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Egg Temperature- Help!

asfish
asfish Posts: 25
edited May 2013 in EggHead Forum

I’ve just stuck an 11lb Butt in my XL Egg, plan as before was to cook it 2 hours per pound. I stuck it in an hour ago for a 22 hour cook plus an hour of standing.

Problem I have is the temperature, I want is around 225F and its creeping up to 290F all the time,  I have the snuffer cap on as well.

Any Ideas how I can bring the temp down??

I keep opening the lid and that brings it down for a while but it soon creeps up again.

Comments

  • sumoconnell
    sumoconnell Posts: 1,932
    How open is your bottom& top vent? Photo?

    +++++++++++++++++++++++++++
    Austin, Texas.  I'm the guy holding a beer.
  • asfish
    asfish Posts: 25
    Vent is closed as well, i have for all intents snuffed the egg but the temp keeps climbing
  • Black_Badger
    Black_Badger Posts: 1,182
    edited May 2013
    225 will be very tough to maintain, so don't chase that. Open bottom to about the width of a nickel, put daisy on top with petals about half open and let it lock in (probably ~250-260).

    I've cooked larger butts than than and never gone 22 hrs.

    Once temp is locked in just leave the lid down and let it do its thing.

    Let us know how it goes.

    Cheers -
    B_B
    Finally back in the Badger State!

    Middleton, WI
  • Charlie tuna
    Charlie tuna Posts: 2,191
    Each egg, depending on it's air openings(gasket and vent seals) has a minimum temperature it will operate at!  It sounds as though you have "no temperature controller", and you have the top vent closed, and can't control temperature at 225 degrees.  The only thing you can do is reduce the air entering the bottom vent to control temperature!  If the bottom vent is totally closed, you have enough air entering the gasket and vents seals preventing you from operating at lower temperatures.  I cook low and slows using a temperature controller, and my gasket got so bad, the lowest i could cook at was 270 to 280 degrees, while my controller was set at 225 degrees.  Remember the controller can't control "air leakage"!!
  • asfish
    asfish Posts: 25
    Each egg, depending on it's air openings(gasket and vent seals) has a minimum temperature it will operate at!  It sounds as though you have "no temperature controller", and you have the top vent closed, and can't control temperature at 225 degrees.  The only thing you can do is reduce the air entering the bottom vent to control temperature!  If the bottom vent is totally closed, you have enough air entering the gasket and vents seals preventing you from operating at lower temperatures.  I cook low and slows using a temperature controller, and my gasket got so bad, the lowest i could cook at was 270 to 280 degrees, while my controller was set at 225 degrees.  Remember the controller can't control "air leakage"!!
     
     

    Good point! I burnt some of the gasket when  a pizza session got out of hand last year

    Time I changed it again I guess

    Its sort of stable at 271 now

  • Charlie tuna
    Charlie tuna Posts: 2,191
    Actually, my egg will creep up to 270 after about an hour after loading the meat on -- i blame it on the pecan chunks(3) that i usually put in???  Then it s-l-o-w-l-y comes down to 225 to 235 degrees.  It is very important to cook as low as possible during the early part of a turbo cook!!  This is where the meat gets the smokey flavor, and it takes about three hours to reach the wrapping temperature of 160 internal degrees.  I normally get two plus houts of heavy smoke!
  • sarivers
    sarivers Posts: 67
    I have a large BGE and cooked a port butt recently at 250 F. dome temp. for more than 18 hours without the temp changing more than 5 degrees. You should not open the top of the egg after putting on the meat.  I did not check mine for over 12 hours. You need to trust the temp. Every time you open the top there is a gust of oxygen and you have to restabilize the temp. I have my bottom vent cracked about the thickness of 3 or 4 pennies.  The daisy wheel closed completely and the top vents on the wheel cracked about 1/3 to 1/2.  At a 250 F dome temp it will probably take a little more than 2 hours per pound.  I cook my pork butts to between 205 and 210 internal temp. 
    Columbia, SC

  • stlcharcoal
    stlcharcoal Posts: 4,684
    edited May 2013

    Also, stop opening the lid.....everytime you do that you introduce a ton of oxygen to lit charcoal.  It sucks that O2 up for those brief moments until it gets snuffed again.  You make think you're letting the heat out (which you are), but at the same time you're fueling the fire.

    At this point, 290-something isn't going to hurt that butt. 

  • asfish
    asfish Posts: 25

    Its around 7.20am and the butt is at 185F, at 6am the Egg was 267F and the butt 190F so I bought the temp down a bit.

    Hope to serve around 1.30pm.

     

     

  • Black_Badger
    Black_Badger Posts: 1,182
    Should be very close to done. Get ready to wrap in foil, wrap that in towels (probably many), and put that into a cooler. That'll hold much of the temp and let you serve around 1:30.

    Cheers -
    B_B
    Finally back in the Badger State!

    Middleton, WI