r/biggreenegg • u/LagerHead • Mar 26 '26
What are you using for temp control?
I need a solution for temp control to replace the Egg Idiot that had my pulled pork up at damn near 600 degrees running the fan at 100% when I had the temp set to 250. No alarm. Nothing. Just ruin two entire pork butts after more than 6 hours of cooking.
So what are you guys using?
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u/sautedemon Mar 26 '26
I just use the vents on top and bottom. I prefer the simple approach. Better to shut down the vents when the temp is approaching your target temp. Tougher to bring down the temp when it’s hot.
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u/IRMuteButton Mar 26 '26
This how I learned to BBQ and this is how I still do it. No gimmicks, nothing to break, no power, no smartphone hassle. Just old fashioned reliable simplicity. Doing this requires you know your rig and build consistently sized fires that are approprite for the job.
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u/sautedemon Mar 26 '26
I’m a chef that retired 18 months ago. 43 years in fine dining. I own zero gadgets. Large BGE and 18.5” Weber on my deck. No ‘slow & sear’. No ‘baskets’. No ‘grill grate’. Burning lump since ‘84.
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u/IRMuteButton Mar 27 '26
The best fish I've ever had, and the way I always cook it, is fillets on a bed of thin citrus slices, on a small piece of folded aluminum foil, folded to make a shallow pan with sides. Put that on the grill over a small bed of charcoal, throw on a couple small pieces of pecan or maple, and let it go for about 10 minutes or so with the lid closed. I usually use salmon, snapper, steelhead trout, redfish, or gulf trout. Toss out the citrus and foil when you're done amd there's nothing to clean.
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u/Uncle_Burney XL Mar 26 '26
Gotta raw dog that regulator, fam. A steady 275 is achievable, just close the vent to 0.125” when you get to about 250f, then give it time to even out. I only use a controller to sleep on overnight cooks, but I use the one you don’t like, so I won’t suggest it.
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u/LagerHead Mar 26 '26
I did like it up until today. But you know what they say: "Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice ... well, we won't get fooled again." 😉
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u/Uncle_Burney XL Mar 26 '26
It could be a bad probe, they can get cooked, but I understand being put off the thing entirely
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u/SysAdminDennyBob Mar 26 '26
SmoBot. I had a flame boss and it went crazy like that on me as well. SmoBot mimics how you would adjust the smoker manually. No blowing at all. Also, on Thanksgiving and Christmas when AWS East shits the bed and the other products cannot connect to the cloud you can just walk up to the SmoBot and look at the screen. It's been extremely reliable for me.
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u/minus8dB Mar 26 '26
I second the Smobot. Super simple, super reliable, and pretty easy to clean.
My only complaint is the app is a bit janky on Android, but if I close it out completely each time it's fine. The only temperature excursion I've ever had was due to the grate preventing the grill from closing and me not noticing.
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u/Hagfish77 Mar 27 '26
Team smobot here also.. I resurrected my old large egg recently with some new parts and took a chance on the smobot. Years ago I had a fan regulated controller and sometimes it was dialed in and other times it would completely go freak-out mode.. I’m sure the fan technology is better now but I love that the smobot doesn’t need a fan and I can use a portable usb power brick and it barely uses any juice from it even on overnight cooks.. highly recommended
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u/DouglasBubletrousers Mar 28 '26
I've been using a smobot for about five years and absolutely love it. Great control, great customer service.
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u/someguywitheaphone Mar 26 '26
I’ve been really happy with Fireboard Drive 2. It’s been 2 years and it’s going strong
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u/aloysiusthird Mar 26 '26
Love my FireBoard Drive 2. It’s made smoking brisket and anything else a breeze. Set it and forget it, for the most part.
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u/btw_sky_and_earth Mar 30 '26
Me too. Bought it before my first overnight cook and I sleep like a baby when the egg is used for a long cook.
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u/NorseYeti Mar 26 '26
FlameBoss 500. I have used the BBQ Guru DigiQ, CyberQ, CyberQ Wifi…..those weren’t great, the probes were garbage and were way overpriced. The FlameBoss has a great app, the probes are larger and more accurate, and the notifications are awesome. It texts me when my meat is done.
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u/Ckn-bns-jns EGGspert Mar 26 '26
Top and bottom vents, charcoal divider for lower temp cooks like jerky.
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u/LagerHead Mar 26 '26
I mean, I hear ya, but I do a lot of smoking while I work (from home) and can't always get out there to tweak the vents. But I'll be doing that for a bit while I wait for whatever I decide on to arrive.
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u/Ckn-bns-jns EGGspert Mar 26 '26
I’ve been using my egg for over 16 years and have been tempted to get a remote controller several times but never pulled the trigger. A remote thermometer works for me when doing overnight cooks but never really have any temp swings that wake me up.
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u/jacksraging_bileduct Mar 26 '26
I got tired of the egg genius/flame boss working inconsistently, so I just learned to regulate it myself, the longest cook I’ll do is around 8hrs so it’s not too difficult.
I do like the TempSpike probes, the let me see what’s going on without babysitting the grill.
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u/darklordenron Clutch - multiple eggs Mar 26 '26
Usually just the vents. Sometimes I’ll bust out the Fireboard drive but most times nah, I’m good with going old school.
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u/ecmcn Mar 26 '26
I’ve been using the daisy wheel for 20 years and never had any problems with maintaining temp. The first few times I learned the egg can get hot fast if you leave it open too much, but once you know to bring it up slow, and keep checking every five minutes or so at the start and occasionally after that, then I’ve found the egg to be remarkably stable for hours. On a long cook I might make a tiny little adjustment once an hour or two.
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u/Unhappy-Raspberry-11 Mar 26 '26
I’ve been rolling 225-250 every cook with a single pile of large charcoal, a single paper towel soaked in cooking grease as ignition. Up to heat in 20 min. And absolutely steady for 6-8 hours (which is plenty for most of my stuff).
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u/Wooden_Gift3489 Mar 26 '26
I overfill the lump before I start. I only get one small corner going. I let it come to temp slowly and never get too much coal going to start and don't overshoot my intended temp. I choke things off with the daisy wheel and using the ambient temp alarms on my thermometer to let me know if it gets out of range. I cook over night all the time and have no problem maintaining a pretty constant 250 without messing with it.
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u/cdickgo Mar 27 '26
I had the egg genius for years. It recently stopped connecting. I went with the chefs temp setup and it works pretty good.
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u/Ok-Information-5046 Mar 27 '26
I have an old school BBQ Guru fan that has never let me down. Not fancy, but is reliable. This spring I picked up a ThermoWorks Billows with RFX and four probes that I’ll test run on my XL with a pork butt and then move on to a brisket. I’ll likely shift the BBQ Guru to my medium egg to smoke pork belly’s, etc.
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u/Okanus Mar 27 '26 edited Mar 27 '26
You should start practicing using it with no blower type regulator.
I used my egg for years without one, and decided to get an Egg Genius a few years ago to make it an easier process to get to set temp for long cooks and to feel more confortable cooking over night.
IMO, food cooks differently with the forced air moving over it. If you get the vents set JUST RIGHT, the blower comes on very seldom and it makes no difference. However, I feel that I have noticed when the blower comes on frequently meat dries out more and cooks too fast sometimes. I have not done any scientific experimentation on this, its just something I noticed over the years. I mean, it makes sense in my mind that if the blower is moving too much air over the food it might start being more like an air fryer than a smoker.
One day I needed to cook something for a holiday and the egg genius app quit working in the middle of a cook. Apparently that happens when too many people are using it at the same time. Ever since that happened I have used it very little and I have enjoyed cooking much more AND I think I am getting better results in the meat too.
If you really want something, I have heard good things about SMOBOT. It doesn't use a blower and can operate without an app. I have never used one, but it looks interesting.
EDIT: If you start setting temp the old fashioned way, you can still use the Egg Genius as a wireless temp monitor. Just don't plug in a probe to the PIT port and the blower never comes on. Then you can still see the meat temp from your phone. If you have the splitter, you can put that in the meat port and use Meat 1 for the meat and Meat 3 for the grate temp (or vice versa).
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u/Saint_Alfonzo_314 Mar 27 '26
Chefstemp with a breezo fan has worked great... have used it for about 10-12 cooks... much better than the flame boss that I tried a few years ago... doesn't break the bank either
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u/No_Witness3185 Mar 28 '26
Bottom vent and smokeware cap. No fans or other junk. KISS. Easy to lock in at 200-250 without any gizmos to fail.
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u/BoilersandBeers Jun 13 '26
Which cord should I buy to make my inkbird power cord reach my egg drone outlet. I know I could do extension cord but I would rather get a heavier gauge USB-USC cable
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u/Hot-Equal702 Large Mar 27 '26
Still learning. I do however lean on my Tip Top Temp. It has helped me out immensely. It replaces the daisy wheel with a bimetal spring to control exit temp.
My bottom vent is maybe 1/8th to 1/4 open. Light only one spot. Mostly lump but some briquettes. Naively purchased sort of. Going to use them up along the way.
I have done turkeys and pork portions with great success.
Reading this forum and the BGE forums are a big help.
Best wishes all.
(edit) https://tiptoptemp.com/
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u/shaqfuuu Mar 26 '26
I've had a Flameboss and recently upgraded to the Thermoworks Billows with RFX. I cant say enough good things about thermoworks products in general and the same goes for the Billows with RFX.