Dave Glasgal
TVWBB Member
Over the weekend, a very generous person donated their old 22" kettle. It's just the basic one, with the ash pan instead of the container, and it doesn't have a thermometer. It needs a little bit of TLC and sadly a new grate since this one's got a fair deal of rust dust, but amazingly I may actually have a lead on that from a neighbor.
I'd really like to try my hand at smoking with this, but I've literally never smoked before so I'm starting with absolutely no first-hand experience as far regulating my temperature. I understand the basic idea of how to do this by using both the bottom and top vents, but I don't have a feel for actually getting the temp where I want it. And this is where my question comes in: is there a thermometer I can use that will allow me to put a probe inside the chamber but keep an eye on the results without removing the lid and letting the heat out? And perhaps more importantly: is there an inexpensive thermometer that'll let me do this? I know how much it would cost to get a kettle that is actually designed with a thermometer, so I don't want to spend 75% of that price just for one tool when it would cost just a little more for a brand new grill.
I'd really like to try my hand at smoking with this, but I've literally never smoked before so I'm starting with absolutely no first-hand experience as far regulating my temperature. I understand the basic idea of how to do this by using both the bottom and top vents, but I don't have a feel for actually getting the temp where I want it. And this is where my question comes in: is there a thermometer I can use that will allow me to put a probe inside the chamber but keep an eye on the results without removing the lid and letting the heat out? And perhaps more importantly: is there an inexpensive thermometer that'll let me do this? I know how much it would cost to get a kettle that is actually designed with a thermometer, so I don't want to spend 75% of that price just for one tool when it would cost just a little more for a brand new grill.