Can I get some Big Green Egg stoke please?

[schwerty]

^^ hell yes! Those racks look tasty!

[mooseknuckles]

Indeed they did Cruiser! I am a dry rub guy. How often did you lube?

[Cruiser]

I'm a dry rubber too. Just hit em with a little sauce during the final 30m of cooking to get that nice lacquered​ bark.

[mooseknuckles]

15lbs just under 24 hours at 225. Pulled at 205 on one and 197 the other. They are now wrapped and resting prior to being shredded.

[irul&ublo]

Indeed they did Cruiser! I am a dry rub guy. How often did you lube?

Dry rub only, till just a hair short of done, sauce , and crisp quickly over a hot fire, or use a torch

I keep a pan of water over heat until the last hour, and don't bother with mop/spray

[Bobby Stainless]

15lbs just under 24 hours at 225. Pulled at 205 on one and 197 the other. They are now wrapped and resting prior to being shredded.

That's a long cook. I did 15 lbs of shoulder the other day, and got it done in 9 hours. I wrap them in foil after four hours, and cook at 275 though.

[CelebratedSkier]

Seen In PDX. Is this an original?

[Pegleg]

Can I get some input from the other Eggers here, regarding how you start your fire for a low n' slow session? I've heard conflicting things about whether to start from the top or the bottom. I've also heard that you want all the charcoal to burn off the initial harsh smoke before you put the meat on, but I don't know how you do a long smoke without having some unlit charcoal in there in addition to the burning charcoal.

Here's what I do: build a more or less pyramid shaped pile of charcoal, and put a lighter cube about 1" deep in the top middle. I light, let it get started and get some good coals going on the top (maybe 1/2 hour), then close the lid and start bringing it to temp. Once it's at about 235, I put the meat on. Over the course of the smoke, the charcoal burns down from the lit coals on top into the unlit coals below. I did a 16 hour smoke last weekend without having to add charcoal.

Any thoughts on this? Should I be concerned that the unlit charcoal is going to be giving off harsh initial smoke when it burns?

[retirwntm]

Sounds ok to me. I'd only worry if the wood chunks or charcoal burned off a lot during a smoke. I do what you do and I never witness a lot of smoke out of the top.

[Dantheman]

Quality hardwood charcoal should be almost nothing but pure carbon so there's not much in there to create smoke in the first place.

[Cruiser]

I've been quickly lighting the top of the charcoal pile with a torch and then using a hair dryer to stoke it until it's really sparking and burning hot. Then I shut the lid and bring the egg up to temp manually. Once I'm at temp I toss some wood on (or not) and add the plate setter/ grill. Then once I'm back up to temp again I tighten up the vents, pot in the pit controller, and toss food on. Hair dryer does a good job of getting a nice large area burning pretty quickly. And really getting the temp well established before adding the food seems to help ensure that the smoke is delicate and not that acrid smoke you get when you just light things up.

[mooseknuckles]

I use a MAPP torch head and light 3-4 spots low on the pile. Let fire heat egg, add plate setter and allow temp to settle at cook temp. After the thick white smoke has turned to blue smoke I put the meat on.

Just pulled off Thai Peanut Drumsticks

[Grange]

When I start my BGE I use paraffin cubes and put it in the middle of the charcoal then light it. For the harsh smoke I wait until I see the white smoke dramatically decrease and blue smoke kick in and that's when I put on the meat. I've talked to some that like to soak their wood chunks in water, but it seems to prolong the harsh smoke.

[Bobby Stainless]

I use a coil starter. Makes it easy to start slow, and bring the temp up.

[BigKuba]

I use an electric starter. Put starter in the Egg, pile on lump charcoal, wait until there's a visible flame, and then remove starter, close the lid and leave both top & bottom vents open until it gets to ~175-200*. Then almost shut down the vents (or use a Digi-Q) and equilibrate at your desired temp. If i'm super lazy i'll use a makeshift bellows to get the temp up (I use the Digi-Q with the probe set outside the grill so it always thinks it's below target temp, or you can do the hair dryer thing mentioned above).

Then I add in the plate setter, water pan if using, grate, etc... kinda like Cruiser outlined above

[Flounder]

I use a MAPP torch head and light 3-4 spots low on the pile. Let fire heat egg, add plate setter and allow temp to settle at cook temp. After the thick white smoke has turned to blue smoke I put the meat on.

Exactly what I do. For a long slow overnight smoke I also sort the lump with larger pieces on the bottom. 18 hour smoke still leaves plenty of charcoal left at the end.

[Cruiser]

Here piggie piggie...

[Cruiser]

2.5h over a little cherry wood @ 240*. Time to ferl'm for a couple more hours at 250*.

[Cruiser]

$$$

[schwerty]

Nice lookin slabs!

[Game Over]

[emoji41][emoji108]

[hatchgreenchile]

Anyone running the Grilla Kong kamado?
24" diameter with side tables, stand and free shipping for $800
It looks like the differences are unnoticable, ultimately, it's just a giant flower pot with a damper on it, right?
Masterbuilt fridge smoker is OK, but grill needs an upgrade and the Masterbuilt doesn't get particularly smokey and leaves the meat a tad dry.
Also, how often are you guys grilling on these things? Mrs. HGCs hesitation with a kamado is how quick we can get it up to temp for steaks and such. I would get an electric charcoal starter, hoping I can get it to 450+ in ~10 minutes fairly easily.

[Mulletizer]

.
Also, how often are you guys grilling on these things? Mrs. HGCs hesitation with a kamado is how quick we can get it up to temp for steaks and such. I would get an electric charcoal starter, hoping I can get it to 450+ in ~10 minutes fairly easily.

I run a grill school and we use ceramics (among others) so I do a tonne of cooking on them.

Speed it comes up to temperature is all about the charcoal; imported stuff (in Europe) tends to have been treated with flame retardent, to make it safe for transport. With that stuff you're looking at 20-30 minutes wait for grilling, 30-40 for indirect cooking.

But with really good quality untreated (i.e. locally produced) charcoal we'll be grilling inside 10 minutes, and that's after lighting with a single natural firefighter. Makes a huge difference. I guess with an electric starter or a propane torch you'd be cooking inside 5 minutes. The speed they are ready to go surprises a lot of people who assume heating a propane grill is always faster than charcoal (hint: if your grill uses lava rocks it'll take longer than a Kamado with good fuel).

[Danno]

I run a grill school

Wait, what?

, and that's after lighting with a single natural firefighter.

Firefighters are too big, I prefer to use natural schoolchildren.

[stuckathuntermtn]

Yurpanians are weird