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Low and Slow on a small

Steve-B
Steve-B Posts: 339
edited November -1 in EggHead Forum
How many owners of the small egg do low and slow cooks? I know there is not a plate setter for the small, but firebricks or a drip pan of water should work...right? How long is the longest cook on one load of lump? Thanks[p]Steve-B

Comments

  • WessB
    WessB Posts: 6,937
    Steve-B,
    Check out the tips section of my website and you can see a couple of setups for the small..you can see them in use in the cooks section..HTH...[p]Wess

    [ul][li]WessB`s[/ul]
  • Steve-B
    Steve-B Posts: 339
    WessB,
    Thanks. I had been to your site many times and looked at everything but that. What is your experiance on how long a load of lump will last?[p]Steve-B

  • Steve-B,
    I'm up to 19 hours on one load of lump in the small BGE using Real Flavor brand from WalMart for a pork butt @200-250. The lump is pretty much spent after that, and you've got to load it to the gils, but it works great.
    I use a similar lower drip pan as wess, using some metal strapping from Home Depot along with an 8"x8" pie pan or 9" round. I have a raised grid set-up similar to NakedWhiz's homebrewed grid lift, by using a replacement bottom grate from weber, along with 4 bolts to adjust height. My v-rack is made of a cookie cooling rack, folded up like a "W" and inverted. I haven't gotten a 'place setter' engineered yet, but haven't had any problems, a little water in the pan has done a great job of deflecting heat.

  • WessB
    WessB Posts: 6,937
    Steve-B,
    I honestly dont know, if I need to do a low and slow thats going to take a long time I just use my Large....purely guessing I would say in the 225° range you would probably be able to get some 10 hours or so...but again..just a guess..[p]Wess

  • Steve-B
    Steve-B Posts: 339
    CurryPowder,
    Wow 19 hours. That should be enough. When you say fully loaded it that to the top of the fire box or ring?

  • QBabe
    QBabe Posts: 2,275
    Steve-B,[p]My longest on the small was around 16 hrs for an 8 lb'er. Filled the lump to the top of the firering. We made a barrier by splitting some firebricks that laid on the main grid (so they were only about 1/2 - 3/4 inch) and put the drip pan on top of that and used a raised grid for the meat.[p]But, last year at Eggtoberfest, we picked up a 9" deep dish pizza pan from BGE headquarters store that now serves as both the ceramic mass and the drip pan (we line it with foil)...works REALLY well. That sits on the main grid and we still use the raised grid for the meat. But, we now have much better airflow between the drip pan and the food.[p]Tonia
    :~)

  • Steve-B,
    I used the ElderWard "sort and stack" method as described on NakedWhiz's page, level with firebox on the sides, and mounded up to bottom of drip pan in the middle. It was pretty dead at 19 hours (2 pea sized lumps left)and most of the heat was latent as opening bottom and daisy all the way did nothing to make it warmer.[p]I had previously been running out of steam with the "dump a lump" method around 13-15 hours.

  • Steve-B,[p]I do many low and slow cooks on my small Egg and I do have to add charcoal for the larger loads. Rather than fighting the temp on a long cook, I just add around the 8-9 hour mark into the cook. Just takes a couple of minutes. This little cooker will cook for about 25 people in one cook with the right setup. [p]Dave

  • Old Dave,me too. I find I can get 15 or 16 hours nonstop at low temperatures on the small . I just throw a few big chunks of charcoal in after 9 or 10 hours and that is all she needs to finish a really long cook.It is amazing how much food you can cook on the small, a GREAT EGG, IMO

  • Shelby
    Shelby Posts: 803
    QBabe,
    For the raised grid, what grid are you using? A second small BGE grid? Might be tempted to try something low and slow on the small.

  • Shelby, I 'm not QBabe, but I use a second extra grill for low and slow cooks on the small. You can remove the fire ring to increase your cooking space if necessary.I use kiln posts to hold the second grill above the lower one. BGE in Atlanta can send you an extra grill.

  • QBabe
    QBabe Posts: 2,275
    Shelby,[p]Yes, we're using a second small grid that we've added stailess steel bolts, nuts and washers to build "legs" for it. Before we built the "legs", we used firebricks to raise it up, but they limited the open space on the grid that was available for whatever you were cooking, whereas the "legs" don't compromise the amount of cooking surface much at all...[p]Tonia
    :~)

  • QBabe,
    i came to the same conclusion. I couldn't find any firebricks that wouldn't hog up 1/2 the bottom half of my egg. Haven't had any structural problems holding up to 9 lbs on the 4-bolt legs.