Stoker temp readings/probe placement

[Nathan Cole]

Hi everyone,
All the discussion here convinced me to get a Stoker, which I was first able to test out yesterday. In short, I love it.

Is it normal for the readings from the pit probe and the built-in lid thermometer to be very different, even 50 degrees apart?

I had the Stoker's probe clipped onto the center of the top grate, about an inch above, not touching either food or metal, and it was giving me my target temp of 300 for a chicken cook. Meanwhile, the built-in lid temperature was about 225, rising to 255 by the end of the cook. Meanwhile, the Stoker probe reported a pretty constant 300.

I checked both of these in some boiling water afterward, and they both seem fine. What could be going on?

The chicken came out great by the way, except that it took closer to 90 minutes than the 60 I was expecting for one butterflied chicken.

Thanks,
Nathan

 

[Amir]

There is definitely big temp differences of at least 20 to 30 degrees if the probes are in different places as mine are. 50 might be a bit high but still within the range.

 

[Bryan Mayland]

I know even in my Big Green Egg, which is pretty well insulated, the difference between the probe in the lid and one at grate level can be about 20 degrees different. Heck, one side of the grill to the other can be as far off as 10 degrees.

I've got this graph here of one of my cooks and you can see the green and red lines are sometimes pretty far apart. At some point they converge for some unknown reason.

I'd say 50 degrees is pretty far out though. Vents open too much maybe?

 

[Nathan Cole]

Thanks guys, that's good to know. I'm doing some beef ribs today at 225, and the two temps are closer with the Weber thermometer about 15 under. I'll go with the Stoker probe and not worry about it.

Great program, Amir!