It's a great cooker fer shure, fer shure, Valley Girl (I love mine), BUT, I agree with David Parrish that it isn't great for laying on lots of smoke. Regarding getting to the "right" temp, that's one problem I haven't experienced with any cooker. My typical problem, if anything, is that it usually takes too long. I suspect I start with too small of a fire. Having said that, I've had mine stable from 225°F-ish to well over 500°F without much effort. I've also had it to over 1,000°F--but not stable. You WILL find it easy to control, I garontee!
Be sure your top and bottom pieces fit tightly at the seam/gasket line.
Are you controlling it with a Flame Boss or just monitoring it with a Flame Boss? I control my Big Joe with a Flame Boss 300 and my temp only varies around 5 degrees either way.
Jon Solberg Dallas is very windy and sometimes very sporadic. Since I moved here I have used my Party Q on low and slow. I hardly ever used it when I lived in Louisiana.
Wind plays a lot into temp control, the air on my patio can go from dead still to 15 mph in just a matter of seconds and then back to almost nothing in the same amount of time. I can have my temp steady at 225 then all of a sudden the wind will pick up and before I know it the temp will shoot up to 300, that makes it very hard to hold a steady temp. I wish I had a place out of the wind to cook.
The usual approach is to start throttling down the vents a bit before you hit your target temp. The ceramic mass holds the heat and takes a while to get back down. But going high first can be useful for some cooks, too - especially those of the poultry variety. ;-)
It took me quite a long time to figure out the different settings for different temps, but once you get it down it's money every time! I would practice with vents first before playing around with the controller. I've got a controller but rarely use it with the egg.
dshaffes thank you. I don’t plan on adding a control to this till I have to. I’m sure I’ll set it up for one just to be at the ready but based on what I’ve seen today In a 20 mph wind this thing will be fine on a nice day for sure.
Here's the look at the 24 hour mark. I did re-stoke the remaining fuel this morning. Still a good 2 lbs in there maybe. Note: the fan is not connected.
My toys:
Weber Summit Charcoal Grilling Center (WSCGC) aka Mr. Fancypants
Pit Barrel Cooker (which rocks), named Pretty Baby
Weber Summit S650 Gas Grill, named Hot 'n Fast (used mostly for searing and griddling)
Weber Kettle Premium 22" named Kettle Kid, eager to horn in with more cooks in the future
Camp Chef Somerset IV 4-burner outdoor gas range named AfterBurner due to its 30kBTU burners
Adrenaline BBQ Company Gear:
SnS Low Profile, DnG, and Large Charcoal Basket, for WSCGC
SnS Deluxe for 22" Kettle
Elevated SS Rack for WSCGC
SS Rack for DnG
Cast Iron Griddle
Grill Grate for SnS
Grill Grates: five 17.375 sections (retired to storage)
Grill Grates: six 19.25 panels for exact fit for Summit S650
gasser
Grill Grates for 22" Kettle
2 Grill Grate Griddles
Steelmade Griddle for Summit gas grill
Fireboard Gear:
Extreme BBQ Thermometer Package
Additional control unit
Additional probes: Competition Probes 1" (3) and 4" (1), 3 additional Ambient Probes. 1 additional Food Probe
2 Driver Cables
Pit Viper Fan (to pair with Fireboard Fan Driver Cable)
Pit Viper Fan new design (to pair with Fireboard Fan Driver Cable)
Thermoworks Gear:
Thermapen MK4 (pink)
Thermapen Classic (pink too)
Thermoworks MK4 orange
Temp Test 2 Smart Thermometer
Extra Big and Loud Timer
Timestick Trio
Maverick ET 73 a little workhorse with limited range
Maverick ET 733
Maverick (Ivation) ET 732
Grill Pinz
Vortex (two of them)
18" drip pan for WSCGC
Ceramic Spacers for WSCGC in Kamado Mode: 2 sets each 1/2", 1", 2". The 2" spacers work best with the 18" drip pan. The 1+1/2 inch spacers work best with the 14 inch cake pan.
Two Joule Sous Vide devices
3 Lipavi Sous Vide Tubs with Lids: 12, 18 and 26 quarts
Avid Armor Ultra Pro V32 Chamber Sealer
Instant Pot 6 Quart Electric Pressure Cooker
Instant Pot 10 Quart Electric Pressure Cooker
Charcoal Companion TurboQue
A-Maze-N tube 12 inch tube smoker accessory for use with pellets
BBQ Dragon and Dragon Chimney
Shun Classic Series:
8" Chef Knife
6" Chef's Knife
Gokujo Boning and Fillet Knife
3 1/2 inch Paring Knife
John "JR"
Minnesota/ United States of America
******************************************** Grills/Smokers/Fryers Big Green Egg (Large) X3
Blackstone 36" Outdoor Griddle 4-Burner
Burch Barrel V-1 Karubeque C-60 Kamado Joe Jr. (Black) Lodge L410 Hibachi Pit Barrel Cooker Pit Barrel Cooker 2.0
Pit Barrel PBX
R&V Works FF2-R-ST 4-Gallon Fryer *******************************************. Thermometers
FireBoard (Base Package)
Thermoworks ThermaPen (Red)
Thermoworks MK4 (Orange)
********************************* Accessories Big Green Egg Plate Setter
Benzomatic TS800 High Temp Torch X 2 Bayou Classic 44 qt Stainless Stock Pot
Bayou Classic 35K BTU Burner Eggspander Kit X2 Finex Cat Iron Line FireBoard Drive Lots and Lots of Griswold Cast Iron Grill Grates Joule Water Circulator
KBQ Fire Grate Kick Ash Basket (KAB) X4 Lots of Lodge Cast Iron Husky 6 Drawer BBQ Equipment Cabinet Large Vortex Marlin 1894 .44 Magnum Marquette Castings No. 13 (First Run) Smithey No. 12 Smokeware Chimney Cap X 3 Stargazer No.10, 12 ******************************** Fuel FOGO Priemium Lump Charcoal Kingsford Blue and White B&B Charcoal Apple, Cherry & Oak Log splits for the C-60 ************************************************* Cutlery Buck 119 Special
Cuda 7' Fillet Knife Dexter 12" Brisket Sword Global Shun Wusthof ********** Next Major Purchase Lone Star Grillz 24 X 48 Offset
Jon, How are you liking the BGE? It looks like you are getting a hang of the temp control. I would look into getting a Kick Ash Basket for the firebowl. I have one for all of my kamados. You get better airflow, and less chance for ash to plug the holes in the grate. It also makes clean up much easier.
I also love the stainless steel chimney cap, it doesn't move when you open the lid and it keep moisture out. (Not that is a huge problem but every bit counts.)
Looking forward to seeing your first cook! Congrats on the new rig buddy!
Agree 100% with Spinakers recommendations. The Kick Ash basket is a game changer for cleanup and the Smokeware cap makes it weatherproof, and no worries about vents moving.
🤗😇🤗
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