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Temp Control From Exhaust
TimW
Posts: 12
Hello. I am a new BGE (large) owner, but not at all new to BBQ/Smoking. I have years of experience on both vertical water smokers and smaller offset smokers. I have been involved in competition BBQ as both a competitor and a judge.
I have noticed a tendency with the BGE owners that the temperature management of the BGE is done primarily by limiting airflow FROM THE EXHAUST. In fact, on my first two cooks, this was how I primarily maintained temperature at the desired level. The Smobot ATC also follows this method (controlling airflow from exhaust), and seems to be increasing in popularity vs traditional ATC such as DigiQ and EggGenius.
However, I have always been taught with the other cookers to regulate air flow FROM THE INTAKE. In fact, I very rarely had the exhaust anything but full open. I was told that regulating airflow from the exhaust end would cause "dirty smoke" and soot.
Would anyone care to comment on this? Do you know why the air flow control with Egg is counter to normal BBQ convention?
I have noticed a tendency with the BGE owners that the temperature management of the BGE is done primarily by limiting airflow FROM THE EXHAUST. In fact, on my first two cooks, this was how I primarily maintained temperature at the desired level. The Smobot ATC also follows this method (controlling airflow from exhaust), and seems to be increasing in popularity vs traditional ATC such as DigiQ and EggGenius.
However, I have always been taught with the other cookers to regulate air flow FROM THE INTAKE. In fact, I very rarely had the exhaust anything but full open. I was told that regulating airflow from the exhaust end would cause "dirty smoke" and soot.
Would anyone care to comment on this? Do you know why the air flow control with Egg is counter to normal BBQ convention?
Comments
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I almost always control temp with the bottom vent only. Top is wide open. Daisy is in my garage...somewhere. If I'm cooking below, say, 300°, I'll use the daisy, but I rarely cook below 300°. Been doing it this way for years.
I hate it when I go to the kitchen for food and all I find are ingredients!
MichaelCentral Connecticut -
Most of my cooks are L&S with the platesetter in, with target temps at 225, 250 or 275. Allowing for minor variations, that typically means 1/8th or so at the bottom and open a smidge [scientific term] at the top. Similarly, I've gotten a feel for where both vents ought to be when I'm doing a spatch chicken direct at 400 or firing up a planked salmon or tray full of clams. Ambient temps, wind, amount and kind of lump, etc. may vary things a bit for me, but I've found that my rules of thumb hold up pretty well and the egg keeps a constant temp on its own if I set top and bottom where I want them. And I don't worry if I'm 5 or 10 or 15 degrees off target measured on the grid or in the dome . . . the food doesn't ever seem to care. Could be doin' it wrong, but works for me.
Following . . . and interested to hear what the pros have to say on the topic.It's a 302 thing . . . -
You can use one or the other, or both......it really doesn't matter.
One thing you have to do when you get into Kamados is forget about all the other fire management & smoking lore from other style cookers. A lot of it's BS to begin with, some of it holds a some truth, but rarely does any of it apply to the kamado. A kamado uses so little air, and has some much moisture, it's a completely different animal.
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I love the way the BGE lets me control both air intake and outflow. I feel it gives me a very precise way to control my cooking temperature (even though I often use a Flame Boss because I'm lazy). Keeping the top exhaust pretty well closed also lets me (I think) maximize the smoke exposure to the meat, which I consider a positive.Cincinnati, Ohio. Large BGE since 2011. Still learning.
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I use both for low and slows. More resistant to temp swings from wind. But the bottom for fine tuning, mostly.______________________________________________I love lamp..
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I have always regulated with bottom vent. That’s how I learned, and I pretty well know where lower slider goes for each temp I want.
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Normally make the big adjustments with the bottom vent and fine tune with the top. The top works better for me now that I have a big ‘ol crack in the base that lets air in.
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For me it depends on what I’m trying to accomplish. I’ll run the bottom vent wider and the top cracked open if I’m trying to get more reflective heat back to the grid surface. (Spatchcock yardbirds, pizza etc). I run without a top if I’m trying to move some air. (Steaks, chops etc)
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I regulate using both, I never noticed dirty smoke or soot!It seems like capping the exhaust would help retain heat and therefore be more efficient.South of Columbus, Ohio.
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Bottom only on every cook over 350. It gets difficult to manage and stick a temp over a long period below 350 without using some sort of control on the exhaust.
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@TimW Welcome aboard and enjoy the journey. Above all, have fun.
And as @stlcharcoal notes, either/or or both as the cooking environment is so much different than an off-set. The stick burner gets its smoke/flavor from a clean burning hot fire with plenty of oxygen. The BGE runs on an air-flow restricted oxygen environment. The size of the fire for a L&S cook is quite small relative to the lump load (thus the long cook times w/o reload). And yes the smoke profile is different but then again so is the entire process. FWIW-Louisville; Rolling smoke in the neighbourhood. # 38 for the win. Life is too short for light/lite beer! Seems I'm livin in a transitional period. -
However, I have always been taught with the other cookers to regulate air flow FROM THE INTAKE. In fact, I very rarely had the exhaust anything but full open. I was told that regulating airflow from the exhaust end would cause "dirty smoke" and soot.My preference is to control from the intake (probably a holdover from wood stove days many years ago). Practice tells me it doesn't matter. I think a lot of the control from the exhaust is due to less bending over! Eggs are much more airtight than a lot of other styles of cookers which may lead to the differing recommendations. Temps in eggs are airflow controlled and offsets are fuel amount controlled.
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. -
Anything below 300 I use both. Above 300 I go nekkid up top and control with lower vent.
"Social media gives legions of idiots the right to speak when they once only spoke at a bar after a glass of wine, without harming the community [...] but now they have the same right to speak as a Nobel Prize winner. It's the invasion of the idiots."
-Umberto Eco
2 Large
Peachtree Corners, GA -
That is an interesting point I still burn wood in the wood stove. I use the intake to control the temperature of the wood stove and a damper on the chimney to retain the heatSouth of Columbus, Ohio.
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I use both for temperature control below 350F, bottom vent only above that. Same for the MMX and the XL.
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Well said. So many techniques from YouTube dont even apply. Water pans, spritzing, etc. Kamados are just so damn efficient. Once you learn "less is more" you realize that. Also, once you get a flameboss/egg genius it's all irrelevant lol.stlcharcoal said:You can use one or the other, or both......it really doesn't matter.
One thing you have to do when you get into Kamados is forget about all the other fire management & smoking lore from other style cookers. A lot of it's BS to begin with, some of it holds a some truth, but rarely does any of it apply to the kamado. A kamado uses so little air, and has some much moisture, it's a completely different animal.Dallas Texas.
2 x XLBGE 1 x LBGE.
Tech: EggGenius and Thermoworks Smoke w Gateway
Lump: Rockwood/Fogo
Wood: Cherry, Apple, PostOak, Pecan
Meat: Costco, Deep Cuts
Rubs: Meat Church, HardcoreCarnivore, John Henry's -
@stlcharcoal is exactly right. There's a tiny amount of flow through a ceramic cooker compared to old school drums, which is where the urban legends come from.Kamados are well sealed, and it doesn't care whether you modulate the flow rate from here or there, you still get the same amount of net flow for a given temperature (for a given system state).Do whatever you prefer.
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I have a fan adapter installed on the intake, but rarely use my FB now. So I adjust temp from the top alone.
Plus I’m too lazy to bend down and adjust the intake.#1 LBGE December 2012 • #2 SBGE February 2013 • #3 Mini May 2013A happy BGE family in Houston, TX.
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