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Request Tips on Attaining Higher Temperatures

Friends74
Friends74 Posts: 6
edited November -0001 in EggHead Forum
I love my large Egg. But, I'm often unable to attain the 650 plus temperatures for which it is famous. I'd appreciate any tips on how to attain those temperatures consistently.

Thanks.
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  • Unknown
    Unknown
    fresh lump, clean firebox, wide open vents
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  • Humphrey Chimpden Earwicker
    Humphrey Chimpden Earwicker Posts: 3,743
    first tell us exactly how you light and set it up. it's always one little thing, but if we don';t know yer st-up, we're just guessing.

    BTW, 650 is 'medium' for some folks. i top out around 700, but one escaped mental patient who owns an egg does pizza at around 1100 for 30 seconds
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  • mad max beyond eggdome
    mad max beyond eggdome Posts: 8,134
    this mental patient seared some 2 inch thick ny stips with the needle pegged completely around back at 200 the other night...i figured that to be around 1,100 degrees or so...kept the egg there for about 4 minutes...didn't melt my 8 year old gaskets either ...crazy thing was it was used lump, only about a 1/3 full and i hadn't cleaned out from under the firebox, and i didn't even remove the daisy wheel the whole way ...not sure how it spiked that high....usually needs to be really clean, fresh lump and no daisy wheel to hit those kind of temps ...
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  • Unknown
    Unknown
    The heatman is right - you just need to get more oxygen and more lump burning.

    If I was to hazard a guess I would suggest you light the lump in more places and just make sure enough O2 getting to it all. More lit lump + more O2 = hotter egg. I don't think you need to overthink it to me (I can't believe I'm saying that... :) )

    As the guys pointed out when you go >700 you start getting into gasket burning territory so be careful.
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  • troutman
    troutman Posts: 498
    Clean out all the ashes, making sure to remove the firebox and getting the little piles behind it. I use a Shop-Vac but still have to remove the firebox.

    Start with large pieces on the bottom and build the bottom layers teepee style. That allows air to come up through the bottom grate as well as the holes on the sides.

    Fresh lump, light thoroughly in 2-3 places, remove the daisy wheel and open the lower vent fully.

    With Royal Oak from Wal-Mart my large will routinely wrap the Tel-Tru around and back to the 200 degree mark. I'm guessing 1000 degrees dome.

    I do the same thing for low-and-slows except for temperature control and more charcoal.

    Good luck.
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  • Friends74
    Friends74 Posts: 6
    first tell us exactly how you light and set it up. it's always one little thing, but if we don';t know yer st-up, we're just guessing.

    If there's lump charcoal in the firebox from my prior cook, I stir it to remove as much ash as I can. Then I add enough lump charcoal to almost fill the firebox. Finally, I top it off with lump charcoal that I've ignited using a chimney starter.

    H.M.
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  • troutman
    troutman Posts: 498
    I always light the bottom charcoal, not the top layers. This works for me. I bought a "golf club" from the Digi Guru guys and it never fails me.
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  • mad max beyond eggdome
    mad max beyond eggdome Posts: 8,134
    that should get you there. . .make sure the hole in your firebox is lined up perfectly with your bottom vent ....also, remove the daisy wheel completely. ..you shouldn't have any problem going nuclear ...
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  • Unknown
    Unknown
    I think you can ignore removing the daisy wheel completely because you are limited by the smallest air intake or outlet. If you have the daisy wheel wide open it still has a larger area than the air intake - therefore removing it serves no purpose.
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  • Humphrey Chimpden Earwicker
    Humphrey Chimpden Earwicker Posts: 3,743
    lose the daisy wheel, make sure the opening in th firebox points at the lower vent (which is full open).

    when you dump the lit lump, shut the dome and let it make it's own draft.

    if the lump or egg is damp (from infrequent use) you will scratch your head wondering why it sis taking so long
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  • mad max beyond eggdome
    mad max beyond eggdome Posts: 8,134
    i haven't gone out and measured exactly, but i think there is more overall area when the bottom vent is wide open than the daisy wheel when the slide is open versus the dome top with the daisy wheel completely off. ..notwithstanding my odd experience the other night, i always get peak draft and temps with the daisy wheel completely off. . .
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  • Vetereggnarian
    Vetereggnarian Posts: 252
    Does water boil at 900 degrees when you use that thermometer? ;)
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  • Vetereggnarian
    Vetereggnarian Posts: 252
    The dfmt will restrict outflow and decrease overall flow. Fluid dynamics as opposed to thermodynamics.
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  • Unknown
    Unknown
    I'll have to go measure it tonight. I've won a lot of free beer with the circumference of a pint class versus height trick. I thought little Steven actually went out and measured it the other day and found the daisy wheel opening a fair but larger than the fully open (even with no screen) bottom vent.

    I'll let you know.
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  • The Naked Whiz
    The Naked Whiz Posts: 7,777
    No need to measure. Taking off the dual function metal top definitely allows you to get to higher temperatures than leaving it on with the slider open. I've observed that many times over the last 9 years.
    The Naked Whiz
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  • mad max beyond eggdome
    mad max beyond eggdome Posts: 8,134
    4 times over!! :woohoo:
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  • Chubby
    Chubby Posts: 2,955
    Max...is there a "thingy" for;

    "Yes,(as usual)...I'm talking out'a my ass again"?

    Just wondering!!

    :whistle:
    I spent most of my money on good bourbon, and bad women...the rest, I just wasted!!
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  • Unknown
    Unknown
    As st!ke has pointed out a number of times, isn't either the top OR the bottom the governor of how much O2 can reach the lump?

    If so, if the daisy wheel wide open is larger than the bottom vent, should it not matter whether it is on or off?
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  • The Naked Whiz
    The Naked Whiz Posts: 7,777
    Do you have trouble when there isn't charcoal left from a previous cook? Sometimes the older charcoal is getting smaller and doesn't allow airflow through the fire itself as much as you want. Stirring the old stuff can break it up further into smaller pieces. When I test charcoal and so the max temp test, I start with a clean medium cooker and I almost never have trouble going over 800, usually getting into the 900's. Good luck!
    The Naked Whiz
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  • The Naked Whiz
    The Naked Whiz Posts: 7,777
    It might be correct that the size of the smallest opening would determine the airflow if you were talking about the flow of air that remains at the same temperature (and therefore same volume) throughout the journey through the cooker. However you aren't. You have cold dense air entering the bottom. That air is then heated tremendously and the volume increases. Therefore you need a larger opening up top to allow that greater volume of hot air to exit at the same rate that the cold air is entering at the bottom. If you had some sort of flow meter on the top and bottom vents, you would find that the volume of air exiting the top of the cooker is greater than the volume of air entering the bottom of the cooker.
    The Naked Whiz
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  • Unknown
    Unknown
    That is an excellent point. Thanks. :)
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  • Doug in Eggmonton
    Doug in Eggmonton Posts: 1,999
    Thats a very interesting point. An even more interesting is that the hotter things get the more extra volume comes out the top as the input temp stays constant but the exhaust temp goes up linearly with the egg temp.

    Doug
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  • mad max beyond eggdome
    mad max beyond eggdome Posts: 8,134
    my hero!!!!
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  • WooDoggies
    WooDoggies Posts: 2,390
    balloon pilot would be the one to settle this question.... :~)

    Have you ever launched little hot air balloons from the egg? heeee!



    john
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  • Unknown
    Unknown
    A balloon, a radio controlled stoker - lump up to the top of the fire ring. ;)

    Candle-Powered-Hot-Air-Balloon.jpg
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  • fishlessman
    fishlessman Posts: 34,567
    fukahwee maine

    you can lead a fish to water but you can not make him drink it
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  • fishlessman
    fishlessman Posts: 34,567
    actually at 30 seconds you spin the pie 180 degrees, at 53 seconds its done sometimes when its up to a certain temp its already started to choke off with ash buildup, a quick shake with an ash tool, aka wiggle rod will disturb it enough to keep climbing, ive noticed my egg wants to hold at 900 sometimes and needs some coaking. hey stike, did you ever get out, remembering to pull your fly up after hitting the head wasnt the problem, it was forgetting to pull your fly down.
    fukahwee maine

    you can lead a fish to water but you can not make him drink it
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  • guzzijason
    guzzijason Posts: 143
    The other thing that I've noticed about keeping the daisy wheel on is that (even wide open) it creates turbulence and eddies in the airflow, which creates resistence, which slows down the airflow. With it completely removed, you get nice, smooth flow.

    I always light up with the DW completely off, and only put it on if I want to close it down a bit.

    __Jason
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  • guzzijason
    guzzijason Posts: 143
    In stead of a chimney starter, I always use the electric BGE starter. I wonder if there is a difference between using the electric starter (which will ignite lump all the way to the bottom of the firebox), compared to just dumping some lit lump on top.

    Seems to me that if if you have lump lit all the way to the bottom, it's going to help ignite the *entire* contents of the firebox, whereas if you only have a lit layer on top, it could take more time for the fire to work its way down, so you have less heat being generated.

    Just speculatin'.

    __Jason
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  • Unknown
    Unknown
    Yeah, I was thinking of it in the context of lighting rather than at really high temps. When you start up the fire, I don't think it matters if you have the daisy on or off because more air can get in than can be used by a fire of that size.

    I can see, as TheWhiz explained, why you would need to remove it at high temps to get over say 700F.
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