Top vs Bottom grate

[Matt Thielbar]

I usually only use the top grate for smoking on my 22. Big B-day party on Sat for my sons first. I understand the bottom grate is about 10 degrees hotter than the top grate. My question is that is there any difference in final product since the food on the bottom gets grease falling on it the entire cook. I will be doing 6 butts; 3 top and 3 bottom.
Thanks,
Matt

 

[K Kruger]

In that case, no, not really.

With more meat in the cooker target cooktemp can take a bit longer to hit; once there the timing is usually the same as a smaller cook.