Original post: https://www.reddit.com/r/biggreenegg/comments/1p8cabr/help\_me\_not\_sell\_this\_thing/
Update 12/21/25: I decided to give the egg one last, 100% effort cook using the advice given to me from the original post, deciding that if I was less tha 95% satisfied that I would sell the egg. I didn’t buy a heat gun as I didn’t want to dump more money into a project I might be selling. I had clean burned the egg prior to my cook. Filled with charcoal and distributed 6 fist sized wood chunks throughout charcoal bed. I used a tumble weed I had buried to start warming the with the heat displacement plate in the egg. I got to 300 on the probe on the dome in 40ish minutes (I’m sure this could be faster with a heat gun.
I placed the pork butt int the egg, and check the coal bed really quick before hand. Solid. Just a small spot of white coals in the front, one hickory chunk smoldering, and the rest untouched. Thin wispy blue smoke, no white. Perfect, one of my problems solved, I closed the lid and set my genius to 250. I always place my probe on the grate and this also leads to frustrations. The genius probe read 225 and the fan started cranking at 100% and did this for 15-20min. This is a problem as the fan actively blowing air sends hot air to the dome so it reads 50f hotter than the grate, that and circulating hot air over the Q can dry it out. I had to play a weird game where I lowered the genius target temp to 25-50 degrees less since the dome is telling the the air the butt is sitting in is way hotter than I wanted. After 2 hours for my first spray I noticed that the grate and dome temperature matched. I increased the target temp to 250 and the genius was able to get there with in 15min. Alright, another issue solved.
Cooked for a total of 9 hours, sprayed every 2hours. Wrapped at 175f and cooked to 210 and probe tender, I let it rest in a cooler for 2 hours. I’ve had the cleanest bone pull I’ve ever had. The color was great. You could eat it without your dentures. Perfect.
Thanks to everyone who contributed to me first inquiry and happy holidays.
TL;DR I was successfully coached into using the egg more efficiently for my desired level of quality by the enthusiastic and kind community of this forum. The egg isn’t as easy as I’d like, it’s tedious, but good results are possible.
Remaining questions:
1- where do you put your temp probe? I’ve considered placing it in the dome screw for my next cook since eventually, everything evened out.
2-do you ever have problems with a genius or other type of temp regulator blowing too much air over your cook and drying it out? What’s the best way you’ve found to use these accessories.
by United-Fox6737
18 Comments
[deleted]
I think you need to create an atmosphere around your Egg. I got mine with a tv under a gazebo. And cook weekly based around sports, fights, etc.
Why use the genius? The egg is the most simple tool and that’s why I like it. Load it up. Let it burn until the smoke is clean. Load it up. Probe on grate and then probe in meat. That’s it. Keep an eye on it. Adjust the openings as needed.
You are overthinking the airflow and temp situation. I keep my probe at the grate because that’s where the meat is. I never pay attention to the dome temp unless I’m doing high temp and don’t want to fry the electric probe. I also don’t use any kind of electric controller. The egg is dead simple to control temp on but there is a learning curve.
I think the genius is unnecessary and adding complications. The beauty of the Egg is that it holds temp brilliantly without needing a fan to help because the ceramic is so insulating. I get it up to 250, put my meat on, and generally it hovers around 250 for at least 10 hours without needing much if any assistance from me (potentially longer, I just don’t typically do cooks that long). That would resolve your airflow issues and simplify your life. I’ve had several smokers and the Egg is probably the easiest to use once you get it dialed in, other than a pellet smoker with electronic controls (but those trade flavor for ease of use – I could never get the smoke flavor I wanted out of my Traeger).
I realize you don’t want to spend more money… but…
If you had a smobot you wouldn’t have the issues with the fan blowing
I really would recommend getting a looft lighter. It really does make it much easier to get the coals going. Just get the least expensive one. You can get to temp in 20 minutes with it.
I use an InkBird fan and probes. I run the inkbird off a portable battery bank I keep the top rain cap open the width of a tooth pick. I tell the IB in the app the temp i want my grill with the probe at the grate and I put 1-2 probes in the meat I set those temps then let it run. I load the grill with charcoal and wood get a corner lit on the bge starter square close the lid and let the fan take over. It’s the most hands off I’ve ever cooked I’ve owned my medium bge over 10 years.
I’ll be the odd one out and say that I really enjoy my egg genius. Hands down, for me, the best accessory that I ever bought. The difference may be that I cooked without it for years, so I am more than comfortable with using the egg and holding temp over long cooks without the genius. The genius is nice because it allows me to run all night with some peace that my phone will wake me up if temps get too far out of whack. It never happens, with our without the genius, but having that safety net gives me better sleep on the overnights.
I clip the alligator probe for the genius on the tab on the dome thermometer and it works great for me for the pit reading.
Glad you had it figure out.
I use a FireBoard 2 Pro with the blower. I have had it after my first overnight cook because I want to have a carefree night of sleep.
I clip the ambient probe to the done thermostat.
I have large egg and I don’t have a problem with fuel drying out. But I set an alert if the temperature dwindle to low so I can add more fuel if necessary.
Great job and glad that you’re sticking with the EGG. As far as probe placement, I never attached it to the grate. That always gives me false readings. I have a BBQ Guru Probe Tree [Link here:](https://www.bbqguru.com/product/bbq-guru-probe-tree/) as it’s perfect. Normally I clip my pit probe at the top the tree so it’s about two inches above the grate. As for the genius blowing air over, never had an issue with this as the convection nature of the BGE pushes the air to the backside and up through the top vent.
Also, one tip for you if you want. Once you start your BGE and put in your heat deflectors, put the EGG genius on then and let the fan get you to the proper temp. This will be faster than letting it run by itself. Then throw your wood chunks in and let the dirty smoke clear out before your meat goes on.
Spraying a pork shoulder is not necessary. I’ve never done it and mine come out just fine.
When you spray you are cooling the environment and I’m sure that’s causing the genius to kick in.
Personally I have 0 use case for an egg genius unless I’m going over night but in those cases I’ve just gotten up super early to start my cooks.
Maybe ditch the egg genius next (long) cook?
Learning curve? Yes. Tedious? Not really…master using the top and bottom vents and it’s a breeze…
Egg Genius not necessary, just get a Traeger if you want a Traeger
1) I put my temp probe on the grate – that’s where the food is.
2) I use a Billows fan for low and slow cooks and haven’t had any problems with food being too dry. Best way to use them? Set and forget. The environment inside the egg retains moisture so well I don’t even bother with a water pan.
I’m not sure what issues you’ve had over your time cooking on the egg but they are all things you can get past. I’m honestly surprised you’ve had so much trouble.
Edit: corrected typo.
Clip the probe to the stem of the thermometer in the dome. For a given cook temp, your timing and top vent settings are more predictable.
If the blower is too energetic, your top vent is probably closed too far.
I’m not sold on the genius. The beauty of the egg is once the temp settles in where you want it (45min – 1 hour for me) it just stays there. You have to wait for it to settle though. It takes a while for the ceramic to get heated up and holding STEADY temp.
I use a probe at grate level, but not necessary. For the first hour or so of the cook the dome reads lower then the grate, but then it syncs up and probe no longer needed. I usually just leave it so I can just peek at my phone instead of walking outside to look at the gauge.
Glad you had success, my egg is my favorite thing now. I’ve only used my Traeger for brisket since getting the egg, but I’ll start doing those on the egg too.
Think about it. The blower is blowing because the airflow can’t support the fire target temp. Of course if you open it too far, you lose all control because the fire gets enough air without the control of the blower. Ideally the blower should cycle on and off or be steady at 10 to 30%. I have a flame boss but they are basically the same thing. I generally use a drip pan with water in it as well on top of the eggspander or whatever heat deflector. Rarely bother injecting butts or brisket but you could try that too if you’re just not getting what you want. You’ll get it the way you want it with a few tweaks.
I use the egg genius but I don’t care about the temperature so much at the beginning. All in all, it takes me about 30 minutes from lighting the fire starter to placing the pork butt.
For a low and slow cook (I have had good results with 250), i set up the coal bed like you did. For low and slow, I try to pick the biggest size coals in the bag (my bag today had some fist size coals, and that’s what I call big). I put those at the back to make like a pyramid that lies against the back wall. I then poured the smaller stuff on top.The smaller pieces were like big as a pin pong ball, and smaller.
Open the vent at the bottom all the way, dome lid open.
I light up the fire starter (tumbleweed) buried a little bit in the coal, like midway. Then I let it burn for exactly 10 minutes, vent fully open, lid open.
The result is an area of charcoal that is lit, not the whole basket.
I then set up the deflectors. And I lower the dome, with the top chimney fully open. I set up the egg genius. I clip the pit probe to the thermometer of the dome.
I then watch the temp climb. There’s gonna be some smoke at this point, but the temp is going to climb quickly. So I just watch it like a hawk. In mere minutes, it reaches 200, I close the top vet to just like a quarter inch open.
Again, in just a few minutes it will reach 250 and then I wait like 15 minutes holding that temp. It’s gonna smoke up but it will settle.
At this point I place a foil tray on the deflectors, put on the grill grates, put the meat. Stick the meat probe. Close the dome.
So in all it’s like no more than 30 minutes from lighting the fire starter to the meat going in.
If you clip the pit probe to the grill grates, just use that as your reference. I wouldn’t try to make that match the dome thermometer.
Like you, I really enjoy the egg genius for monitoring from my phone and just peace of mind. Maybe it’s just a gimmick, but I have used it consistently with good results.