Crate and Barrel Performer Deluxe potential design flaw?


 
Stevie Jay

Stevie Jay

New member
Well I put this grill together yesterday. I noticed that the thermometer was across from the top vents. So if I was using the analog clock face the vents are at 12 o'clock and the thermometer is at 6 o'clock. I usually put my charcoal on the cover bail side (9 o'clock) if standing at the front of the grill. Weber says do not put the thermometer over the charcoal. I cook indirect and place meat at 3 o'clock. My smoke will exit the lid at 12 o'clock before reaching the meat.

I have the 2011 performer and the thermometer is 6 o'clock, but the vent is at 3 o'clock so the meat gets the full effect of the smoking. What does everyone else think? Maybe this is not such a big deal.
 
My new Black Performer Deluxe (and likely all new style lids) also has the therm and vent opposite each other. For a 50/50 hot and cold zone like you described up you are correct, the the the vent and therm cannot both be over the meat.

If you cook indirect using the charcoal baskets on each side with your indirect zone in the center then you will have the vent and therm over your meat. Since this is the indirect method that Weber recommends i suspect the new lid arrangement was designed to support this set up.

My opinion, the lid vent is a general guide of temperature increases or decreased but inst located at the grate and therefore cannot be relied on to accurately guage cooking temp. A maverick or other probe therm will do a much better job of this IMO.

If you regularly use the same set up you may be able to calibrate: If 275 on a grate probe is always 300 on your lid therm then you can learn to make your own mental note of the difference and monitor via the lid.
 
I tend to just use 1 charcoal basket when going indirect. This gives me more room and helps me keep the temps lower. This is why I am a little disappointed with the new design. The smoke exits the vent before it can waft over the meat.
 
I have the 2015 Performer Deluxe also. I often use it with an indirect coal setup as described by Stevie in his first post. When using this sort of indirect setup, I put the lid vent at 3 o clock, above the meat, and thermometer be damned. If having the thermometer directly over the coals means it's going to break or something, that's a thermometer I don't really want anyway. And truthfully, I barely use it. I glance at it sometimes when opening the lid, but if I'm cooking something that I want an accurate temp control on, I'm going to be using a digital thermometer to monitor the grill temp. Not only will this be more accurate and much quicker to respond to changes in temp, it also lets me put the thermometer probe a lot closer to the food I'm cooking than the slow bi-metal dial thermometer in the lid.
 
On first glance it appeared to me that you are over-thinking this. On the other hand, I get it. My personal approach would be to ignore the warning against placing the thermometer over the fire. If you build a full box fire, the thermometer is going to be over it someplace, isn't it? If they're trying to get you a more accurate reading (rather than trying to prevent damage to the thermometer), I am smart enough to figure out that my thermometer is directly over the fire, while my food is offset. I would build the fire at 6 o'clock, placing the thermometer over it, with the vent and the food placed at 12 o'clock.

Nice grill, by the way. I had one of the first Performers, which was a Williams-Sonoma exclusive. Gave it to a good neighbor on a move. I've kicked myself for 17 years over giving it away.
 
Sounds like we are all on the same page. I wasn't aware there was a warning against putting thermo direct over coals to prevent damage. I don't intentionally put thermo direct over coals because who cares what temp over coals is if there is no food there, however you are correct that if your vent is over the food your thermo is over the fire. I doubt it would ever be an issue however: 1. the weber thermo's, while not the most accurate, are fairly tough, 2. as chris said above "If having the thermometer directly over the coals means it's going to break or something, that's a thermometer I don't really want anyway."My maverick probes are mighty sensitive to overheating, especially the older ones but the thermo on my genesis has survived a runaway chicken cook turned grease fire and its no worse for wear.
 
Went out and looked at my two performers 2008 & 2011 and yep they both have thermometers, who would have thunk it. Never have noticed or used them, if I need to watch temps the Maverick gets the call.
 
Rich Dahl said:
Went out and looked at my two performers 2008 & 2011 and yep they both have thermometers, who would have thunk it. Never have noticed or used them, if I need to watch temps the Maverick gets the call.
Click to expand...

Same here, the biggest benefit to the dome therm for me is monitoring how quickly the grill is cooling after shut down so i can cover up. I usually give it a few hours.
 
The person that came up with the new design at Weber clearly has not used the grill and did it purely on aesthetics. Should have left it the way it was.
 
I was about to buy one of these to get the new features, but the thermometer placement is a bit of a bummer.

I also do most of my kettle cooking indirect. I put the fire at 9, the meat at 3. I drilled and added a thermometer to the old kettle I have now, and it sits at 6 with the vent over the meat at 3. Perfect.

I guess I will have to adjust my style or reliance on the thermometer if I get the new model. I could use my old lid, but one of the reasons I'm considering the upgrade is that I dropped the lid, and it has never been a perfect fit since.
 
I went ahead and bought a new Master-Touch. It is very nice, except the removable center piece is sort of in the way if you don't plan to use a wok, etc. there.

I have a chuck roast on now, with my coals piled to the left behind fire bricks. Started with 15 lit a few hours ago. The meat is on the right over a water pan. The lid is positioned so that the vent is over the meat, to draw the heat and smoke over it. The temp gauge on the lid, which is over the fire, reads 380. Maverick on the meat side reads 233.

So the lid gauge is pretty worthless for my style of indirect cooking, which is 80% of what I use a kettle for.

Maybe having the vent over the meat is not that big a deal, and I could place the lid where the gauge and vent are at 12 and 6 o'clock. I can keep placing it at 3 and 9, but with the Maverick to check grill temps. but it is a pain to get the Maverick out each time when there is a darned gauge right there in the lid that should be useful.
 
My advice would be to rotate lid as needed. Cook with vent over food but rotate therm over meat momentarily to check temp and then rotate back to continue cook.
 
Chris Conro said:
...if I'm cooking something that I want an accurate temp control on, I'm going to be using a digital thermometer to monitor the grill temp. Not only will this be more accurate and much quicker to respond to changes in temp, it also lets me put the thermometer probe a lot closer to the food I'm cooking than the slow bi-metal dial thermometer in the lid.
Click to expand...

Rich Dahl said:
Went out and looked at my two performers 2008 & 2011 and yep they both have thermometers, who would have thunk it. Never have noticed or used them, if I need to watch temps the Maverick gets the call.
Click to expand...

+1

I cannot understand why Weber A) continues to use inaccurate bi-metal thermometers, and B) puts them at the top of the lid instead of near the cooking surface. As one of the most respected makers of grills and smokers in the world, you'd think they would abandon these practices and just remove them from their products.
 
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