Temperature Question

R3K · August 2013

So, I've had my Egg for a few weeks now (made an awesome pork butt today...my first one!!!) and I've noticed that once I get my fire going nice and hot, I have a hard time getting the temperature to come down BELOW 400 degrees. Anyone else have this issue, and if so, how to you correct it? Example: I wanted to get the Egg up to 250-275 for the pork butt, and when I got back to the Egg to check it after lighting the lump, it was already up to 700 degrees. I ended up closing the daisy wheel and closing the inlet damper at the bottom (after opening the Egg for about 60 seconds) and got the temp down to about 325, but it would shoot straight back to 400 and stay there. Eventually, it came down and stayed down, but I find it strange that I can't seem to get the temperature down initially. I've read on the forums that most people let the Egg "run" for about an hour before they put their meat on...is this why? To let the temperature and Egg stabilize?

Tjcoley · August 2013

You need to start closing vents as the temp rises. Letting it "run" for a while does not mean at high temp. After lighting, as the temp starts going up, start shutting down the vents to keep it from overshooting your target temp. Once you get there, let it 'run' til the smoke smells good - you will be able to tell the difference from a fresh lit fire to a good smelling fire. It's hard to bring the temp down once you overshoot, and much easier to control on the way up.

nolaegghead · August 2013

What Tj said.

The amount of lump you light is also important. You want to light enough to do the job, not any more. With the stereotypical briquette burning charcoal grills, you typically light all the briquettes and wait until the surface is ashed over. This is not how to light the egg. It burns fuel like a candle. You light just enough to give you the heat you need. It's best if you light the top and let it burn down. The waiting eggers do is to get the good smoke, let the fire establish itself. It's important not to move lump around right before you throw on the food, you can do that earlier on.

Letting the fire stabilize at the right size you need is important to it being stable and minimizing bad volatile organic carbon (VOCs) in the smoke - smells like burning coal. Once the fire is established you should notice the smoke smells pleasant, like you'd like the food to smell. The smoke should be almost invisible...not white. Adding smoke wood can make it more visible...that's ok. Smell is the most important thing.

The actual fire, although it may be a small percentage of all the fuel (lump) in the egg, should be burning, not smoldering. That's one reason not to let the fire get out of control at the beginning. You want a small as possible, hot fire where the "front" of the burn is combusting the VOCs so they don't pollute your food.

Judy Mayberry · August 2013

Took me years to get the right advice...close the bottom vent almost shut and the daisy wheel open just a bit to very slowly bring your temperature UP to the 200° range.

Then adjust it open a tiny bit at a time to get it where you want it. You'll have a lot of time on your hands compared to trying to get the temperature DOWN to where you want it!!!!!!!!!

No need to let it run for an hour. I don't wait over 20 minutes. The temp will drop when you put your meat on, but leave it alone and gradually it will rise to where it was before. Don't keep opening the lid!

R3K · August 2013

nolaegghead said:

What Tj said.

The amount of lump you light is also important. You want to light enough to do the job, not any more. You light just enough to give you the heat you need.

So, for a long slow/low cook, do you NOT fill the fire box to the top? That's what I did, and I lit it on two sides, toward the top, but it seems like it doesn't want to get going if I leave the vents almost closed, so I open them up a bit, but then it doesn't take long before things are out of control. I'm doing pretty good with maintaining a steady temp for slow/low coos, it's just getting there that is the tricky part for me

nolaegghead · August 2013

R3K said:

nolaegghead said:

What Tj said.

The amount of lump you light is also important. You want to light enough to do the job, not any more. You light just enough to give you the heat you need.

So, for a long slow/low cook, do you NOT fill the fire box to the top? That's what I did, and I lit it on two sides, toward the top, but it seems like it doesn't want to get going if I leave the vents almost closed, so I open them up a bit, but then it doesn't take long before things are out of control. I'm doing pretty good with maintaining a steady temp for slow/low coos, it's just getting there that is the tricky part for me

No, you fill it to the top. You don't set fire to it all at once.

jorlnixon · January 2014

nolaegghead said:

R3K said:

nolaegghead said:

What Tj said.

The amount of lump you light is also important. You want to light enough to do the job, not any more. You light just enough to give you the heat you need.

So, for a long slow/low cook, do you NOT fill the fire box to the top? That's what I did, and I lit it on two sides, toward the top, but it seems like it doesn't want to get going if I leave the vents almost closed, so I open them up a bit, but then it doesn't take long before things are out of control. I'm doing pretty good with maintaining a steady temp for slow/low coos, it's just getting there that is the tricky part for me

No, you fill it to the top. You don't set fire to it all at once.

Ok, I'm new here and trying to figure out how to stabilize temp. Who do I believe? I put a lot of lump coal in and started throttleing it back before it reached 200. It slowly rose to 250, but kept going. I closed the vents at 275 just a little, and it started going down. When it got to 210, I opened the vents a tiny bit and after a bit it started going up. And kept going to 280 so I closed the vents a tiny bit and it started going down. This went on for 8 hours. Did I use too much charcoal? Not enough? Fortunately, I started with a very economical small (4.5#) pork picnic, and ti was delicious, but a little dry. I'll try again this weekend but a little advice might help.

Jeffroe189 · January 2014

This is what I do.

I fill my fire box with plenty of lump almost to the top of the fire ring if I think I may need it. You can always use whats left on the next cook. Then I Light my egg in one spot. I let the lump get a nice glow to it not to much though. I then close the lid with the daisy wheel off and the bottom vent open all the way. When the temp reaches somewhere around the 250 mark (this may take 15 to 20 min depending on air flow and how much lump is lit) then I close the bottom vent all the way with about 1/4 inch space left open. Then close the daisy wheel down with just a small liver of the petals open. Then just leave it alone for 10 to 15 min and let it stabilize then make small adjustment as needed to get the temp up or down.

O and I always take my fire ring and fire box out and clean the egg real good before I do long overnight cooks. Only to create maxim air flow which is key to low and slow. I will also load my lump with large pieces on the bottom and get smaller as I fill it up. this way the small holes int the fire grate will not clog as easy.

if you have any questions just ask.

R3K · January 2014

jorlnixon said:

nolaegghead said:

R3K said:

nolaegghead said:

What Tj said.

The amount of lump you light is also important. You want to light enough to do the job, not any more. You light just enough to give you the heat you need.

So, for a long slow/low cook, do you NOT fill the fire box to the top? That's what I did, and I lit it on two sides, toward the top, but it seems like it doesn't want to get going if I leave the vents almost closed, so I open them up a bit, but then it doesn't take long before things are out of control. I'm doing pretty good with maintaining a steady temp for slow/low coos, it's just getting there that is the tricky part for me

No, you fill it to the top. You don't set fire to it all at once.

Ok, I'm new here and trying to figure out how to stabilize temp. Who do I believe? I put a lot of lump coal in and started throttleing it back before it reached 200. It slowly rose to 250, but kept going. I closed the vents at 275 just a little, and it started going down. When it got to 210, I opened the vents a tiny bit and after a bit it started going up. And kept going to 280 so I closed the vents a tiny bit and it started going down. This went on for 8 hours. Did I use too much charcoal? Not enough? Fortunately, I started with a very economical small (4.5#) pork picnic, and ti was delicious, but a little dry. I'll try again this weekend but a little advice might help.

When I made that initial post, I had only had my Egg for a few weeks at best and was still very new to the whole experience. Now that I've had quite a few cooks on it, I've figured out what seems to work for me (for now), but I'm sure I'll continue to learn more as I gain experience.

When I'm doing a slow and low, I fill the fire box to the top. My reasoning is that I don't want to estimate wrong on how much lump I'll need and end up either running out during the cook, or having to add during the cook (assuming I catch it in time), so I just fill 'er up. Back then (August 2013) I was getting the Egg started with the bottom vent wide open, and the lid wide open, and I wasn't closing the lid until I had a solid fire going. Needless to say that when I closed the lid, the fire was raging and was already way past where it needed to be for a slow and low cook, which explains my difficulty with getting the temperature down and getting a steady low temp to cook on. Now days, I get it started with the vent/lid open, but only until a small amount of lump is just going, which means I need to monitor the freshly lit Egg more closely so that it doesn't get away on me. Before I would just light it and walk away for 10 minutes or so and come back to a grill that was already closing in on 500+ degrees. I was approaching the cook like I would on a charcoal grill IMO.

Anyway, I think you just need to stay on top of things in the beginning and not let the grill get to hot initially. Once it's lit, it may take more time, but get the bottom vent closed down some sooner so that the fire doesn't get away on you so fast. Remember that once you make a vent adjustment, it will take a few minutes to see the results of that adjustment. I think when I do my slow/low cooks, if my target temp is 275 in the dome, my bottom vent is only open maybe 1/16" - 1/8" at the most. Once you figure out your technique, you'll know exactly what to do and how to set your vents, but at this point, I don't think the amount of lump seems to matter much as long as you control the size of the fire by the vents. When you're done, just snuff the fire out and reuse what's left the next time.

Nolaegghead has been around a while though so I'm sure he has better advice, but so far, this is what I've figured out and it seems to be working...not that it couldn't work better though!

Temperature Question

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