I've Lost My Mojo

Vtwynn · July 2006

My fire didn't make it through the night on my first attempt at a long 'n slo overnight butt cook. Everything was looking perfect round midnight. I'd had the butts (2 8 pounders on a large Egg) cooking for about 11 hours at that point between 215 and 240. Temp started to drift down to 200, even when I opened the vents a bit. Cleaned the ash out to make sure it wasn't blocking air flow. Gave the lump poke or two and got the temp back up to 250 quickly. Closed vents down to drop temp, got dome temp back to around 240 and everything seemed stable. Meat temp at that point on my wireless thermo was up to about 170. Woke up 6 hrs later to a cold egg and meat temp of 135. Plate setter cool enough to remove by hand. Butts still plenty warm to touch, but bone still firmly planted in butts. Lump still up to top of firebox and much of it still pure black, so I definitely did not run out of lump![p]Couple of questions:[p]1. I relit the lump and put everything back on and temp came back up to 250 quickly and stabilized. Whether or not the meat is going to be competition quality is irrelevant for me at this point. Question is--can I still eat it or will there have been bacteria, etc.. that I should be concerned about? My current plan is to just keep cooking to 200 and see how it turns out.[p]2. Any thoughts as to what might have caused my fire to go out overnight? Lower vent open about 3/8 to 1/2 of an inch, where things seemed to be stable for most of the day. Dual function slider closed and daisy wheel just cracked a bit. Smoke was drawing through fine when I left it at midnight. (Pretty basic setup--inverted plate setter, drip pan full of special sauce, grid on plate setter legs, butts on grid, wireless thermo in butt)[p]Thanks in advance for any and all replies.[p]Happy smoking[p]Vtwynn

Smoked Signals · July 2006

Vtwynn,
If the meat made it beyond 165 ... everything should be dead. 11 hours in the egg was pretty far along and I imagine it continued to climb to 175 or so before your fire failed you. You are just reheating in my opinon at this point ... continue as normal to 190-200F internal to make the butts pullable. You should be able to wrap the butts in foil at this point too. 170 should have been above the plateau.[p]I would guess your fire was out for about 4 hours. You probably closed down the top too much. I usually have the top open 3/4 of the petal on the daisy (dual slider closed) and the bottom open 1/8" to 1/4".[p]Did you have enough lump or did you have to add more?[p]HTH,
Doug

Vtwynn · July 2006

Smoked Signals,[p]Thanks. I did not have to add lump--there was tons left. Last thermo read I observed before I went to sleep was 173.[p]I'm guessing that my problem stemmed from two potential things. 1) I had a little bit--not too much, but a little bit--of used lump that I didn't clean out prior to adding new lump yesterday. There wasn't much ash build up in the bottom so I didn't clean it out until the temp started to drop late last night. 2) I didn't really carefully stack large pieces at bottom center of grate. I made a weak attempt to sort lump, but pretty much just filled it randomly. I did not pour lump from the bag in the egg, but I definitely didn't sort methodically by size, as a number of folks recommend. Next time I'll take more care to build the fire from scratch and sort more methodically...[p]Thanks![p]Vtwynn

Smoked Signals · July 2006

Vtwynn,
Get a Maverick temp probe ... it has a pit temp as well as a meat temp. You can set highs and lows and get an audible warning at either end. Helps me sleep.[p]Read my post above on the Art of the Fire. Sounds like you stirred the lump but might have choked the fire out with your vent settings. The more fires you build the better you;ll be. Just keep at it. [p]Doug

Big Hoser · July 2006

Vtwynn,
I did my first butt on the large egg a few weeks ago with no problems. The 5lber took 11 hours to reach 190, whereupon I pulled it, doublewrapped in foil and then wrapped in a towel before sitting in an ice chest for a couple of hours. Turned out super moist and tender. I did this with mostly old lump (only a chimney full of new lump, and not sorted, just dumped in after I created a pocket in the middle of the old lump). I'm also of the opinion that you didn't have enough airflow to keep the temps up (about 1/4" on the bottom damper and the holes on the daisy wheel about 1/2 open on the holes and the slider closed for a temp that should stay steady around 230. Your goal should be to even out the openings between top and bottom so you get a steady airflow).

Vtwynn · July 2006

Smoked Signals,[p]Yep, based on the number of other eggers that apparently don't get too technical with their lump sorting and stacking, I must have inadvertently snuffed the fire out.[p]Thanks again.[p]Vtwynn

stike · July 2006

Vtwynn,
you light it in one spot?
only time i've had them go out is when i lit dead-center in one location.[p]i usually light in three spots around, to give the fire plenty of options for spreading. the ones that died on me burnt straight down in the middle. plenty of lump on top.[p]you can't choke he fire out if you daisy is open and the lower vent too. and you can't have daisy settings that give you 250 for a long period of time, but then suddenly somehow aren't enough to keep the fire going and choke it at 2 in the morning.[p]it's either an ash clog (usually not too likely, frankly), or the fire couldn't get around easily.[p]did you have all big chunks? i DO think you need some small chunks and bits to give the fire plenty of crawling contact. tough to build a fire, even with small lump, that has no airflow. take a look at the cross sectional open area of a daisy at 250. there's certainly that much free area in your lump pile.[p]i'm an advocate of bigger chunks at the bottom, but a loosely piled pile of lump on top of that. i take a stick and jab it thru from top to grate and wiggle it, in two or three spots, too. to create obvious (to my small reptilian brain) vertical open channels for air.[p]but that's less due to an actual need than for psychological comfort.

Vtwynn · July 2006

stike,[p]Thanks. I used a chimney starter and filled it about 3/4 full, set on top of lump (in center) in firebox and lit it w/ some newspaper. Once the lump in the chimney was glowing red/white, I dumped the chimney carefully in the center of the lump on top of the fresh. There was a mix of small, medium and large all the way around with some soaked chips mixed through as well. When I took the plate setter out, it did appear that the fire burned mostly in the center and not so much out to the sides but I honestly didn't study it too closely this morning at 6 am. I just relit it. There was plenty of lump left in the egg, for sure. [p]On the daisy wheel, I did shut it down a little tighter than I had set it for most of the day because I was trying to get it below 260 after I had stirred the lump and got it up over 200 again. I suspect that may have contributed to my problem by blocking enough airflow to stall the fire out. I don't really know what the exact cause was at this point, but I have several things to try![p]Many thanks.[p]Vtwynn

stike · July 2006

Vtwynn,
i missed that you dialed back the daisy[p]if i had everything cruising at 260, my daisy adjustment from 260 to 250 would barely register. maybe i'd close it by an eighth part of what was open. [p]

I've Lost My Mojo

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