Eyelet and thermometer

OK, friends, please allow this brand new WSM owner to innocently catch up. My WSM was delivered last week, and I installed Genie handles on the middle section, as much to hold the table I'm building as anything else. I purchased the Guru eyelets which arrived today. My questions: if I only plan to use thermometers in the lid vents and through the eyelets is it best to use an eyelet for the thermometer through the top bracket hole or the bottom one? I plan to use the other one for a probe for the food, by the way. Next, I keep reading about the hot temperature column along the sides of the WSM, so what length stem achieves the most accurate result though the eyelet?

Any help is appreciated and I offer a thanks to all contributors to the forums; you have helped me greatly so far with wisdom and insight.

Thomas

My questions: if I only plan to use thermometers in the lid vents and through the eyelets is it best to use an eyelet for the thermometer through the top bracket hole or the bottom one? I would use the top bracket hole if you're not going to install both eyelets.

You would use a candy thermometer through the lid vent to messure the overall smoker temp. You would use your eylets to messure the meat temp with a remote thermometer. i.e. Maverick ET-7 or ET-73.

I plan to use the other one for a probe for the food, by the way. Next, I keep reading about the hot temperature column along the sides of the WSM, so what length stem achieves the most accurate result though the eyelet?

You wouldn't use a candy thermometer through the eyelet. The intended purpose of the eyelets is for a flexible braided stainless steel braided wire with a thermo probe at the end. You feed the wire through the eyelet and insert the probe into the meat.

Check out the Maverick site, you'll see what type of remote thermometers I'm talking about.
www.maverickhousewares.com

Best of luck!

If you want to use a candy-type thermometer through an eyelet, you can certainly do that. I'd suggest using the top eyelet, which should put it just under the top grate. I have used a 6-inch candy/deep fry thermometer that way, and it works well enough. If you want to use a Polder, Maverick, or other probe-type unit to measure either the cooking temp (by putting the probe through a potato or ball of foil, on the grate beside the meat), or to measure the meat temp as it cooks, I believe the cables on all those thermometers are long enough that you can run the probe through either eyelet, and measure the temperature on either level.

I placed my eyelet in the hole for the top bracket since the upper grill is what's used mostly.

Friends,

Thank you all for your help and insight. I decided to install both eyelets on the same bracket, one up and one down. I plan to use a stem thermometer for temperature in the upper and a digital probe for "doneness" through the bottom.

I'm still "tricking out" my smoker before the first cook, building a side table out of cambera, a tropical hardwood slightly less dense than ipe but great looking and weather resistant. I'll post pictures when I'm done. Thanks again for your insights.

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by T Bounds:

I'm still "tricking out" my smoker before the first cook, building a side table out of cambera, a tropical hardwood slightly less dense than ipe but great looking and weather resistant. I'll post pictures when I'm done. Thanks again for your insights. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>Can't wait for those pics.

I now want a table and stand to lift the WSM up a bit after my first overnighter. I have the concept, but it's just a matter of time if I can actually build it.

Can't wait to see yours.