Difference in temp on WSM racks?

[Johnny P]

I've heard that the lower grate is bit hotter than the top, I'm wondering how much? I have 2 racks of back ribs to cook, on being much larger than the other, so I thought to do the big one on the bottom rack. thanks.

 

[Dan Gilson]

Johnny P,

I am pretty sure that the lower rack is warmer than the top rack. I place my pit temp probe right below the top rack and take my temps there but I have found that meat on the bottom rack seems to cook faster than the meat on the top rack. I have not yet taken temps from both racks at the same time. I guess my next experiment should be taking temps at both racks.

I think your are on the right track by putting the larger piece of meat on the bottom rack.

When I cook meats on both racks I put the larger pieces on the bottom rack and have had pretty good results with that process.

 

[K Kruger]

If using water in the pan the reverse is true: the lower grate temps are cooler than the upper. The spread gets narrower and might disappear during long cooks.

 

[Dan Gilson]

Kevin,

Thanks for bringing that up. I haven't used a water pan for quite some time now. I use a foiled clay flowerpot base in place of the water pan and water. Sometimes I forget that when trying to help out.

 

[David Lohrentz]

Dan,

I have the same set up with the flower pot base nested inside the stock water pan and mine is also warmer on the bottom, and cooler at the lid than at the top rack.

 

[Randy P.]

I mostly use sand in the water pan. With sand, the bottom rack does run 8 - 10 degrees hotter throughout the cook. I have moved my probe around to verify and the bottom rack is always a little warmer with sand.

Randy