I can't get my egg hot. I have a medium egg. I want to cook beer can chicken so I open the vents, throw a firestart in and some hardwood charcoal. No plate setter. 10 minutes later its flaming so i shut the lid and throw my chicken in. 45 minutes later with the vents open im only at 260. What am I doing wrong?
Fred Bedoink,Your vents may be clogged in your firebox. Get a coathanger, bend it into a L shape, and go thru the bottom vent and clean out those holes. Hope this helps.
Fred Bedoink, When starting your fire, put your coal in, then light the fire starter and place it in the coals and set a piece or two over it. Have the draft door open ant the lid closed with nothing on top. It should rise to 350 fairly quickly but that is the heat from the fire starter. The temp will drop at first then start to rise. Let it get to about 400 then put the daisy wheel on top with the small holes wide open and the large hole shut. Now give it at least 15-20 minutes for the smoke to quit being white. The temp should be right on 350. When the smoke is clean and the temp is stable, THEN put the food on. Have fun! -RP
Fred Bedoink, like said below, my large will hold 350 with the bottom vent wide open and the metal small vents wide open, (about 3/8") When learning to use the Egg try not to walk away from it till your sure you got it 100%, Go figure from the time you light the Egg till 350 may be as much as 30 minutes or more. Also make sure your lump is at least up to the bottom of the fire ring.
Fred Bedoink,If you cannot get is hot, your egg is probably ash-bound. Before each lighting, take a wooden stick and stir the old coals around, but not too vigorous as you may tilt the bottem coal grate and have to start from scratch. For me, I find that the fire lights best if I leave the top open for a short time with the bottem air control closed. It seems that the fire spreads out more quickly.
Fred Bedoink, keep the lid shut when starting, to establish a good draft. lid open, you are feeding the fire top-down with no real draft since the area is huge. shut the dome, open vents, and you'll get a nice draft that should actually bring you to temp faster.other thought is that you don't have enough lump....and don't wait to put the platesetter in. bring it up to temp while the egg is starting. it won't hurt one way or the other, you just don't get any benefit from putting it in after the egg is up to temp.
