Welcome to the EGGhead Forum - a great place to visit and packed with tips and EGGspert advice! You can also join the conversation and get more information and amazing kamado recipes by following Big Green Egg to Experience our World of Flavor™ at:
Facebook  |  Twitter  |  Instagram  |  Pinterest  |  Youtube  |  Vimeo
Share your photos by tagging us and using the hashtag #BigGreenEgg.

Want to see how the EGG is made? Click to Watch

So is this true?

Terrebandit
Terrebandit Posts: 1,750
This photo was snagged from the Thermoworks webste. This big of a difference, true or false? If this is true, I've been cooking at much lower temps than I thought. image
Dave - Austin, TX

Comments

  • I was using my maverick yesterday and that was about the difference I was seeing but I thought it  may have been because I had recently tried to calibrate the dome therm. Now I'm not so sure. 
  • bud812
    bud812 Posts: 1,869
    It's true. But they are much closer after it's been cookin for awhile.

    Not to get technical, but according to chemistry alcohol is a solution...

    Large & Small BGE

    Stockton Ca.

  • Terrebandit
    Terrebandit Posts: 1,750
    caliking said:
    Where were the thermoworks probes located to measure temp? Also that looks like the older BGE thermo, not a Tel-tru one. One more thing - was the BGE thermo calibrated? Just mentioning these points as they would only be fair to make an objective comparison.

    Of course, I don't have a clue about those details. ThermoWorks obviously wants me to believe the difference is significant because the want me to buy their meter and probes. I do have a thermapen, so they hooked me there.
    Dave - Austin, TX
  • Mama Roneck
    Mama Roneck Posts: 386
    You should be fine by just calibrating your dome thermo, and keep in the back if your mind that the grate temp is anywhere between 10 and 25 degrees less than dome, depending on how often you open the lid. Its just BBQ after all
    Mamaroneck
  • Little Steven
    Little Steven Posts: 28,817

    The way I read it there is about a 50* temp dif. Not abnormal with a platesetter/indirect piece,

    As was mentioned earlier they will get closer eventually but it is something you need to be aware of on indirect cooks.

    Steve 

    Caledon, ON

     

  • CharlieTN
    CharlieTN Posts: 177
    edited June 2013
    bud812 said:
    It's true. But they are much closer after it's been cookin for awhile.
     
     
    This is what I've noticed with my Maverick. When the cook first starts out the difference may be as much as 25 degrees but after a bit they get much closer together, almost a negligible difference.
  • Tjcoley
    Tjcoley Posts: 3,551
    On first look didn't notice the decimal point and figured you had wrapped the dome thermo during a clean cook.
    __________________________________________
    It's not a science, it's an art. And it's flawed.
    - Camp Hill, PA
  • caliking
    caliking Posts: 18,727
    @Terrebandit: I wasn't trying to give you a hard time. Honestly wondered whether any of those factors might have been mentioned in the comparison.

    #1 LBGE December 2012 • #2 SBGE February  2013 • #3 Mini May 2013
    A happy BGE family in Houston, TX.
  • Terrebandit
    Terrebandit Posts: 1,750
    caliking said:
    @Terrebandit: I wasn't trying to give you a hard time. Honestly wondered whether any of those factors might have been mentioned in the comparison.

    Oh, yes. I know. I wish they would have given us those details too
    Dave - Austin, TX
  • MrCookingNurse
    MrCookingNurse Posts: 4,665
    Very easy to have a 50 degree difference from grate to dome when you start out with some indirect set up.

    Don't really know much about the picture. But like others said, it's very easily possible especially if dome thermo needs calibrating.


    _______________________________________________

    XLBGE 
  • flemster
    flemster Posts: 269
    I saw this photo this weekend.  I was happy to see that the BGE is the poster child of home smoker setups....
    -------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Keywords: Gator, Nashvegas, LBGE, Looftlighter, Thermapen in Racing Green (faster than the red one!), PSWOO2, Spider with CI, IQ120
  • MINIDUKI
    MINIDUKI Posts: 5
    How do you calibrate the dome therm?
  • boatbum
    boatbum Posts: 1,273

    Take it off the dome, not difficult, I think mine had a spring clip on the back.

    start a pan of water boiling, test the temp.  If you are getting close to 212 - you are ok.  If its off, loosen the nut on the back side of the probe, you will see how you can adjust the display portion.

    Note - altitude affects the temp that water will boiling.

    Cookin in Texas
  • fishlessman
    fishlessman Posts: 32,674
    thats called marketing deception, setup, probe placement, calibration, etc and yet they want to say there gage is better by  playing games
    fukahwee maine

    you can lead a fish to water but you can not make him drink it
  • nolaegghead
    nolaegghead Posts: 42,102
    huh?
    ______________________________________________
    I love lamp..
  • Eggcelsior
    Eggcelsior Posts: 14,414

    huh?

    Agreed. Do what?
  • The Naked Whiz
    The Naked Whiz Posts: 7,777
    boatbum said:

    Take it off the dome, not difficult, I think mine had a spring clip on the back.

    start a pan of water boiling, test the temp.  If you are getting close to 212 - you are ok.  If its off, loosen the nut on the back side of the probe, you will see how you can adjust the display portion.

    Note - altitude affects the temp that water will boiling.

    Actually, you don't loosen the nut on the back.  The nut is not screwed on.  It's press fitted or something onto the stem.  You hold the nut still with a wrench and then you can rotate the dial.
    The Naked Whiz
  • TonyA
    TonyA Posts: 583
    It's all about knowing your cooker.  

    We all cooked on grills with a dome gauge for years, did you need to know what the temp was at the grid?  No, you knew how it cooked a the temp you saw.

    Does the difference exist?  sure.  Do the dome and grid temp converge during a long cook? sure. 

    If you understand these things, you don't 'need' to know what the temp is at the grid.  There are people on this forum that know their venting well enough, and understand their food well enough to cook with no thermometer.

    I find it interesting that a company like thermaworks would use a marketing ploy like that .. I would have expected a company selling Gucci grade thermometers would think their customer base knew the truth .. maybe I'm wrong.
  • nolaegghead
    nolaegghead Posts: 42,102
    I'd like to apologize in advance, but I don't get it.  What marketing ploy?  Sorry for being clueless, anxiously awaiting explanation from you fine folks.

    ______________________________________________
    I love lamp..
  • fishlessman
    fishlessman Posts: 32,674

    I'd like to apologize in advance, but I don't get it.  What marketing ploy?  Sorry for being clueless, anxiously awaiting explanation from you fine folks.

    i dont really know where the pic came from or what was written, but why post a pic to the general public with two thermos reading differently when your marketing that yours is really accurate
    fukahwee maine

    you can lead a fish to water but you can not make him drink it
  • TonyA
    TonyA Posts: 583
    @nolaegghead - I'm a fan of thermaworks products in general.  I should probably note I am anti marketing.  Showing a picture of two thermometers reading the temperatures of two different places in a cooker as a depiction of improved accuracy?  Pushing the limits in my book.

    I'm also stunned people would spend $800 on a cooker and more than 10 minutes on this site and not realize there is a difference in temperature between the grid and dome.
  • Eggcelsior
    Eggcelsior Posts: 14,414

    I'd like to apologize in advance, but I don't get it.  What marketing ploy?  Sorry for being clueless, anxiously awaiting explanation from you fine folks.

    i dont really know where the pic came from or what was written, but why post a pic to the general public with two thermos reading differently when your marketing that yours is really accurate
    Here is the article that is was pulled from. It is a blog post on Thermoworks site.
  • nolaegghead
    nolaegghead Posts: 42,102
    I see two thermometers - analog showing dome at 275F.  Digital showing 225F grate and meat showing 138 (I presume).  That's pretty typical.  I still don't get it.  Help me out.  Sorry, slow today.  In all fairness, I don't know what the context is not seeing the website.
    ______________________________________________
    I love lamp..
  • nolaegghead
    nolaegghead Posts: 42,102

    I'd like to apologize in advance, but I don't get it.  What marketing ploy?  Sorry for being clueless, anxiously awaiting explanation from you fine folks.

    i dont really know where the pic came from or what was written, but why post a pic to the general public with two thermos reading differently when your marketing that yours is really accurate
    Here is the article that is was pulled from. It is a blog post on Thermoworks site.
    Thanks, I'm digesting this right now.
    ______________________________________________
    I love lamp..
  • fishlessman
    fishlessman Posts: 32,674
    thanks for posting the link, i was wrong again
    :)) nola, if you didnt have experience with an egg you may never have understood the pic without the article
    fukahwee maine

    you can lead a fish to water but you can not make him drink it
  • nolaegghead
    nolaegghead Posts: 42,102
    edited June 2013
    Haha...yeah, context is everything.  Actually a well written article, and the grill in the first two pics is not even an egg...prbably a weber or something. 

    Yeah, lots of people try to duplicate recipes where the temp is from an oven, and they wonder why it takes so long....Dome temp is really it's own beast.
    ______________________________________________
    I love lamp..