Dome Temp Vs. Grate Temp for Smoking

[clfergus]

I am new to smoking on my Weber Performer Kettle and have a few questions. I ran a dry run today to see about my temp control. I started with about 12 unlit coals in my weber basket on one side of the grill. I heated up another 12-15 in my chinmey and dumped them on the unlit coals along with 2 chunks of apple wood I am planning on using for ribs this weekend.

Place my Maverick bbq thermomenter prob on the cooking grate using the clip, placed a pan of hot water on the cooking grate and closed the lid. Initially I had both vents wide open and the temp on the dome thermometer got upwards of 300 degrees. The Maverick Therm never got above 279. I closed the bottom vents down to half way and no change in temp. So I closed them down to 1/4 open and the top vents to about half. The temp leveled off at around 265 grate level and 289 with the dome.

Is this normal? If I take the Maverick Therm that its correct that should be perfect right. Wonder why the dome is 25 degrees higher?

My plan now would be to check my temps every hour and if I see a drop to add 6-8 more coals.

Just wondering about the temp.

[One Touch Platinum]

The temp is higher at the dome because heat rises. If you put you probe down in the basement( on the charcoal grate away from the coals) it will be about 25-50 degrees lower than the grate level. Don't look at this as a bad thing, use it to your advantage. If you want to cook something low and slow....get you dome thermometer to about 25-50 degrees hotter than the temp you want to bbq at and your temp will be fine. If you want to do something that requires higher heat or equal heat top and bottom, raise up the food closer to the dome (indirect heat)and the top will get hotter temp which will brown the top at the same speed as the bottom. My thermometer is about 50 degrees off from the real temp at grate level, but I know that so I know how hot it really is when the thermometer say 350.  I also control the heat with the bottom vents only for about 90 % of the stuff I do since most of the time I am trying to keep the heat down but don't want extra smoke....which you will get if you start closing the top vent. I know how much charcoal to light to get the temps I cook at and have my bottom vents nearly closed for most thing except what needs higher heat. I bake a lot and want a hot (moderate heat) and efficient fire with no smoke...so I start with 3/4 chimney (Weber size chimney) fully lit and have the top vents open full and the bottom vents nearly closed....this gives me a fire that burns at about 350-375 without smoke for about an hour or more, which is more than needed for most baking. For burgers or something that I cook with the lid off(open) I use a full chimney and have the bottom vents wide open. For pizza I use a full chimney( check some older posts for the set up if you are interested) and the vents wide open too.

[clfergus]

The temp is higher at the dome because heat rises. If you put you probe down in the basement( on the charcoal grate away from the coals) it will be about 25-50 degrees lower than the grate level. Don't look at this as a bad thing, use it to your advantage. If you want to cook something low and slow....get you dome thermometer to about 25-50 degrees hotter than the temp you want to bbq at and your temp will be fine. If you want to do something that requires higher heat or equal heat top and bottom, raise up the food closer to the dome (indirect heat)and the top will get hotter temp which will brown the top at the same speed as the bottom. My thermometer is about 50 degrees off from the real temp at grate level, but I know that so I know how hot it really is when the thermometer say 350.  I also control the heat with the bottom vents only for about 90 % of the stuff I do since most of the time I am trying to keep the heat down but don't want extra smoke....which you will get if you start closing the top vent. I know how much charcoal to light to get the temps I cook at and have my bottom vents nearly closed for most thing except what needs higher heat. I bake a lot and want a hot (moderate heat) and efficient fire with no smoke...so I start with 3/4 chimney (Weber size chimney) fully lit and have the top vents open full and the bottom vents nearly closed....this gives me a fire that burns at about 350-375 without smoke for about an hour or more, which is more than needed for most baking. For burgers or something that I cook with the lid off(open) I use a full chimney and have the bottom vents wide open. For pizza I use a full chimney( check some older posts for the set up if you are interested) and the vents wide open too.

Thanks, that makes sense. I really didn't think to just see if the difference between top and grate were consistant and if so go with the top minus the difference. Easy easy.

I think for me, I ahve to figure out how I want to smoke things. I have been reading and watching youtube and there is the snake,bank,minion methods.

I would love a smokenator as it appears that it would get me a 4-6 hour smoke on one load of coals. I need one more dry run of my bank method using the weber basket. I was able to get my grate temp to stay at 265 for 2 hours without adding any coals yesterday by starting with half a basket of unlit coals and adding in the other half lit.

I can see that the starting amount of coals is key. I ramped up to 320 initially and it was hard to get the temp down. Had my bottom vent almost closed and top halfway closed for a good bit until it settled.

[1buckie]

Clfergus, it really kind of depends on what you set out to cook........

If you need to do, say ribs, and want 4 hours uninterrupted, a basket might be the ticket, or even two baskets, one at a time lit up...............meaning set up one to burn first & have the other ready with unlit as the 1st winds down...............

Chaining allows for much longer runs......I can usually milk a setup like this for  11 hours, if needed:

 

Might could need to add some coals at the end to finish pork butt or brisket.............

Short chains on either side, burning opposite directions, meats down the middle are another way to go:



^^^^ I could have started with a little more unlit on the line for these, pork & beef ribs, as there were some added in aways into the cook, but not a huge hassle, ended up fine:




Here's the beef, therm is right about 260f, the sweet spot for a lot of stuff:



Just rotate the grate, meat & all, a few times thru the cook, to keep the meat from being right over the burn.........