent or combinations of each (preferred for low temp cooks).  With any BGE (I have a LBGE) the trick is to catch the temperature rise on the way up to the desired end-point.  You have a lot of ceramic mass and if it gets heated above the target temperature it takes a while to cool down.

    So, with that-get a good mass of lump burning and then shut the dome and set your vents for the approximate final desired temp.  Minor adjustments as you go.  And remember, the feedback indicator to any adjustments is your dome thermo-and that will take a while.  So, patience is the name of the game at the low & slow temps.  Read all you really need to know here-<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />

    Best basic info site going- http://www.nakedwhiz.com/ceramic.htm 

    On indirect cooks (platesetter in) your dome temp will initially read around 20-40*F hotter than the temp at the cooking grid-gaps narrows the longer the dome is shut.  If not specified, cooking  temperatures reference the dome temp.  Check the calibration of your dome thermo before you start.  Always wait til the smoke is burning "clear" before putting your food on..(if smoke smells good then all is well, if not-wait)


    No need to worry about time to get to the low&slow cook temp-a few minutes delay on the many hour cook is not a deal-breaker.  Key is to not grossly overshoot your target temp-if you leave the dome open to initially get a good fire going-set the lower vent and DMFT to about where you expect them to be when steady-state at the time you shut the dome. Then adjust as necessary-and don't sweat "dead-on" temps for the low&slow cooks. 270*F+/- 30* is close enough.  Just get the BGE stable (45- 60 mins) and then let it do the work.  You can spend the cook chasing temperature (remember the fire is responding to air flow changes so the feedback loop has quite a delay time).  Relax and enjoy the journey-
    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.
  • Hic
    Hic Posts: 350
    Is there a sale on BGE in Birmingham? :)

    Here some more great info; http://eggheadforum.com/discussion/977506/x/p1

    Large, medium, small and a mini. Egg'n, golfing, beer drinking, camping and following football and baseball.
    Atlanta NOTP suburbia.

  • mcmac
    mcmac Posts: 496

    Congrats on your new Egg. I too am new to the egg family... in fact, so new that mine is still sitting in its shipping box out on my patio. Picked it up last night and will assemble this evening. I'm anxious to learn how to use this guy... I also have a Traeger pellet grill but I think there may be some differences and a new learning curve.

    I look forward to seeing how your food turns out! Should be a lot of fun.

    :)>-
    XL BGE -  Med BGE - Mini BGE - Traeger Pellet Grills

     Hillsboro OR
  • LizzieSamps
    LizzieSamps Posts: 894
    Welcome newbie here too! Have been blown away witht th help the vets on this forum offer. No matter time of day or night.
  • I, too, am a new Egger having purchased mine a week ago. Have done two slow cooks, a pork butt and beer can chicken. Even being a newbie, after getting the temps adjusted both attempts resulted in delicious melt in your mouth meals, even the skeptical wife was impressed. Can't wait to throw on a couple of steaks.

    Can anyone recommend a good rub for beer can chicken?
  • I, too, am a new Egger having purchased mine a week ago. Have done two slow cooks, a pork butt and beer can chicken. Even being a newbie, after getting the temps adjusted both attempts resulted in delicious melt in your mouth meals, even the skeptical wife was impressed. Can't wait to throw on a couple of steaks.

    Can anyone recommend a good rub for beer can chicken?
  • Sgt93
    Sgt93 Posts: 728
    Welcome and congrats. 
    XL BGE - Small BGE - A few Komodo Kamado Serious Big Bad 42s
    Follow me on Instagram: @SSgt93
  • hello and welcome....i as well am kinda new here...knowledge pics and people here are awsome !
  • jleon401
    jleon401 Posts: 33
    Roll Tide Roll Bama Griller!!!! I am already looking forward to the season to start again to show off what the BGE can do!
    mcmac and hueydriver....just be sure to follow the break in recommendations for the gasket!!! I got my coals going and went inside for all of 10 minutes and temp was up to 800. Shortly after getting the temp back down and starting to cook, the gasket melted together. So with that being said, I had to replace the gasket and went with the High-Que Nomex.
    LBGE, Smoke Hollow 4-in-1, Charbroil Big Easy, and Weber Smokey Joe.
  • jleon401
    jleon401 Posts: 33
    Lousubcap- that is some good stuff to know, appreciate it!
    LBGE, Smoke Hollow 4-in-1, Charbroil Big Easy, and Weber Smokey Joe.
  • mcmac
    mcmac Posts: 496
    Roll Tide Roll Bama Griller!!!! I am already looking forward to the season to start again to show off what the BGE can do!
    mcmac and hueydriver....just be sure to follow the break in recommendations for the gasket!!! I got my coals going and went inside for all of 10 minutes and temp was up to 800. Shortly after getting the temp back down and starting to cook, the gasket melted together. So with that being said, I had to replace the gasket and went with the High-Que Nomex.
    jleon401,

    Ya, thats been on my mind... I let it cook last night with no food at around 300 degrees and will cook at or below 400 for the few few cooks in hopes of letting the gasket seal properly. If for some reason it doesn't work and the gasket becomes toast... I will move on to a high temp gasket.
    Thanks for the reminder though!

    XL BGE -  Med BGE - Mini BGE - Traeger Pellet Grills

     Hillsboro OR