Can my Maverick be this far off???


 
Alyssa H

Alyssa H

TVWBB Member
First smoke of the summer which is only my WSM's second summer so I am trying to remember all I learned last year. Starting with three racks of St. Louis ribs and not inviting anyone over in case I screw it up. :)

Loaded up the smoker, put on the ribs, and put the Maverick probe in its clip on the cooking grate. It's not touching anything. It is reading 347. The WSM lid thermometer is reading 240. I stuck my Thermapen into the top vent and it also reads about 240-250. This tells me that the Maverick is wrong, correct? 100 degrees off???

What is up with THAT?!

Thanks for any advice you might have.
Alyssa
 
James Lake said:
How old is your Maverick? Have you ever tested it in boiling water?
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It is about 2 years old. I have never really felt like it was accurate so I have been trying to learn to cook by touch. Why did I not think of testing it in boiling water? Because apparently I'm an idiot! :)

Will go rip that thing off when I wrap the ribs and test it out.

Thanks!
 
It's probably the thermometer, but remember, if the prob is near the edge of the grate, near the side of the WSM, the heat coming up the side of the smoker is hotter than that middle of the smoker. That may be part of the problem. Personally, I'd get rid of the Maverick and trust my lid thermometer given it's similarity with the Thermapen.

As for testing, another thing you can do is stick the Maverick prob through the top vent as near the point of the lid thermometer as possible and see how closely they read.
 
Ok, tested both the food and bbq probes in boiling water. Both read 217 so that's not too far off.

The probe WAS near the edge of the cooking grate, but how can one put it in the center when there are three slabs of ribs on it?!

Even after stacking the wrapped ribs on top of one another and moving the probe closer to the center, it was still 40 degrees higher than lid temp. Everything I've read says that the lid temp is HIGHER than the grate temp yet I have the opposite problem. Grrrr. I'm frustrated. :(

The ribs were done in 4 hours though so I assume I WAS cooking at a much higher theme than the 275 I was aiming for.
 
Guess I could dangle the probe through the top vent to get it pretty close to the center, huh? Just have to make sure it doesn't touch the food I guess.

I like using the Maverick because I like to be able to carry the remote around to keep an eye on temps. It is often very windy like it was today so I have trouble with fluctuation in temps.
 
Alyssa H said:
Everything I've read says that the lid temp is HIGHER than the grate temp yet I have the opposite problem.
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What you're finding is exactly what my experience is -- cooking grate temps are higher than the lid thermo.

Tony R said:
Mine was off by 100 degreees also. I took a pic but I must of deleted. :(
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Here's my 18" WSM during a high heat turkey cook

46087943-E9D2-4636-AFAD-3C05DB99D7F8.jpg


And my 22" WSM during a long pork butt cook

311D9714-F514-4201-B0E1-4D0907349A53-567-00000035302AF022_zps8b01e362.jpg
 
Chad Bman said:
What you're finding is exactly what my experience is -- cooking grate temps are higher than the lid thermo.



Here's my 18" WSM during a high heat turkey cook

46087943-E9D2-4636-AFAD-3C05DB99D7F8.jpg


And my 22" WSM during a long pork butt cook

311D9714-F514-4201-B0E1-4D0907349A53-567-00000035302AF022_zps8b01e362.jpg
Click to expand...

Chad, yours look either like you had your probes were plugged in wrong slots or the internal wiring of the meter is screwed up, what is the location of the the probe's during this?
 
Food probe into the food port and grate probe into the barbecue port, guaranteed. I've even switched them around and the readings are the same.
Ain't no question the lid thermo is nothing more than decoration on my 2 WSM's
 
My dome is consistently cooler than the cooking grate.

If you have the Maverick too close to the edge, it catches the stream of hot air coming up around the water bowl and reads higher than what your meat is getting. It needs to be an inch or two in from the side of the cooker.

If you don't have room on the top rack, put it on the bottom. Or dangle it off the top rack.

I really like the probe port on the newest WSMs. You just shove your probe in the + shaped hole until it's a couple inches inside. Works fantastic with the new Maverick hybrid probes.
 
The heat rises up the sidewalls of the WSM (if you are using a pan). If the probe is too close to the side it will read high.
 
Given that you tested the Maverick, I would rely on it. It appears your grate temp is higher than what your lid thermometer is reading. No reason not to trust what you're seeing - especially since you've noticed that the ribs are getting done quickly. Also, I'm not sure where you read that the dome temp is higher than the grate, but I've found the dome to be cooler because the stem of the thermometer is usually short and the airflow at the dome is cooler. I have an older 18" WSM and I drilled a hole through the top vent rivet to mount a thermometer but I used a thermometer with a long stem - 4 inches. I get a pretty good reading at that length. In your case, I'd recognize that the lid temp is off and add the extra to it and use it as a guide but rely on the Maverick.
 
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