Temperature question: lid thermo versus oven thermo at grate

[AZ Monsoon]

I'm just wondering what kind of temperature differential you guys get on your 22" grills when comparing the built-in dome thermometer to an over thermometer.

My difference is pretty consistently 50 degrees. For example if the lid is reading 400, I get 350 at the grate.

Just curious.

[1911Ron]

I would say that there will be quite a difference in responses, i get about a 20deg difference on my one grill with a lid thermo.

[DirectDrive]

I would say that there will be quite a difference in responses, i get about a 20deg difference on my one grill with a lid thermo.

I'd bet that is a good average.
You won't know for sure until you test your therms for accuracy, though.

[1911Ron]

I would say that there will be quite a difference in responses, i get about a 20deg difference on my one grill with a lid thermo.

I'd bet that is a good average.
You won't know for sure until you test your therms for accuracy, though.

True.

[G$]

Few things:

- The longer the kettle sits undisturbed, the narrower the difference becomes, generally.
- It depends where on the grate I measure, because I usually use a single off set coal bed for almost everything I cook.  So above coals is different from indirect.
- My MT thermometer reads about 20-25 different from the grates, as a generalization.  Others seem to report wildly larger differences which I just have not seen.
- I encourage everyone to use an digital thermometer and document the actual temps in their kitchen oven leaving it on 300 for a couple hours.

[Winz]

Monsoon,

Don't have a definitive answer for you, but I am doing a chicken cook right now so I though I would give you some data.  This is the setup - indirect cook with the fire on the left.  In addition to the temp probe in the chicken, there is a second temp probe right under the grate where the cast iron pan sits.  In this case, the temp differential may be higher as the fire is not directly under the probe.  The set up:



Dome Temp is 450:



Grill Grate temp is 365:




The temps have been holding steady for about an hour now.  Again, I think the 85 degree differential is largely due to the fact that the probe is not directly under the fire.  From what I recall, the average temperature differential for most of my cooks has been closer to 50 degrees.

hope this helps,

Winz