Temperature Control

CajunKen · February 2006

I recently purchased the large BGE, and have cooked 3 meals thus far--ribeye steaks, a tri-tip roast, and bacon-wrapped pork tenderloins. They all were very tasty, but when I did the pork tenderloins last night, I had great difficulty trying to get the temperature down from 500 degrees (for searing) to 300 degrees to complete the cooking. I know I have to adjust the top and bottom vents, and that the temperature of the ceramic lid as well as the amount of charcoal will have great effect on the temperature. How do I best do the controlling?
Thanks,
Ken

BlueSmoke · February 2006

CajunKen,
Up is easy; getting temps down is the hard part. What I do in your situation is, having removed the meat, shut down all the vents and wait till the temp drops to 30 to 40 degrees above the new (cooler) target. In my experience, going from 700 to 400 takes about 20 minutes; I'd think 500 to 300 would be slightly shorter.[p]Open the dome, put the food on the grill and open both vents just a crack (say a quarter inch or less). Keep a close eye on the meter and regulate vents as needed.[p]HTH
Ken

The Naked Whiz · February 2006

<p />CajunKen,
Here is a graph showing how long it took to get a large Egg from 700 down to lower temperatures. The two lines are for different starting ceramic temps. In one case I heated the Egg to 700 and then immediately shut the vents and started measuring. The ceramic temperature was about 162 degrees. In the other case, I left the Egg at 700 until the ceramic measure 275 degrees. As you can see, if you leave the Egg at a high temperature for very long and allow the ceramic to heat up, the cooling down time is extended quite a bit.[p]Maybe this will give you some idea about time to cool based on shutting the vents altogether. Also here is a link to my webpage on temperature conrol.[p]TNW
[ul][li]Temperature Control[/ul]

Crab leg · February 2006

BlueSmoke,
Watch out for a flashback when you first open your egg after snuffing it out. Crack the lid a little, then open it up.
Seth

Spin · February 2006

CajunKen,[p]Just a small note as the guys below have taken good care of you. You mentioned that the "amount of charcoal will have a great effect on the temperature". This concept is actually quite wrong. Your egg controlls temperature by regulating the amount of oxygen available to the fire. The amount of fuel available to burn means nothing except when the egg is wide open.[p]The best way I've been able to do the cook you are working with is to fill the firebox high with coal and light the top of the charcoal. This provides a lot of heat where the meat will sit as quickly as possible. You need to get the meat as close as possible to the fire to cook fast and hot. The trick to this cook is to finish the sear without heating the egg too much.[p]Best of luck.
Spin

CajunKen · February 2006

Thanks for all the helpful info. I'll try these suggestions and just experiment more as time goes on.
Ken

stike · February 2006

CajunKen,
you can always roast the tenderloin to about 10 or 15 degrees shy of 'done', then crank the vents open and sear at the end.[p]saves time, and a little fuel

Sigmore · February 2006

Spin, Ditto on what you said. I always fill my firebox to the top no matter what I cook. I usually only have to fill it about once a week,cooking 3 to 4 times a week.

Sundown · February 2006

CajunKen,
Try searing it with your high heat then closing down the vents and 'dwelling' the meat for a minute or two using just the residual heat.

Sigmore · February 2006

Sigmore, You stoopy!! You meant to say you didn't refill till you got to the holes in the firebox. THEN I refill all the way up.

stike · February 2006

Sundown,
that's pretty smart.

Nature Boy · February 2006

"Sigmore You Stoopy" is actually one of my favorite bands.[p]I have all their albums![p]Chris

Temperature Control

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