My new egg thoughts (long)

Well, my new large Egg was delivered on Friday. I cranked her up Friday night and the only times the coals weren't hot were overnight Friday and then Sunday evening. Monday night she finally cooled down. Here are my thoughts and menu...I'll welcome any comments and/or advice

Friday night - wings. First burn on the egg. I (wisely, it turns out) bought the large adjustable rig with the extender and spider/ceramic stone combo from ceramicgrillstore.com. Without it, the large would be largely unusable for me. I cooked two large packs of wings and it took up both grates. I cooked indirect and in my ignorance of how the Egg burns (and the fact that the thermometer came completely uncalibrated) I got them way dry and crispy. Some were good, and my daughter's boyfriend and I ate them, but my wife and daughter were very anti-wing. 

Saturday - I went to my butcher Saturday morning and picked up 15lbs of beef ribs, two 8lb pork butts, and one 17lb packer brisket. I got my BBQ Guru CyberQ set up (I had performed the internal setup earlier in the week) and the fire rolling, then went in to open the ribs. Ugh, not what I ordered. They were about 2-3" long and cut crossways across the rib cage. NOT the dino bones I was hoping for. I need to explain to my butcher a little better what I'm looking for, because those things were a real disappointment. Some very hard fat and connective tissue that absolutely wouldn't render and they ended up dry. I was very disappointed in my ribs. Fail #2, but even more evidence that the adjustable rig is a complete necessity for me. I did learn throughout the cook how the Guru requires the vents to be set, and that was a good thing. I put my two butts on after dinner and let them cook overnight. I have to say, the Guru is absolutely incredible. I didn't fully trust it, so I woke up a few times to check it, and it was never 2* off of the set temp. I'm very happy with my decision to upgrade to the CyberQ since I can check it while I'm watching football and during the middle of the night. I came from a 250 gallon propane tank reverse flow stick burner that required me to wake up and fire it every 45-ish minutes. I can sleep and cook now!!!

Sunday - woke up to find that I was in the stall. No problems there - I was cooking around 225*. It took much longer than I expected to get through the stall. I ended up bumping the temp up until it was done around 5. The pork turned out very good - family said it was the best I've ever made. After dinner I did a quick complete clean of the egg for better airflow when cooking a brisket. I put the brisket on around 8 and went to bed.

Monday - took the brisket off around 3. Separated the point from the flat, wrapped the flat, and put it in the Yeti. I cubed the point and put it into a pan and threw it back in the egg for another 2.5 hours, then let it simmer in BBQ sauce for half an hour until it was all gooey and sticky. Right before I took it off the egg I sliced the flat and was pretty much devastated. The flat was incredibly dry - and I cooked to around 194*. The edges were like a brick, but the part from under the point was pretty good. I think I trimmed too much fat off during prep maybe? I don't know, but I need to work on my briskets. The burnt ends were cleaned up by the family and they raved over them (and demanded more!) 

My final thoughts: I wish I'd gone ahead and gotten the XL, but I think I'll end up with another large to complement the existing one. The Guru is the best investment I could have ever made. Charcoal usage is unbelieveable...I would call anyone who told me that it would use that little a liar had I not seen it with my own eyes. The adjustable rig is the second best investment that I could make. My table doesn't have enough work space - I'll have to use a portable table to hold all my "stuff." And I'm ready to sear a steak and cook a pizza now that I've burnt it in a little and not afraid to get the heat up.