New to Green Egg ... took on a brisket for first cook!

Mark_B_Good · June 2020

Hello everyone. I am the proud father of a XL Green Egg.
Received it last week, and on Saturday I took the bull by the horns and cooked a brisket.

The XL Green Egg has an older brother, a Napoleon Prestige Pro 665, which I have successfully
cooked a brisket on in the past (great grill by the way). There is a smoker box that can be easily
slid out of the face of the bbq to replenish wood chips without having to open the lid and lose
heat. Of course, temperature control is super easy on the Napoleon natural gas grill.

No doubt, smoking is way more effective on the egg ... with wood chunks I am likely able to
do a full cook without needing to open and replenish anything ... but that was not my experience.
So this post is a mixture of my experience and questions.

First, I lit the fire placing two BGE fire blocks in, each slightly off center, one left and one right.
Once the fire got going nicely, I added eight Apple Wood Chunks that had been soaking in water overnight.
Closed the lid, got the fire to around 225F on the digital thermometer (which was around 250F on the egg thermometer, which I did calibrate ... I think difference is my digital was right at the meat, and the egg thermometer is in the dome, so heat rises ... hotter?).

Everything was going well, but then after about 2h, no more smoke ... temperature was honed in, but no smoke.
I opened her up and found the fire was more to the right side of the grill, and non existent on left side. So I re- centered the fire, and made sure the wood chunks were in contact with the embers. That's when the problems started ... I got smoke, but the time that I had the lid open, fire got roaring again ... temperature shot to 290F, and it took a long time (about 1h) to snuff it and get it back down to 225F ... then it happened again ... smoke stopped ... opened lid, temperature excursion ... painfully slow to get it back.

Anyhow ... I learned that it's important for these low and slow cooks to NOT open that lid ... but that means you have to set the fire right from the beginning to get that smoke to last through the 8 to 10h smoke needed for a brisket.

In the end, I ended up at 160F stall, but surprisingly it got through that pretty fast (maybe because of the higher temp ... 260/270F in egg due to lack of control) ... so by the time I wrapped in double foil, meat was at 172F. Then it only took about 1.5h to hit 195F where I took it off, wrapped further in a towel and left overnight to cool in a cooler box.

The brisket tasted great, was tender, but I found the top of it to be dry ... the one on the Napoleon came out WAY better.
On the Napoleon, I got a stall at around 140F/145F (very low) and at about 11h to 12h into smoking I took it off, wrapped in foil, put in over at 225F, and it took around 3h to 4h to hit 195F. Took it out, wrapped in towel and cooled overnight in cooler box ... that brisket was unbelievably good.

Sorry for the long story ... but I want to make sure I state as much as possible.

My questions are:
- do you guys have any suggestions, tricks to build a fire, so that you can get good smoke throughout for say 8h, without having to open the lid? For instance, should I be soaking the wood chunks in water. Should the wood chunks be only on the top of the coals, or even deep within the coals?

- how the heck do you guys control the temperature if you do need to open up the grill, and after when you close you see the temperature running up? I mean, when I saw the temperature go up, I shut the inlet vent and reggulator fully closed, but it still climbed another 10F, and then took an hour to come back down to the target temperature ... once it runs away, I am lost as to how to bring it back. All that time above temperature, just messed up the process.

Thanks guys and gals!

Dondgc · June 2020

Just remember a ceramic grill is a different animal. At low temps the actual area burning will be very small and won’t produce the amount of visible smoke you might see on a wood fires pit.

If the temp is fine - no need to open the pit. Don’t worry about whether or not you see smoke.

Mark_B_Good · June 2020

Thanks @Dondgc. So if I don't see smoke is it still "smoking" as in building that smoke ring we all want to see on the brisket?

I'm going to do ribs this weekend, so I don't want to make the same mistake.

Dondgc · June 2020

That is correct. Also there is no need to soak your wood chunks. They will do fine without soaking.

If you do have to open the Egg while cooking try to keep the lid open for as short a period of time as possible. As you learned once the egg overshoots your temp by a significant margin it is hard to cool it down.

StillH2OEgger · June 2020

Thanks for sharing. I'll offer a few thoughts.

Curious how long you let the BGE stabilize before you threw on the brisket?

I only light in one spot for low and slows and I've never had a fire go out on me. Mixing chunks throughout the lump will help keep smoke coming throughout the cook.

There are also a few tricks (like most things, learned from folks on here) for bringing the temps down a bit, such as putting some liquid in the drip pan (though this can lead to other problems once it dries up) or adding some soaked wood chips (normally I never soak). Both of those tactics will lower the ambient temperature in the BGE. The easier solution, which you already know, is keeping the lid shut.

Also, I don't really cook anything at lower than 250 degrees. I can and have done so, but didn't notice any difference in the end product and you also lessen the risk of a fire going out, especially on an overnighter.

Mark_B_Good · June 2020

Thanks @StillH2OEgger

I did put a pan filled with water in the egg. I actually did this in a separate pan that was placed on the grill. I didn't add water to the drip tray, because I was worried I might need to add chunks during the smoke given it was going to be 10h to 12h, and it would have been difficult tp remove the connector and get to the coals if the drip pan was full of water.

I let the fire stabilize for probably like 20 minute, max 30 minutes before i added the brisket. Everything was okay until I opened that lid to try and get smoke going again.

By the way do you guys use a digital thermometer to check the temperature at the grill? Mine was about 20 to 30F lower than the BGE thermometer. I did check calibration of the BGE thermometer using boiling water, and it was accurate. Do you thinknits because the BGE thermometer is in the dome and thats hotter because heat rises and accumulates there?

Ok thanks for the tips. I'll mix the lumps throughout the charcoal and I won't bother soaking them next time. Sounds like keeping that lid closed is a necessity, even if I don't see much smoke coming off. I'll also light just one lighter block in the middle next time, for a low and slow burn.

As usual, it's about the finer details.

JJensen · June 2020

I’m no means an expert but I’ve always gone with as long as you can smell whatever wood your cooking then it will be fine. I broke in my xl last week with a pork shoulder that turned out amazing. I waited until the heavy white smoke thinned out a bit before I placed it on the egg. No water tray no spritz. My wife kept asking me why she can smell hickory but not see much smoke. The smoke ring was intense as hell and she then was a believer in thin smoke is best theory. I had my dome temp set at 250 and it literally didn’t budge from there the entire cook. But then again I didn’t find a need to open the lid and peek in for that very reason. As for fire going out you shouldn’t really have a flame I don’t think. Just a red hot piece of lump at that temp(someone correct me if I’m wrong).

StillH2OEgger · June 2020

The consensus, which I follow, is that a water pan isn't necessary while smoking in a BGE because there's not a ton of air moving through there and it stays pretty moist in there without it. Plus it can screw with your temps if/when it dries up. The longer the BGE is stabilized at desired temp the less it will fluctuate after opening the lid or throwing on the protein. Don't worry about a slight difference in grid and dome temperature readings. As the cook goes on that gap will usually narrow. Throwing a cold brisket on the grid can also impact your reading down there.

Mark_B_Good · June 2020

Thanks. Yeah my fire didn't go out, no doubt I knew it was going, you could see the heat coming out of the regulator, I just got fooled because I didn't see smoke after about 2h in, and though the chunks had burned through or somthing.

Anyhow good to know that it keeps smoking even when the smoke isn't plooming out.

Mark_B_Good · June 2020

StillH2OEgger said:

The consensus, which I follow, is that a water pan isn't necessary while smoking in a BGE because there's not a ton of air moving through there and it stays pretty moist in there without it. Plus it can screw with your temps if/when it dries up. The longer the BGE is stabilized at desired temp the less it will fluctuate after opening the lid or throwing on the protein. Don't worry about a slight difference in grid and dome temperature readings. As the cook goes on that gap will usually narrow. Throwing a cold brisket on the grid can also impact your reading down there.

The temperatures definitely came together towards the end. By the time I took the brisket off, the dome temp and probe were exactly the same.

So if i want a 225F cook, should I look at the dome temperature or the probe temperature?

StillH2OEgger · June 2020

When people on here talk about temps they are mostly referring to dome temperature unless otherwise specified, so that's what I follow. At the end of the day, a 25-degreee difference -- from 225 to 250, or 250 to 275 -- will impact cooking time somewhat, but not make a big difference in the final product.

Matt86m · June 2020

You dont want to cook with thick white smoke, makes things bitter. Thin blue haze is the smoke you want.

I go by dome temp not at the grid. Some do it different you just got to decide and pick one and then stay consistent. But BGE put it in the dome so that's what I use.

Stabilizing is the key. Small vent adjustments are key and I let the slight temp variations go otherwise you may be chasing temps throughout the entire cook.

BGE's are a different animal (as stated before) from other types and there is a learning curve just like there is on a stick burner, barrel cooker, etc.

Have fun with it. Remember the cow drives the cook! You will be your biggest critic!

Mark_B_Good · June 2020

Thanks guys. So one question ... to get say 250F in the dome, what is your bottom vent and reggulator set at ... I've heard bottom is cracked about the width of a quarter, and top about 1/4"? The new egg I have has a solid reggulator like the photo below and there's no more ceramic cap .... you leave this one out, rain or shine. No more daisy wheel.

Green Egg rEGGulator Top - M L XL 2XL Amazonca Patio Lawn

Green Egg rEGGulator Top - M L XL 2XL Amazonca Patio Lawn

Foghorn · June 2020

I would guess that you need to close that top vent just a little and have the bottom vent open only about 3-4 millimeters.

JRWhitee · June 2020

Every egg is different, you need to find your sweet spot.

QDude · June 2020

Eggs don't produce great smoke rings. As others have said:

1. No need for a water pan ever in the egg.
2. Light blue smoke is what you are looking for but it will likely be gone after a couple of hours.
3. 250 is about the lowest you can go on the XL and maintain it. Adding a temp controller would help you stay at 225 but there really won't be any difference in the food quality.
4. I have learned over the years that the egg is not great at producing food with a heavy smoke flavor. That's why I just ordered a stick burner to supplement my cooks.

Mark_B_Good · June 2020

@QDude, I have to say, the brisket I cooked had an awsome smoke taste, but that was at the expense of opening it up twice to stir the embers and add some wood chips. So, I know it can get a good smoke taste ... just need to figure out how to do that and keep temperature under control, so it doesn't dry the meat out. One option is to just smoke heavy for less time, and then wrap the meat after that, before it has a chance to get dry.

Another option is to open for literally 10 seconds to dump some wood chips occassionaly through the gap on the convector plate (between legs), without take the grill off. Thinking of possibly using a 2" pipe tube to direct the chips into the embers, so I can literally open, dump, close ... less than 10 seconds.

Am still experimenting ... I'll let you guys know what I come up with, but it's going to take time ... I'm not cooking a 13 lb brisket every weekend, lol.

Mark_B_Good · June 2020

By the way, I've heard from a few people to raise the drip pan off the convector so it doesn't get super hot and burn the drippings, causing bitter tasting meat. Foil has been suggested. I actually went to the hardware store and bought some very small cable clamps like the one below. Raises the pan about 1/4" to 5/16" and is a more permanent solution. I just spread 8 of them out on the convector plate, and it holds the drip pan steady.

CP Performance - 3300C Stainless Steel Cable Clamp

CP Performance - 3300C Stainless Steel Cable Clamp

Mark_B_Good · June 2020

One question ... how long do you guys/gals let your fire/temp stabilize after starting it up, before you throw on meat, especially for a low and slow cook?

Dondgc · June 2020

There is no need to add wood or wood chips during the cook. Just scatter them throughout the lump and you will be fine. At least try that way and see if you’re satisfied before attempting to add during the cook.

I don’t know about the burned drippings causing bitter tasting meat. It can certainly cause bitter tasting drippings which then can’t be used for anything else. But there Is no harm And perhaps some benefit in lifting the drip pan and your solution looks like a smart one.

Until you get used to the egg give yourself 30 minutes or so of STABLE temps before throwing on the meat. As the ceramic gets hotter the air temp is likely to increase. And remember when you add 15 pounds of 40 degree meat the temp is going to drop. Especially if your thermometer is near the protein. As long as you had a stable fire to start with, don’t panic and start opening vents. A fire that’s too cool is a lot easier to deal with than one that’s too hot.

I have a friend with an XL and he is able to run 225 with no trouble and no controller. I find my large is happier when it can work it’s way up to 250 at the dome. I tried to maintain 225 for a long time before i decided to let the grill settle in where it wants to settle in.

Will be looking forward to pictures of your next cook!

Mark_B_Good · June 2020

Thanks everyone.

Mark_B_Good · August 2020

Ok gang, so I have a 13 lber to do in 2 weeks for a group of friends. Will season 24h before the cook, and am going to leave about 1/2" of fat on the flat. Plan to cook at 225F and smoke indirect until internal is 160F (or when i hit the stall), and then wrap and take it to 195F and start probing.

I understand you should cook fat side down when unwrapped, and fat side up when wrapped, then fat side down again when cooking in a towel wrap.

I'm going to do an overnight for the first time on my XL BGE. Any recommendations?

xfire_ATX · August 2020

I cooked a brisket a week ago and was so impressed with myself hitting the right temp and no need to fiddle with it I took pics.

Always turn the temp Gauge so where you want is roughly Due N so you can easily look out the window. Ran at that same spot for 10 hours never touched it.

Used the new Reggulator as rain was forecast, of course that means since I put it on it didnt. Hard to see there but barely open.

Bottom setting- again barely open.

I had really filled it up with Rockwood for those cook not knowing how long an (untrimmed) 9# brisket would take (11 hours). Pulled it, rested, vac seal and fridge for a few days later at the beach. Yesterday opened the egg and 1- still smelled like brisket, 2 after pulling the Woo I was shocked at how much charcoal was left. I stirred it, shook the KAB and realistically I think it could have gone another 18 hours.

Yesterday I ran it first at ~400 to roast these Hatch Peppers, then cranked it up to 550 for some flank steak (no pic). Added hardly any charcoal and it ran for 2 hours, cant wait to see how much is still left.

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/5017260/uploads/editor/ub/7jcyncgdy4su.jpg

Canadianegger2020 · August 2020

Mark_B_Good said:

Hello everyone. I am the proud father of a XL Green Egg.
Received it last week, and on Saturday I took the bull by the horns and cooked a brisket.

The XL Green Egg has an older brother, a Napoleon Prestige Pro 665, which I have successfully
cooked a brisket on in the past (great grill by the way). There is a smoker box that can be easily
slid out of the face of the bbq to replenish wood chips without having to open the lid and lose
heat. Of course, temperature control is super easy on the Napoleon natural gas grill.

No doubt, smoking is way more effective on the egg ... with wood chunks I am likely able to
do a full cook without needing to open and replenish anything ... but that was not my experience.
So this post is a mixture of my experience and questions.

First, I lit the fire placing two BGE fire blocks in, each slightly off center, one left and one right.
Once the fire got going nicely, I added eight Apple Wood Chunks that had been soaking in water overnight.
Closed the lid, got the fire to around 225F on the digital thermometer (which was around 250F on the egg thermometer, which I did calibrate ... I think difference is my digital was right at the meat, and the egg thermometer is in the dome, so heat rises ... hotter?).

Everything was going well, but then after about 2h, no more smoke ... temperature was honed in, but no smoke.
I opened her up and found the fire was more to the right side of the grill, and non existent on left side. So I re- centered the fire, and made sure the wood chunks were in contact with the embers. That's when the problems started ... I got smoke, but the time that I had the lid open, fire got roaring again ... temperature shot to 290F, and it took a long time (about 1h) to snuff it and get it back down to 225F ... then it happened again ... smoke stopped ... opened lid, temperature excursion ... painfully slow to get it back.

Anyhow ... I learned that it's important for these low and slow cooks to NOT open that lid ... but that means you have to set the fire right from the beginning to get that smoke to last through the 8 to 10h smoke needed for a brisket.

In the end, I ended up at 160F stall, but surprisingly it got through that pretty fast (maybe because of the higher temp ... 260/270F in egg due to lack of control) ... so by the time I wrapped in double foil, meat was at 172F. Then it only took about 1.5h to hit 195F where I took it off, wrapped further in a towel and left overnight to cool in a cooler box.

The brisket tasted great, was tender, but I found the top of it to be dry ... the one on the Napoleon came out WAY better.
On the Napoleon, I got a stall at around 140F/145F (very low) and at about 11h to 12h into smoking I took it off, wrapped in foil, put in over at 225F, and it took around 3h to 4h to hit 195F. Took it out, wrapped in towel and cooled overnight in cooler box ... that brisket was unbelievably good.

Sorry for the long story ... but I want to make sure I state as much as possible.

My questions are:
- do you guys have any suggestions, tricks to build a fire, so that you can get good smoke throughout for say 8h, without having to open the lid? For instance, should I be soaking the wood chunks in water. Should the wood chunks be only on the top of the coals, or even deep within the coals?

- how the heck do you guys control the temperature if you do need to open up the grill, and after when you close you see the temperature running up? I mean, when I saw the temperature go up, I shut the inlet vent and reggulator fully closed, but it still climbed another 10F, and then took an hour to come back down to the target temperature ... once it runs away, I am lost as to how to bring it back. All that time above temperature, just messed up the process.

Thanks guys and gals!

For the fire every time I use 2 fire starter cubes , open it up let the fire build for about 15 min , I actually put the cubes in the middle . I then add 4-5 chunks of wood close to the flames , a few right on top of ...close the lid with the vents all open u til about 200. After that cap on , almost closed , bottom vent about 1/4 inch ....let the temp get to about 250 . I cook mine between 250-275. Temp stays steady . As others have said don't soak the wood , no need.

Canadianegger2020 · August 2020

Mark_B_Good said:

Ok gang, so I have a 13 lber to do in 2 weeks for a group of friends. Will season 24h before the cook, and am going to leave about 1/2" of fat on the flat. Plan to cook at 225F and smoke indirect until internal is 160F (or when i hit the stall), and then wrap and take it to 195F and start probing.

I understand you should cook fat side down when unwrapped, and fat side up when wrapped, then fat side down again when cooking in a towel wrap.

I'm going to do an overnight for the first time on my XL BGE. Any recommendations?

Mattman3969 · August 2020

@Canadianegger2020 - you really wanted to make sure we read that, huh? Lol

Mark_B_Good · August 2020

Wowsers...

sumoconnell · August 2020

Give up now, cook prime rib.. am I right? PS, @JohnInCarolina, I’m pretty sure there are unanswered questions after re-reading that thread.

Kidding aside - Lots of good information here, and the journey is the fun part. If we didn’t like the journey, we wouldn’t have new cooking tools like the egg in the first place. My only advice is to go higher than 225, I’d go 275.. lots of the competition guys go hotter than the old school 225. Keeps more moisture by cooking faster. (stated as a fact, but?)

Mark_B_Good · August 2020

OK folks, so I'm trying an overnight Brisket tonight. This will be lucky number 3 for me ... but first time overnight. If we want to say eat around 6 pm to 7 pm tomorrow (saturday), when should I get her on the BGE?

After trimming I'd say it's 12 lbs. I rubbed it down and injected beef broth marinade yesterday morning.

Will cook indirect at 225F/250F ... but hopefully that will stay consistent while I'm sleeping.

I'm thinking get it on a bit after midnight ... hopefully wake up to it being around the 160F mark internal, at around 8am? Then I'm going to wrap in butcher paper, and put that in the oven and take it to the finish line ... probably another 4 hours? So by noon I'm towel wrapping and putting it in the cooler. Will 6 hours in the cooler be too long?

Also how do you guys keep the butcher paper from unraveling. You don't use tape do you?

Thanks!

Foghorn · August 2020

If you can keep it at 250 or lower a 12 pounder will likely take at least 1 hour per pound. That's OK.

If you're going to finish in the oven you'll have even more precise temp control - so you can set your oven higher (275-290) or lower (220 or so) as needed. So, that's to your advantage.

As for the length of time for FTC (Foil, Towel, Cooler) - the key is that the meat temp needs to be a 140 or above when you take it out of the cooler (actually to be precise it should not be below 140 for more than 4 hours before it is consumed). Preheating the cooler with hot towels (some preheat them in the dryer - I prefer to use hot water so they are also moist) can help extend the time. A preheated Yeti or equivalent can go more than 6 hours.

Mark_B_Good · August 2020

Ok cool, thanks! And when you wrap on butcher paper do you tape it to keep it closed??

New to Green Egg ... took on a brisket for first cook!

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