After I purchased my large Big Green Egg®, I was itching to start immediately, but I was also a little worried that I would ruin expensive cuts of meat. To be honest, I did ruin a couple before I finally figured out how to run the Egg. Looking at the Egg, you would think it would be the easiest thing in the world to use. After all, it is just a giant ceramic vessel with two vent openings to control the temperature, what could be easier. People have been cooking with this method for a thousand years.
In actuality, my first forays into cooking brisket and pork butts resulted in huge anxiety. The Egg is a little like steering the Titanic. When the temperature starts rising to where you want it, you can't just slam on the breaks and make it stop on a dime. The fire doesn't just slow down to where you want it immediately, and the ceramic holds the heat so well that once you go shooting by the temperature the Egg takes forever to cool back down. Most frustrating is that you can't just open the Egg to let some of the heat out. This just adds more air and makes the fire hotter.
The very first mistakes I made related to my lack of patience and need to get the Egg within a degree or two of the temperature listed in the recipe. I would have saved myself a ton of anxiety if I had just stopped fiddling with the Egg and realized that I would not ruin the meat if I was 10 degrees off.
The first thing you need to know is that if you light the Egg a good 1 hour to 1 1/2 hours before you want to put the meat on you will be a lot happier. No matter how good you are with temperature control it is going to take you at least 30 minutes to get the Egg to the correct temperature, so why not give yourself a little more time.
Second, set your fire starters in the coals, light, and then walk away for 20-30 minutes. I know the coals might be going too hot for a low and slow cook right away, but if you do not get enough coals going before you shut down the vents, the coals will go out in a couple of hours, right when you fall asleep and your meal will be ruined. Get a lot of the coals going and you won't have to face this issue.
Third, do not fiddle too much. Once the coals are blazing, shut the top, with the top vent completely removed and the bottom vent wide open, and stand there until the temperature in the egg gets to around the temperature you want, then shut add the top vent and adjust both vents to get the Egg near the final temperature you want. Then, walk away for 20 minutes to let the heat either soak into the ceramics or dissipate from the ceramic until you get to an equilibrium temperature. I have include some pictures of the settings I use for basic cooking temperatures. Your grill settings might be slightly different, but they should be close.
Fourth, once you are fine tuning your temperature, only change the top vent a little at a time. Then walk away for 10 minutes to let the temperature reach equilibrium. If you change both vents at once you will not know where you went wrong. The bottom vent should be changed only if you want big temperature swings, the top vent is for fine tuning.
Once you get the Egg near the temperature you want, walk away. You might need to do some slight adjustments, but don't get carried away. For instance, if you put the meat on and check the temperature right away, you will notice the temperature has dropped. Do not change anything, adding the cold meat to the Egg has lowered the dome temperature, it will rise again on its own accord. If you start fiddling you will raise the temperature on a fire that you already had set correctly and your temperature will end up shooting high. After the meat has been on the grill for an hour, check the temperature, this will give the Egg time to raise the temperature of the meat and be at its final temperature, you may need to do a little fine tuning again, but this should be slight.
Trust your Egg, if you do not fiddle with the vents, it should maintain its temperature right through the night just fine. I have had my Egg stay at the same temperature for almost 20 hours without having to add coal or adjust it at all.
Finally, if you are like me, until you get comfortable with setting the temperature on the Egg and knowing it will stay where you want it, there are aids available. For example, I bought a DigiQ product that has wifi and is basically a set and go controller. It has a fan that attaches to your vent. All you have to do is set your desired temperature for the Egg and the meat, and it will monitor your temperature and turn the fan on to pump air into the Egg to maintain the temperature. It will even let you monitor the temperature of your meat when you are away from home. That way if your meat is almost done you can set the temperature to the final desired temperature of the meat and it won't overcook, even if you still need to be at work for a few hours. But best of all, this will allow you to start your fire and then 10 minutes later walk away and the DigiQ will bring the Egg up to temperature and maintain that temperature for you. For people new to the Egg this means less time and more sleep.
Once you are comfortable with your Egg you may decide that products like these are just not necessary. Also, you may become a purist and refuse any such aids. Either way, there are plenty of products out there no matter your personality.
350 degree settings
Big Green Egg Temperature Settings
The most difficult part of smoking meats for a beginner is figuring out the proper settings on the smoker. If you have a Traeger(R) or some other device that allows you to just set the digital settings and forget, then forget this post. For the rest of us, for instance, those of us with a Big Green Egg(R), figuring out the temperature settings is difficult. If you are planning an overnight smoke for a brisket or a pork butt, you may feel that you need to stay up all night to make sure the settings are ok. Hopefully this post helps you.
The first thing you need to do is start your smoker way ahead of time. I like to start my smoker at least an hour before I plan to smoke, that way the smoker temperature can stabilize before I add my meat.
The first thing you want to do is start your fire, with the lid and all the vents wide open, and walk away for 30 minutes to get the fire going well so it won't go out in the middle of the night. This includes keeping the top vent right off of the Egg. Then close the lid, watch the temperature rise until you get within 10 degrees of your target temperature, then set the vents (upper and lower) to where you think they should be to get your target temperature. This may take some time to get the right settings.
I have provided some pictures of my setup below for 225 degrees (brisket, pork butt, and low and slow steak) and 350 degrees (chicken). When your done temperature gets to near the target temperature set the vents similar to the pictures below. This should get you within 10-15 degrees for the Egg. If you are within 10-15 degrees, walk away, you are done. If after trying these settings, you are still more than 10-15 degrees high or low, adjust the top vent a little at a time to get to the right target temperature.
500 degrees settings
For this temperature, I let the coals burn for 45 minutes to get them nice and hot. Then I leave the top vent off and close the bottom vent to about half closed. This will get you pretty close to 500 degrees. For direct cooking of steaks and pork chops, this is pretty close.
225 degrees settings
350 degree settings
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