Which cooks hotter? The top or bottom rack.


 
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Rob O

TVWBB Pro
Hi all, Which cooks hotter the top or bottom rack?

I've got a couple of chickens going 2 on the top and 3 on the bottom. Just wondering which one I should be measuring the temp on.
 
Thanks.

That's what I figured then I started second guessing myself since the bottom rack is closer to the coals.
 
If you'll set a thermo on each rack, you'll notice that after an hour or two of not opening the lid, the temps will often equalize between the two racks. I've seen this many times on brisket or butt cooks. Possibly the convection effect of the round lid picks up after X amount of time. If you use sand in the waterpan, you'll often see higher temp on the bottom rack than on the top due to the radiant heat coming off the sand. But, yes, typically on shorter cook the top rack will be a bit warmer.

Just my own observations...

Keri C, smokin' on Tulsa Time
 
Thanks Keri,

I was 3 and a half hours into cooking 5 - 7 lb chickens butterflied. 3 on top and 2 on the bottom.

I just pulled the top ones off at 165 and the bottom ones were registering 152. So it looks like my observations match yours.

When I asked the question I was concenrned I might have been monitoring the wrong (top) chickens. (I only had one probe to work with.)

But everything turned out ok. Thanks.
 
When I was using sand or water, the top rack was always warmer (heat rises). But since using the BBQ Guru and crumpled foil in the pan with a foil liner, I think the bottom is now running hotter. I should do a double pit probe test using my ET-73 just to confirm this.
 
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