On my last smoke I did butts. When I went to bed the lid was about 12 - 15 degrees higher than the grate according to my ET73 and lid thermometer. No problemo. When I got up and for the rest of the smoke the temps at the grate were within 3 -4 degrees of the lid. I thought this was unusual so I took the lid off and looked at the placement of my ET73 probe. It wasn't touching anything and looked good. I tested both the probe and the lid thermometer last night and they were both right on. Any ideas?? The butts turned out fine but this has been bugging me.
Question concerning temps
- Thread starter Paul H
- Start date
adam clyde
TVWBB Pro
that happens to me all the time - I think it is normal. Seems that after the smoke has been going for quite a while, the temperature throughout the smoke evens out, so there is far less difference between the lid and the grates.
Shawn W
TVWBB Emerald Member
I wouldn't worry about it either Paul. I think temps and heat distribution will fluctuate to some degree inside the WSM over the course of a cook. You are cooking over a fire after all, but WSM does a great job of controlling it.
The water pan empties, the wind may change, the butts shrink, the water pan may be off center to start with, the fire may get hotter to one side. Sun on the WSM, that sort of thing, but it all comes out in the end.
Use the meat temp as a guide, try checking by sight and feel as well towards the end, keep the pit temp up and it will cook. If meat close to the grate edge is cooking faster you can flip/rotate or choose to not worry about it.
This is me echoing what I've learned from the fine folks here in the last year. It's sinking in.
I really enjoyed my last butt cook. Why? It was 4 butts in 18 hours through somewhere between 3" - 9" of rain and strong wind gusts. I didn't get woke up once by ET-73, I stayed dry inside while WSM did what it was supposed to.
Thanks to all for the great advice!
The water pan empties, the wind may change, the butts shrink, the water pan may be off center to start with, the fire may get hotter to one side. Sun on the WSM, that sort of thing, but it all comes out in the end.
Use the meat temp as a guide, try checking by sight and feel as well towards the end, keep the pit temp up and it will cook. If meat close to the grate edge is cooking faster you can flip/rotate or choose to not worry about it.
This is me echoing what I've learned from the fine folks here in the last year. It's sinking in.
I really enjoyed my last butt cook. Why? It was 4 butts in 18 hours through somewhere between 3" - 9" of rain and strong wind gusts. I didn't get woke up once by ET-73, I stayed dry inside while WSM did what it was supposed to.
Thanks to all for the great advice!
Bruce Bissonnette
TVWBB Guru
Paul,
That is a quite normal experience, at least with my lengthier cooks. In fact, there have been times when the top grate might read several degrees hotter than the lid temp, now try and figure that out.
Stuff like that use to worry me, but everything turns out fine. I think its just a quirk of the way temps stabilize during a long cook.
That is a quite normal experience, at least with my lengthier cooks. In fact, there have been times when the top grate might read several degrees hotter than the lid temp, now try and figure that out.
Stuff like that use to worry me, but everything turns out fine. I think its just a quirk of the way temps stabilize during a long cook.
Paul,
I put an 11.8# picnic on at 2 this afternoon, and a 7.7 picnic on at 6 this eve. I have a Nu-Temp on the top grate, and another in the lid. After the smoker/meat/water ran up to temp, within an hour, there was only an 8 degree difference between the two readings. I have the small picnic on the lower grate, but ran out of Nu-temps to check that on lol. If the lid is left on, the difference between top grate/lid readings will not be to far apart.
I put an 11.8# picnic on at 2 this afternoon, and a 7.7 picnic on at 6 this eve. I have a Nu-Temp on the top grate, and another in the lid. After the smoker/meat/water ran up to temp, within an hour, there was only an 8 degree difference between the two readings. I have the small picnic on the lower grate, but ran out of Nu-temps to check that on lol. If the lid is left on, the difference between top grate/lid readings will not be to far apart.