Temperature control

My XL doesn’t play well below 300.  For L&S, i put my Flameboss on it and monitor from my phone!

How low are you trying to go? I can hold 225 in mine pretty nicely without a blower. Below that is hard. I normally use a blower just because it's easy and worry free. 

OK it is fire.  Fire needs three things. Fuel, oxygen, and temperature. Charcoal is the fuel. Damp or dense charcoal won't burn as fast or hot. The degree of carbonation or effective air flow (size of holes between charcoal may change this) through the charcoal will change the combustion.   So even if you set the vent the same each time you may not get the same results. The lower the temperature, the smaller the fire so it's not as easy to control. If you can keep everything consistent you may be able to figure out damper settings. But a controller that make the adjustments contentiously and gives you the pit and meat temperatures  on your phone will make life a lot easier. I have an egg genius which is made by flame boss. It works well and you just get the fire going and set the temp you want and close the lid and wait for it to come up to temperature. The only trick to to put the pit probe on the ear of a binder clip so it really measures the air temperature not the mass of the metal. Now people will have different opinions about which controller is best. I will just tell you the egg genius works well for me and makes the egg easy to use. 

BGEChicago said:

Topper said:

Help new xl egg
having trouble going low 

@Topper

 On my XL this is 235, I never dampen the bottom vent, it's always wide open.



 

 

Really? Bottom vent wide open and you can hold 235 - I wouldn't have thought it.

I can do 225F on my XL with just a sliver at the top on the DW and about a cedit card width at the bottom. It will fluctuate 10 degrees + or -.

Never had it go out, and it seems to hold prerty well. Windy days are a challenge, but outside of that, I am very pleased with the control.

Width or thickness? My bottom vent is barely cracked open.

I have a XL egg and always had trouble holding temperatures below 275 until recently when i installed new rutland gaskets. Holding 230 now is not a problem, Not sure if its the way the original gasket fit or what, but the rutland gasket made all the difference in the world.