Bought the BGE two days ago, used it twice so far

Unknown · August 2005

The first night I made ABTs, which I've actually been making on gas grills, etc, for a long time. But, nothing beats charcoal. I want to say I had them in there around 325 for about 30 minutes. Some of the bacon was crispy, but not on all of them. Today I read 350 for 45 minutes-ish.[p]Yesterday I smoked ribs with indirect heat. I have no problem holding temperature, but the problem is I got it too hot. I had the temp around 280, which wasn't too bad. Then I took the ribs off, grill off, etc, and shuffled around the coals and closed it. Don't ask me why. For the rest of the time it stayed close to 350 no matter what I did with the vents, etc. I had the top open MAYBE 1/8", as well as the bottom, but it didn't seem to matter.[p]Every now and then I'd spray the ribs down, rotate them, etc. I'd open the egg to let the heat escape b/c I didn't want to cook them nearly that fast.[p]The last hour I put a handful of mesquite in, and then the last 30 minutes I basted them with a pepper jelly and cranked it up for the last 5 minutes or so to get a crust. [p]I thought for sure they were way overdone, but they very tender, right off the bone. I have no idea how that happened with such a high heat for so long, but it worked. [p]In the future I want to smoke them for 10-12 hours. I just don't know how. lol

Chef Wil · August 2005

Dr. Pork,
10 to 12 hrs is a long time for ribs, I have done them at 215 degrees for about 8 hrs and they were really a little overdone.

Truck 511 · August 2005

Dr. Pork,

Some of the more experienced guys will hopefully give you some advice, but I would think that your high temp problem occured when you "shuffled" your coals. [p]A few weeks back I moved my BGE closer to the house. On one of my cooks, I noticed that the house smelled like hickory. (My wife said, "you know I love the egg food and can tolerate listening to your stories about the egg, but does the house have to smell like and egg?") Since it would be impossible to move the hot egg away from the house I decided to get the wood chunks out of the coal bed. Trying to make sure that I found them all, I stirred up the coals looking for any more wood. [p]I realized that I now had lit off all of my lump and the temp would get too high, so I closed down all of my vents to try to control this. A few minutes later I decided to look inside my egg to see if I should switch from direct to indirect and when I opened up the lid,.... FLASHBACK!!!![p]Burning armhair stinks.[p]Anyway, My experience has been that on my lower to mid temp cooks, not all of the lump will burn. If you want to keep the temps down, don't fiddle with the coal.[p]Matt[p]

Sandbagger · August 2005

Dr. Pork, If you shuffled the lump, then you could have created a bigger burn potential by mixing and spreading the burning lump into the nonburning lump. Thus 350 degrees.[p]I try to think in terms of oxygen, More oxygen provides more heat, given adequate lump supply. So if the bottom and top are 1/8 inch open and you keep opening the lid, you are messing with the balance of oxygen. Just keep cooking and hang out here and before long you will be an expert.[p]Is that pepper jelly you used from Texanna, Texas Pepper Jelly. I got some in the fridge, but have not used it yet. Thanks for reminding me about it. Tom

Smoked Signals · August 2005

Dr. Pork,
Don't forget to sneak up on the temperature you are shooting for - do NOT overshoot. Once the egg gets hot it is difficult to cool down. Also, do not let all the lump get going before trying to control the temp. Light a section and close the lid. Start with all vents wide open and adjust towards closed as you come up on target temp. I never mess with the charcoal unless the fire goes out .. then I stir the lump, add new and repeat door open process. Lump does not work like normal charcoal. Do not wait for it to "dust over".
Hope that helps.
Doug

Unknown · August 2005

I've never used lump at all, so that's what's throwing me off. Thank you for the advice. .[p]I can't remember what sort of pepper jelly it is, it's a 'XXX' and won some Scovie awards, though. A buddy sent it from Portland.[p]On a side note, if you don't have any "Swamp Scum" hot sauce, check that out. The stuff is unbelievable.

Unknown · August 2005

Holy crap, how hot was it when it flashed? I read that in the book, I think it said when it's 500 or more it can do that if you don't crack vents for a minute before opening the lid. Then you should slowly open the lid.[p]

Truck 511 · August 2005

Dr. Pork,[p]It was probably in the 450 -500 range. Funny thing is that I was trying to hold 350 for some boneless chicken breasts. I was doing great at holding 350 until I stirred the lump. [p]Anytime you've had the fire buring in the higher temps and you remove it oxygen, it is good practice to watch out for flashback.[p]Not sure what the best method is when opening the egg when there is flashback potential. I just put on a glove and open the egg about 2 inches and then close it and do this about 3 times so that I can get some oxygen in there. If I am really worried about it I will lift the daizy wheel off and let some heat out.

tach18k · August 2005

Dr. Pork, One thing is you dont need to add anything to the lump. Any reason to add the mesquite in when you did? Usually any smoke you want is done at the begining. Also what type lump did you use?[p]I have done my ribs at 250 for 4 hours and sauce at the end. No moving the coals or things like that. Less fuss equal better turnout.
A good rule of thumb is knowing what you need to get where you want.
for a good 250 dome my lower vent is 1/32" open, the top vents are the same. Given the fact that you shut the vents down when it was about 225 dome. There it will stay for hours.
With the top vents open all the way, which is about 1/4 ", and the bottom vent is wide open, then I get 350 solid, and again that you closed the top to 1/4" when it got about 300-325.
These are on a large Egg.

Dr. Pork · August 2005

I put the chips in towards the end b/c I didn't want too much smoke from the chips. I've heard of a couple people getting too much smoke since these retain smoke so well.[p]The lump I use is the BGE lump. .

tach18k · August 2005

Dr. Pork,
an average time for smoke is about 1 hour at the begining. A habdfull of small chips may be about 20 minutes of smoke.

Dr. Pork · August 2005

It depends on what kind of smoke, though, doesn't it?

Bought the BGE two days ago, used it twice so far

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