Help... [p]I'm still having trouble with charcoal and temperature. Emptied the old lump out of the egg (a major and messy pain in the neck) and poured in a fresh back of WGC (weekend warrior) up to above the air holes. Used a weber wax starter cube and a chimney starter. It took two tries to get a fire going. When it finally did catch, it stayed a very subtle (for lack of a better word) fire, drilling straight down into the charcoal rather than spreading out, only about 175 degrees dome temperature, for probably half an hour. [p]Eventually I lost patience and stirred it up a few times with the ash tool. Finally the fire spread out and then suddenly EVERYTHING caught. From then on it was easy to control the temperature as long as the lid was closed. But every time I opened the lid, I had a towering inferno - flames everywhere. I didn't even throw any food on last night, it would have burned. Decided to just let it roll for a while around 400 to eat up some of the newness of the charcoal. [p]Is this typical for a fresh pile of charcoal? Is it easier if half your coals are old? How long should I expect to have to burn coals until they stop flaming up so much, and when will they stop producing plumes of white smoke that smells like a house fire?[p]It seems like this was easier the first time I used the egg, but it has gotten harder every time since.
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I'm a dumper too....after stirring.....never shaken as I don't have a wiggle rod. Propane torch in a spot or two and off to the races.
Dont know that brand of charcoal,but a MAPP tourch is what I use now after having similar problems getting a fire going. Now what I do is take out old lump (BGE brand) stir the ash with the ash tool or if real bad use the shop vac and suck it out then put fresh lump in the bottom and the old lump (if any) on top use the MAPP and light it in about 5 places and away I go. Hope this helps some.
I would recommend a few things:
1. make sure that your firebox is lined up properly so that the hole matches up with the bottom vent.
2. dump a load of weekend warrior in the firebox. The size distribution for that brand is good enough that you should not really have to worry about spacing between pieces.
3. open the bottom vent all the way, open the top of the Egg, and light the starter.
4. Once the charcoal has caught, maybe 5-7 minutes, close the top down, but have the daisy wheel popped open all the way (move the top to the side in other words).
5. Keep an eye on it, and when the temp gets within about 75 degrees of where you want to be, reduce the gap in the bottom vent to about a half inch (unless you are going for high temps) and move the daisy wheel top over, but with the little vents on it open.
6. Continue to make adjustments on the vent and daisy wheel until you get the temp you want. [p]I do this every time, and never have problems with the fire going out or staying small. Keep at it, you and the Egg will soon be operating as one.[p]Brett
Relax lad, it will all come out in the wash![p]I had a lot of trouble in my early days with the Egg, but it's all about getting comfortable with each other.[p]First- you don't need to remove your old lump. Leave it in and just add to it. It'll burn fine, though maybe not quite as hot as new lump, but it'll burn cleaner.[p]Second- Typically, fill lump up to top of firebox/bottom of fire ring. [p]Third- allow the fire to burn at least 20 minutes before you attempt to cook. Some lumps take a little longer to burn clean, some take less. Just wait till it's at your target temp and burning clean before you try to cook on it. I usually allow 1/2 hr. This weekend I had a fire with a slow burning lump that took closer to 45 min.[p]fourth - Read about flashback at TNW's site. What I have found is that Flashback and/or bigger flames and faster accelerating temperatures happen most with new lump. Especially if there's the dust from the bottom of the bag.
Your excessive flaming may be due to opening the lid while the fire is taking off.
[ul][li]About Flashback[/ul]
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Ft. Pierce, FL
Does anyone have trouble with lump popping... It seems like it crackles and gets everywhere including the food... just bad lump or what?
I just dump the lump in put electric starter in the middle of the pile leave the lid up...(Half the time I forget to open the bottom vent) in about 7-10 mins fire is going I pull the starter out adjust bottom vent close the lid and adjust the top vent....No need to over think this...But you should go Electric starter or a Map torch starter cubes smell funny to me....
Just a quick observation, if you are using a chimney starter, the starter cube goes under the charcoal and not on top. It is not possible to have a cold chimney full of charcoal after two fire starters. Even with briquettes, one cube should produce enough hot coals to cook on in about 15 minutes. You don’t really even need a chimney starter.[p]Like everyone said, make sure that the bottom vent is open all the way to start and close it more and more as you get to the desired temp.[p]Using Lump is not like using briquettes, you don’t really care if all the pieces catch. You really only want enough lump to be burning to produce the desired dome temperature. As you noted, when everything is going, you get a very hot fire. I never remove the old lump, I just push it to the sides and dump the new in the center.[p]One last suggestion, calibrate your dome thermometer to make sure that it is reading correctly. If the entire firebox is full of burning lump then your temp should be in excess of 800 degrees or more. Get a pan of water boiling on the stove and then hold your dome thermometer in it to see what is reading. If it does not read 212, then adjust the nut on the back until it does. [p]Hope this helps,
RhumAndJerk
Sounds like you are using Kingsford lump. [p]Ed
Yes, it's the lump you're using. Try some others and see what you like best.
i just dump the lump in. after running out of starter qubes i started trying different things and red in this forum about using vegie or evooon paper towles. wet 2 paper towles with vegie oil fold and twist them and put them in arouomd some of the larger lumps and light.and in about 15 or 20 minutes start to ajust the vents. it's been working out very well. no more oders or bad tase of starter qubes. [p]stinkie