Im 4 hours in to a cook with 4 butts (two six pounders and two 10 pounders) on my 22.5" WSM. I keep reading that the Mavericks on the grate will read higher than the lid temp. Well, im experiencing the opposite. My lid temp is 255 and my Mavericks are at 253. I have the therm of the mav inserted into a potato cut in half because I lost the clip that came with them.

Did I read somewhere that the temps at the lid should be higher than at the top grate? Just kind of weird, I think.

Any help?

you have the mave probe to close to the meat?

or the potatoe really close to the tip of the probe?

My grate temp is always hotter then lid temp.

Allen, If you are only 2 degrees different on the 2 probes that has got to be a world record!
Contact Guinessbook of world recordsfor verification. Most important is to check the doneness of the potatoe. I never thought about cooking my potatoes like that. You should beable to cook one every 3 hrs so about 5 spuds for that cook. Good job. Oh another idea, not mine, is to use a wine bottle cork to hold the probe. Drill the proper size hole and trim to fit in the grate. I like Chardonay the best.

Mark

Allen,

Most of the time my grate temp is different than the lid temp. But I have noticed it is not always consistent. Even during the same cook it moved back and forth from almost identical to 25 degrees different when I hadn't changed anything. I don't worry about it. I just get the grate somewhere around 250 and let it go.

Allen, I recommend you do a short test burn without any meat to worry about and check your temps at each level.

Each smoker has it's own quirks and it doesn't surprise me that one reads 'top hotter' while another reads 'top cooler'. Do the test to confirm which is 'right' for your WSM.

After many cooks trying to figure this same thing out, I have gotten the attitude that the thermometer on the WSM lid s just a pretty ornament that doesnt read accurately. I really quit even looking at it. Sometimes it reads higher, sometimes lower......cant get a handle on this.
Anyway, use the ET-73 and go for the reading with confidence. I bought a silicone probe tree from BBQGuru that isolates the probe from any contact and keeps the pit probe away from the meat