Help With Temperature Readings

Dome temp only for me. I have no idea what grid temp is. The way I see it, my oven has it's temp sending unit at the top. My egg has it's thermo at the top. Neither comes with any way to measure temp where the food is. If they don't care, neither do I.

I have a Maverick too. Had it for about 5 years now. Used it about 5 times. Maybe. Waste of money, IMO. But if you're going to use it, one probe goes into the meat, the other can go wherever you want it. I suggest clipping it to the probe of your dome thermo.

Welcome to the nuthouse.

charlieBGE said:

I've only had my XL for about a week. When you see cooking temperatures here & other places, is it normally grid temperature or dome temperature? I have a Maverick with two probes. There's about a 30 deg F difference, grid being lower. Maybe it doesn't really matter.  Thanks for helping the new guy. 

I go by grid temp since that is where the meat is.  Yea, it is overkill but that is how I roll.

First, calibrate your dome thermometer and note that you will have to recalibrate every so often. Just did mine the other day and it was off nearly 30 degrees.  At the grid, you do need  to be careful where your probe is....you don't want the meat touching it or dripping on it.   Also, whatever you are using for your indirect setup, make sure your probe is also indirect.  I made the mistake of having my probe on the edge and it was receiving direct heat as the fire expanded to that side.   On my LBGE, once my temps settle, my grid and dome are close.   Hope this helps and keep cooking and posting. We are here to help. 

What @4Runner says. Indirect, the dome may be 30º higher than grid, direct cooks the grid may be 30º higher than dome. 
Assume for indirect the grid probe is in the shadow of a setter leg.. As the cook progresses, the grid and dome temp will get closer to each other. 
Direct cooks, you really do not want to use the Mav, unless you like buying probes - you will fry them. For direct cooks use your calibrated dome thermo. 

theyolksonyou said:

... He recently did a study on grid vs dome. Also, I don't think the maverick probe will for in the OEM hole. I think he has the measurements on that as well. 

Don't tell all my secrets.  Yep, can't cook for sh*t, but love to measure.

The dome temp hole on my large is 0.170" in diameter.  My Maverick probes are 0.178" and 0.182" in diameter, so they won't fit the hole on my egg.  The DigiQ probes are 0.126" in diameter and will easily fit the probe hole.  I doubt that all dome temp probe holes are created equal, so check yours.  @theyolksonyou should be able to tell us if it's possible to enlarge the hole without screwing up the ceramics.

The dome temp can easily be plus or minus 30 degrees of the grid temp on an indirect cook.  My last cook showed the dome temp to be 25 degrees low for most of the cook ... then in the 11th hour it jumped 50 degrees to be 25 degrees above the grid for the rest of the cook.  Go figure.

The bottom line is this: folks cook food like ribs anywhere from 225 degrees to 350 degrees (turbo).  The turbo folks claim the food tastes just as good as the low-n-slow cooked food.  If that's true, then focusing on keeping the temps (grid or dome) in the plus or minus 5 degree range is stupid ... plus or minus 25 degrees is about average ... plus or minus 75 degrees means you might be drinking a little too much.

Truth in advertizing: I'm a grid temp person when cooking low-n-slow.  Yep, you have to pay attention to where the probe is being placed, but I like to know what's happening at protein level.  Since there's only one place for the dome temp probe, that solves the placement problem for the "domers."  But, the dome thermometer will yield different results if the plate setter leg shields or exposes the probe.

Bottom line ... airflow inside our eggs is turbulent, thus all probe location readings can be suspect. 

4Runner said:

Jeepster47 said:

theyolksonyou said:

... He recently did a study on grid vs dome. Also, I don't think the maverick probe will for in the OEM hole. I think he has the measurements on that as well. 

..... Bottom line ... airflow inside our eggs is turbulent, thus all probe location readings can be suspect. 

What are you....flying Big Green Egg air.  

  Absolutely not ... they keep dropping my lump through the cracks.

Damn but that's a poor pun ...

Dome only here. No Maverick or other temperature device. 

Hasn't failed me yet. 

+1 @SmokingPiney