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Does it make sense to calibrate dome and grate temps?
Comments
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One thought is that often the food isn't sitting on the grate. If you have a big hunk of beef the top of the meat might be closer to the dome thermo.Which came first the chicken or the egg? I egged the chicken and then I ate his leg.
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I wouldn't bother. I've seen in the past where as you start your cook there is a rather significant difference between the dome and grate temps. As you progress though the cook the difference will start to lessen, temps get closer together. However, they never both equal each other. So calibrating the two turns into a moving target. I always use one or the other, never both. My experience.
Large BGE, Weber 22.5 kettle, Weber Genesis
Cobourg, Ontario -
Any device you use to monitor BGE cooking behavior needs to be calibrated to a standard, generally boiling water. That said, as noted by @AD18, you can get wrapped around too much information during a cook and spend the entire time wondering "which is correct". If calibrated then all of them are right and just measuring the different thermal gradients inside the BGE. FWIW-Louisville; Rolling smoke in the neighbourhood. # 38 for the win. Life is too short for light/lite beer! Seems I'm livin in a transitional period.
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Great points guys, thank you. I have a cured pork shoulder in there right now, the dome therm shows 300* and the grate shows at 225* so I'm guessing I'm somewhere in between which is fine by me. Again, thanks for the replies.
Cherry Hill, NJ -
I don't recall ever knowing the grid temp. Or caring about it. BGE puts the thermometer in the dome and most folks here provide dome temp when describing a cook. So that's the temp I use. As for knowing the temp in both places, there's an old expression that goes something like... A man with a watch knows what time it is. A man with two watches is never sure.
I hate it when I go to the kitchen for food and all I find are ingredients!
MichaelCentral Connecticut -
Similar to what @Carolina_Q notes they are in fact two different temps, why would you want to calibrate your dome temp to be incorrect?Higher in the dome the temp is hotter on an indirect cook, when you first start out. A few hours in, they come much closer together as the dome heats and radiates down to the grid.Higher in the dome is cooler than the grid on a direct cook as the grid is not shadowed by the setter and it is closer to the IR of the burning lump.For indirect cooks, I rely on the grid temp, for direct cooks I do not use a grid thermo at all, rely on the dome thermo.Delta B.C. - Whiskey and steak, because no good story ever started with someone having a salad!
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Try this, the next time you do a cook and use the grate temperature move the probe to different spots and see how much difference there is, you might be surprised. Hot spots will affect it more at the grate level then it will at the dome level. Using the dome temperature as a guide gives more consistent readings in my opinion. So make sure your dome thermometer is correct and start using that as your guide.
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+1 I had my Mav on one side of the grid and PartyQ probe on the other for kicks one time. Saw variations between the two all over the place. Both were calibrated and this was indirect. After a couple hours they settled in.Hungry Joe said:Try this, the next time you do a cook and use the grate temperature move the probe to different spots and see how much difference there is, you might be surprised. Hot spots will affect it more at the grate level then it will at the dome level. Using the dome temperature as a guide gives more consistent readings in my opinion. So make sure your dome thermometer is correct and start using that as your guide.
They/Them
Morgantown, PA
XL BGE - S BGE - KJ Jr - HB Legacy - BS Pizza Oven - 30" Firepit - King Kooker Fryer - PR72T - WSJ - BS 17" Griddle - XXL BGE - BS SS36" Griddle - 2 Burner Gasser - Pellet Smoker -
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I agree with calibrating/checking temperatures of probes with boiling water. even after doing that, I find I can still get up to a 25 degree delta between the BGE dome gauge and my BBQ guru temp gauge which is alligator clipped to the dome probe, so they are literately only inch apart in sensor location, but one is hanging a little lower in the dome and as others have noted, as time goes on, they tend to converge.
Large BGE in a Sole' Gourmet Table
Using the Black Cast Iron grill, Plate Setter,
and a BBQ Guru temp controller.
Medium BGE in custom modified off-road nest.
Black Cast Iron grill, Plate Setter, and a Party-Q temp controller.
Location: somewhere West of the Mason-Dixon Line -
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