MilitantSquatter
Moderator
A friend on mine in NJ bought a BGE last year primarily for grilling along with the occasional slow cook. He's had difficulty controlling temps in various ways to date and is frustrated. He sent the following e-mail to BGE for help on yesterday's cook problem. His primary concern from yesterday is that the entire charcoal load burned off in less than a few hours and the impression was that he should be able to hold heat for a very long time.
BGE responded back today with a one line e-mail to him as follows :
"Fill the charocoal up to the top of the firebox. That should take care of your issue".
Below is the letter that my friend sent that resulted in a one line response.
As I'm not a BGE owner I did not know what to tell him other than to add more charcoal,use a better charcoal etc. but his thing is that on a longer cook, the BGE should be able to retain lower temps for more than 2 hours rather than having to remove the meat and grate temporarily to add more fuel. I don't think he's expecting to get 12+ hrs straight, but I guess expects more than 2 due to the ceramic insulation.
I received my BGE last Fall, and have enjoyed using it. But I continue to have a problem with the rate of burn of the charcoal, even at lower cooking temps.
Yesterday is a good example:
I planned to cook a brisket. I cleaned out the ash under the grate. I then put charcoal in, ABOVE the air holes (the direction say to fill only TO the air holes, for hours and hours of cooking; but I did not want to run out AGAIN).I also added a sprinkling of hickory wood chips, mixed in to the charocal. I then lit the charcoal with the starter bricks from BGE (used 2 small squares). Closed the lid; bottom vent all the way open, while top vent open only part way. When temp reached 650 degrees (about 10 minutes), opened lid, and put on brisket. I left lid open, to develop a "bark" or crust on the meat, for 10 minutes; I then put in my deflector, and closed the lid, intending to cook the brisket for another 3 - 4 hours at 275 degrees.. I set the slide vent door to only about 1 inch open, and the top metal vent with holes so that only the holes were open.The temp dropped to about 300 degrees; I closed the slide vent door further, to drop the temp a bit, after about an hour (to about 3/4 inch open). I ran out of charcoal less than 2 hours later. Used BGE charcoal.
Was I supposed to put in more charcoal, after initial searing? What am I doing wrong? I thought I could get +6 hours out of one "charge" of fuel, due to the efficiency of the EGG.
Any assistance you could provide would be appreciated.
So, based on this e-mail and not knowing if my friend is doing something incorrectly having not used a BGE, is the BGE response correct or can anyone make a better suggestion on how to correct the problem ?
BGE responded back today with a one line e-mail to him as follows :
"Fill the charocoal up to the top of the firebox. That should take care of your issue".
Below is the letter that my friend sent that resulted in a one line response.
As I'm not a BGE owner I did not know what to tell him other than to add more charcoal,use a better charcoal etc. but his thing is that on a longer cook, the BGE should be able to retain lower temps for more than 2 hours rather than having to remove the meat and grate temporarily to add more fuel. I don't think he's expecting to get 12+ hrs straight, but I guess expects more than 2 due to the ceramic insulation.
I received my BGE last Fall, and have enjoyed using it. But I continue to have a problem with the rate of burn of the charcoal, even at lower cooking temps.
Yesterday is a good example:
I planned to cook a brisket. I cleaned out the ash under the grate. I then put charcoal in, ABOVE the air holes (the direction say to fill only TO the air holes, for hours and hours of cooking; but I did not want to run out AGAIN).I also added a sprinkling of hickory wood chips, mixed in to the charocal. I then lit the charcoal with the starter bricks from BGE (used 2 small squares). Closed the lid; bottom vent all the way open, while top vent open only part way. When temp reached 650 degrees (about 10 minutes), opened lid, and put on brisket. I left lid open, to develop a "bark" or crust on the meat, for 10 minutes; I then put in my deflector, and closed the lid, intending to cook the brisket for another 3 - 4 hours at 275 degrees.. I set the slide vent door to only about 1 inch open, and the top metal vent with holes so that only the holes were open.The temp dropped to about 300 degrees; I closed the slide vent door further, to drop the temp a bit, after about an hour (to about 3/4 inch open). I ran out of charcoal less than 2 hours later. Used BGE charcoal.
Was I supposed to put in more charcoal, after initial searing? What am I doing wrong? I thought I could get +6 hours out of one "charge" of fuel, due to the efficiency of the EGG.
Any assistance you could provide would be appreciated.
So, based on this e-mail and not knowing if my friend is doing something incorrectly having not used a BGE, is the BGE response correct or can anyone make a better suggestion on how to correct the problem ?
