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Need help holding temp...getting frustrated...

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  • polishbbq
    polishbbq Posts: 2
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    Does anyone cook with their Bottom Vent wide open for low and slow?  I saw in “smoke it like a pro” book, that they recommend bottom vent open and petals on daisy wheel set  1/4 open for 225.    That sounds like a LOT of oxygen and would make it difficult to keep it that low.   Thoughts?
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  • Legume
    Legume Posts: 14,627
    edited February 2018
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    I always adjust both unless I just take the top off
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  • MattBTI
    MattBTI Posts: 417
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    I light my low & slow cooks with a cooking oil soaked paper towel or fire starting cube. I use a weed burner on my 325F + cooks to light the egg. 

    I find it much easier maintaining a lower temp by using a firestarter, rather than a torch. 
    Pratt, KS
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  • SoCalTim
    SoCalTim Posts: 2,158
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    I've been in your exact shoes. I can close my eyes and still remember my first cook.

    It was chicken quarters, hell, I didn't even have a platesetter - I didn't even know what a PS was ... lol
    .
    The cook got way out of control, Temp got to 700 degrees and I couldn't get it to come down. I was in sheer panic mode.

    I was on the verge of packing my egg up and sending to where it came from. Things soon settled down, thou it took a good yr to finally get a handle on temps.

    Today? Well today, I control the temp  - IT DOES NOT CONTROL ME.

    My thinking is, in a year your gonna look back and laugh ...

    Tim


    I've slow smoked and eaten so much pork, I'm legally recognized as being part swine - Chatsworth Ca.
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  • blasting
    blasting Posts: 6,262
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    SoCalTim said:
    I've been in your exact shoes. I can close my eyes and still remember my first cook.

    It was chicken quarters, hell, I didn't even have a platesetter - I didn't even know what a PS was ... lol
    .
    The cook got way out of control, Temp got to 700 degrees and I couldn't get it to come down. I was in sheer panic mode.

    I was on the verge of packing my egg up and sending to where it came from. Things soon settled down, thou it took a good yr to finally get a handle on temps.

    Today? Well today, I control the temp  - IT DOES NOT CONTROL ME.

    My thinking is, in a year your gonna look back and laugh ...

    Tim




    Listen to Tim ^^.  Especially the look back and laugh part.  It's frustrating at first but you'll nail it.
    Phoenix 
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  • cookingdude555
    cookingdude555 Posts: 3,194
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    polishbbq said:
    Does anyone cook with their Bottom Vent wide open for low and slow?  I saw in “smoke it like a pro” book, that they recommend bottom vent open and petals on daisy wheel set  1/4 open for 225.    That sounds like a LOT of oxygen and would make it difficult to keep it that low.   Thoughts?
    I think there is some truth here.  When I grill (anything above 300) I control the heat exclusively with the bottom vent, no daisy vent is ever on my egg.  You either limit the intake or the exhaust.  Exhaust rises, and if it cannot get out, no more air can get in for combustion.
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  • jtcBoynton
    jtcBoynton Posts: 2,814
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    DWFII said:
    lousubcap said:
    BTW- conventional wisdom here is that if a cooking temp is specified it is dome (as that is the one thermo all BGE's have) unless other-wise noted.  FWIW-
    Serious question...not understanding the rationale--heat rises; with the DW all but closed, heat will "pile up" high in the dome; the therm is high in the dome where, presumably, the heat will be highest;  the meat is low in the dome where the food is cooked.

    Why would the dome temp be preferred over the grid temp anymore than putting a probe directly into the coals?
    Exact temp is not as important as maintaining a steady temp.  Temps at grate level are influenced by many factors that can change during a cook even if the fire/heat/overall temp of the egg does not.  

    The heat is always the hottest at the bottom (just above the burning coals).  It rises up past the grate and food and then up and out the top.  
    Southeast Florida - LBGE
    In cooking, often we implement steps for which we have no explanations other than ‘that’s what everybody else does’ or ‘that’s what I have been told.’  Dare to think for yourself.
     
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  • CarolinaCrazy
    CarolinaCrazy Posts: 585
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    +1 to all of the above. Just be patient. As long as the fire is getting some air, the fire should not go out. If you know you are getting the fire started sufficiently, if you leave your vents cracked, it will settle in in the low and slow range.

    1 LBGE in Chapel Hill, NC
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