Grill grate thermometers


 
Kristof Jozsa

Kristof Jozsa

TVWBB Fan
After reading (admittedly) too many articles at AmazingRibs.com, I'm thinking of picking up a cheap leave-in grill grate thermometer to understand more what's happening inside my kettle. Searching on eBay for "grill surface thermometer" I found a couple of candidates but double checking them on Amazon I see that about all of them have mixed reviews, most of them mentioning blacked dials and inadequate heat resistance (a funny attribute of a grill thermometer, isn't it).

Nevertheless, the items I checked are:
- Outset BBQ Grill Surface Thermometer (couldn't find it on Amazon nor found it's manufacturer so I wouldn't exactly trust this one)
- CDN ProAccurate GTS800X
- Polder THM-570
- AcuRite BBQ Thermometer
- Winco Grill Surface Thermometer

I'm willing to bet my $10 or so on any of these products, but if you have some experience with these, it might help a lot. Thanks!
 
I do have a ThermaPen 3 which I love so I do trust this company but I haven't seen a grill surface thermometer there. I'm looking for something small and easy, I'm not (yet) sold on complex devices with wires, transmitters and what not.. guess that'd be a next step-up later on.
 
Been there, done that with a couple of these: Taylor Precision Products Pro Oven Guide Thermometer

Anything you leave on the grate gets covered with grease and smoke, needs to be cleaned, and you've got to remove the lid to read the temp. I know you're not interested in wires, but wires are the way to go if you want to easily monitor temp at the grate. Doesn't have to be expensive or complicated, something like this works great and lasts a long time: Taylor Precision Products Digital Cooking Thermometer with Probe and Timer
 
Something like Chris mentioned above (I think) is the way to go. I myself have a probe and wire set up (maverick et-732) and love it!! As Chris stated, anything mounted on a grate (dial type) will have to be looked at by lifting the lid, and I would find that to be very counter productive. I think once you make the leap to wires and probes, you'll never regret it!!
Good luck,
Tim
 
Maverick ET-732 and ET-733 here.
It's a paradigm shift from analog therms.

It will change the way you tend fire and watch over the cook for the better.
 
It's nice to see the overwhelming support of Maverick thermometers, I'm slowly getting used to the idea and I'll drop buying an analog device for sure.

Looking at the 732 vs the 733, can anyone explain the terrible Amazon reviews of the latter? I see over 15% of people claimed it being downright terrible.. What could the explanation be for this?
 
Kristof Jozsa said:
It's nice to see the overwhelming support of Maverick thermometers, I'm slowly getting used to the idea and I'll drop buying an analog device for sure.

Looking at the 732 vs the 733, can anyone explain the terrible Amazon reviews of the latter? I see over 15% of people claimed it being downright terrible.. What could the explanation be for this?
Click to expand...

I don't know about that 15% but I can tell it is a useful device. I use it from short cooks like steaks and long cooks like pork butt. I can have the pickup on the night stand if I'm sleeping or next to my recliner if I'm watching sports on the tv. The quality of the build did seem to be a little cheap to me but it does the job and a lot of the complains I recall were on the probes, I do NOT immerse the probes in water because I read that will kill them so I gently wash the probe. All I can say is they work for me and have changed the way I cook. If mine did stop working I would buy another one.
 
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