How do you guys start your fire?

The title you chose is about starting the fire, but the problem you describe is a completely different problem of temperature control.  You said what you do when starting the fire (leave the daisy wheel off, for example), but you didn't say anything about what you do after the fire is going to control the temperature.

I assume you put the daisy wheel back on again when shooting for 300° or below, and I agree with @JohnInCarolina that the problem has to be too much airflow.  So either you have the top and bottom vents open too wide (for 250°, for example, they're both going to be open just a tiny bit), or you have a big leak in the gasket or something.  If you do the "dollar bill test" and close the gasket on a dollar bill and see whether there's some resistance to pulling it out, and do that again and again all around the gasket, you should be able to tell whether you have a decent seal.  If you do, then it pretty much has to be that you have the top and bottom vents too open if your dome temp is 500° or more.  Again, for a 250° cook, both the top and bottom vents would need to be open just a tiny bit.  Try opening the bottom vent only 1/8" and the daisy wheel also almost completely closed.  If there's no leak, I guarantee you won't get 500° and probably you'll actually have to open them up a little more.

Weber cube for low and slows electric starter for grilling starts a bigger fire

SaintJohnsEgger said:

I get the bit about closing down the top and bottom vents.

But when in the process do I do that? Also how long after starting the fire before I should shut the lid. It seems when I try closing down the vents the temp drops elow 150. Am I snuffing out the fire by closing down too soon? 

In general I find that it is pretty difficult to snuff out a fire once it's going fairly well.  Just wait a bit and see what happens.  Eventually those low temps will start to creep back up.  

I get mine going pretty good (to where there is plenty of smoke and some flames), and then I drop in my platesetter and close things down to where the vents are such that I'll eventually come close to my target temp.  When I do that the temps tend to be on the low side to start, and then they slowly creep up.  

Had I more effectively used "the google" I could have found this
http://eggheadforum.com/discussion/746823/vent-settings-a-visual-guide

xfire_ATX said:

SaintJohnsEgger said:

I get the bit about closing down the top and bottom vents.

But when in the process do I do that? Also how long after starting the fire before I should shut the lid. It seems when I try closing down the vents the temp drops elow 150. Am I snuffing out the fire by closing down too soon? 

I use a chimney starter to always start my fires- If I want 350+ I get a good fire and dump in egg, if I want low cook I get a small amount of lump going instead.

For lower cooks I only keep lid open for long enough to get all my parts inside then I leave the Top off and the bottom wide open.  As I see temp coming up I start shutting down the bottom, once I get to around 200 I put the daisy wheel on.  Eventually I get to 1/8" open on bottom and barely open on top.

Someone posted a visual guide one time showing how open to get different temps but this will give you a guide to lower temps

When I use a fire starter cube, I light it and leave the lid open until the flames are gone which is about ten minutes or a little less. Then I close the lid and let it get to 200, then I close the screen and let it get to 250, then I put in everything and put the smokeware cap back on and set the opening to an pencil eraser tip opening. Leave the bottom vent wide open with only the screen shut and control all temps from the cap or daisy wheel. 

It definitely drops to 150 and then starts to rise slowly once all the gear is in the egg. 

In other words, I follow the guide from smoking like a pro on the big green egg and it has been the easiest and best way to do temps for me. 

When i first started I had the same issue you are having and for me, I was closing the lid too soon, so the flames were making it seem so much hotter inside than it actually was, so I started chasing temps. Once I followed the guide in the book, I was all set. 

Then I bought a FB200 for low and slo after I learned how to control the temps. 

I light a starter in the middle, wait 10-15 minutes, put in my wood, platesetter and grid then close the dome. I leave the DW open and close the vent to 1inch and let the temp rise and the white smoke die off. Once I get near 220 I close down the DW to where I want it for 225-275 and continue to let the smoke clear until I have the temp I want stable and clear smoke. Then I ad my food.

Fire management..

Fire management can be tricky because of the variables that you cannot control..humidity, wind, charcoal type....etc..For long over night cooks set everything wide open for 45 minutes....once the cooker is to temp, throw the meat and daisy wheel wide open and shut the bottom vent to 50 percent, leave it be for ~15/30 minutes, check it, it the temp, if is still dropping, do nothing...let it go for another ~15/30 minutes, check it, if it is still dropping open the bottom vent slide 1/8 to 1/4 inch...and let it go for ~15/30 minutes...check it, if dropping still, open it the same amount as before...the effort here is to eventually find the sweet spot and control the variables listed above to the best of ones ability for the cook on that night. These variables will change on about every cook.

When I say the daisy wheel is wide open, that does NOT mean the slide is open, it means the little star at the top is wide open. 

And if the temp continues to climb, just follow the instructions to the inverse.

If it is windy...all efforts are futile and probably going to have to baby sit it every hour .

Too add...Don't freak out if you are trying to cook at ~225/250 and you see the cooker spikes to 375...it will not affect the finished product...I had my smoker hit 425 once on a windy night...tried to settle it back down to 225 and it never happened...the smokers sweet spot that evening was 275 to 325 for the rest of the cook...

the brisket was awesome...

Everyone has some good advice here. I light my large egg much the same way as you - and for that reason I'll describe my method. I fill my large up to the top of the fire ring. I light one firestarter cube in the center if the egg - I usually dig out a little hole with my finger and snuggle the cube in between some lump. Once it is lit I just watch it for literally a minute to make sure the cube is burning well. I open the bottom vent all the way with the screen closed. I add the platesetter and close the lid. I open the slider and the daisy wheel at the top wide open. I set an alarm on my phone for 15 minutes and go start preppping supper. When the alarm goes off I go out and check the temperature - I expect it to be maybe 200 degrees - if it's all well I reset the alarm for another 10 minutes and go back to work on supper.

When the second alarm goes off I usually see a rapid rising of temps. I'll often stand around a bit with a frosty beverage and wait for the egg to approach target temperature (assuming I'm looking for something in the 250-350 range). When the egg is near target temperature I close down the top and bottom vents to what experience has taught me is the right setting. For a 250 degree cook the bottom is open about 1/4". I leave the daisy wheel closed and slide the cover within 1/4" or so of closed. Go back in the house and keep fixing supper. Check the egg again in 15-20 minutes to tweak the temperature if necessary.

Ok, did it take 30-40 minutes to come to temp? Yes, but I don't care - it takes me that long to get a meal ready to put on anyway. This method works for me. It's different than most but here it is as an option.

As others have said, if your temps are too high you are letting in too much air. Close the vents more... You'll figure it out soon.

With fire.

SaintJohnsEgger said:

I am having some trouble with  getting my temperatures right. I can do pretty good at holding a constant temp but the Egg is choosing the temp and not me. 

I fill the fire ring with BGE lump then use a fire starter cube in two places in the lump. The bottom is open but the screen is closed and I leave the top daisy wheel off. I think I have been shutting the lid too soon.

I want to hold my temps somewhere in the 200 - 300 range but I keep blowing up to 500+. Or the temp drops down to 150 as I think I am snuffing the fire.

I need advice.

Spend $200 and get a Digiq DX2. It'll hold your temp within a few degrees after it gets stabilized. I drove myself crazy playing with vents and finally dropped the $$.
neve looked back