1st Smoke question

Hi all,

Didn't pick the perfect weather to try my first smoke but I couldn't wait any longer. It's 36 outside with a light wind. The only wind break I have available is my Genesis gasser that is covered. During the first 2 hours, my lid temp has never exceeded 200 degress but my et-73 at the grate has stayed steady at 230 except now when I opened the lid to spray the ribs. I'm not worried about the temp now as I've adjusted the bottom grates and they should start coming down soon. I'm just wondering about the temp difference since this is a new WSM and all I've read is the lid temp will be higher? Some more info for the seasoned pros is I'm guessing the wind is going over the Genesis and cooling the lid possibly? I'm doing 3 racks of baby backs and had already assembled the probe before realizing all 3 racks wouldn't fit on the top grate without seriously crowding the grate probe. Will the proximity of the meat to the probe keep it from reading correctly? I did start with a full charcoal chamber and 1/2 Weber chiminey so there should be plenty of heat unless I've missed something. One other thing, in my excitement I forgot to add water to the pan which I know is okay, just not something I was planning on in my first cook. Plus, I didn't want to waste fuel waiting on water to boil to add to the pan. Hopefully I won't need it in the future as my new smoker is the 18.5 with the larger water pan and was a real pain to foil.

I'm going to try to use the 3-2-1 method until I get more practice and better weather so I can enjoy some Que.

Any thoughts or advice at this point would be greatly appreciated.

Rob

"During the first 2 hours, my lid temp has never exceeded 200 degress but my et-73 at the grate has stayed steady at 230 except now when I opened the lid to spray the ribs. I'm not worried about the temp now as I've adjusted the bottom grates and they should start coming down soon. I'm just wondering about the temp difference since this is a new WSM and all I've read is the lid temp will be higher? Some more info for the seasoned pros is I'm guessing the wind is going over the Genesis and cooling the lid possibly?"
I only go with the grate temp, you'll drive yourself nutz trying to control both. As long as your confident in the accuracy of your ET-73 I'd roll with that

"Will the proximity of the meat to the probe keep it from reading correctly?"
Yes, it will run cooler early in the cook as your product comes to temp.

"One other thing, in my excitement I forgot to add water to the pan which I know is okay, just not something I was planning on in my first cook."
As you've read, no issue here, you might have some higher temps later in the cook but I think you'll be fine. I'm a dry guy.

Just my .02 on 3-2-1 with BB, I prefer a 3-1-1 with BB. Enjoy your cook, wish I was doing some BB today

Thanks Larry, I will go that route and see what happens. Funny thing is, I just foiled and stirred the charcoal which of course raised the temps. Now the dome reads 225 and my et-73 reads 210. I know I'm being overly nervous on my first attempt, just some weird readings on my first try that seemed to go against most of what I have read. One thing I did not do is make sure my lid probe was at least close. I guess I'll try that before my next attempt. Hey I know, use the boiling water for the test in my water pan?!?!?!

Hi Rob,

Not an old pro by any stretch. In fact, just having my second smoke on a WSM. If it is any help, yesterday I did beer butt chicken. My lid temp ran about 40 degrees higher than the grate according to my (tested) remote therm. Ended up evening out around 3 hours into it. I ended up figuring around the middle as an average (only because they were standing, not flat, otherwise I would have gone with the grate temp).

Today, doing ribs, my lid is running about 20 degrees higher than the grate. So, just the opposite of last night. Only diff is that it is snowing lightly today.

As the pros on here will tell you, don't worry too much about the temp difference (though I get where you're coming from--just trying to figure out your smoker's behaviour). If you can get and keep your lid temp around 225-275, you should be alright for just about anything, including ribs.

Enjoy the smoke!

Don't stress the discrepancy between the et-73 and lid thermometer. There's bound to be some difference. Anything between 210-250*F (on the et-73) is "low and slow" in my book. Relax and enjoy the cook.

....or, anything in the shaded SMOKE area of your Weber dome therm is OK too...200-270*

I wish I could remember who originally wrote this to give proper credit but the saying goes something like this. If you have one thermometer you always know the temperature. If you have two thermometers, you have no idea what the temperature is.