temperature / thermometer mystery

Unknown · January 2001

We've been doing just fine with birds we've been cooking in our large BGE, they're moist and delicious, but we're finding that with temp. stabilized at 375 the chickens of various sizes are taking an hour longer than they would in the oven at the same temp. Our BGE thermometer, well calibrated and double checked for same, is offset from the external surface by a 1/2" spring. We bought a Polder, thinking opening the lid in freezing temps might be cooling off the bird, but find the same thing with the grill never opened. We're using a large, 16" pan, and the BGE rack. Is there any ready explanation for this mystery? Thanks -- km

Spin · January 2001

Ken Masner,[p]The drip pan tends to force the airflow from the fire around the meal and along the inside of the dome towards the top vent exit. Your dome temp gauge tends to see the heat of the fire, rather than the heat of the area that the meal actually occupies.[p]Spin

Dr. Chicken · January 2001

Ken Masner,
Spin may have hit the nail on the head! We find the same thing, and I have learned to just live with it for the most part! I chalked it up to the fact, that I use a water-filled drip pan in all my cooks over 200 degrees! To borrow an old ryme from an old commercial...."Everything tastes better when done on an Egg!" No offence intended to the "Blue Bonnet" people! :-)))[p]Cheers,
Dr. Chicken

Tim M · January 2001

Ken Masner,[p]I agree with the previous posts - it's not easy to compare an oven and the Egg as far as times vs temps go. The main thing is that we all have the same equiptment and we can reference the dome thermometer and time to cook (these stay constant since we all have the same dome thermometer and the same type ceramic cooker and time doesn't change from state to state). That is why this forum and keeping records of previous cooks is so important. I started keeping records of my cooks and it became my cookbook/website. Follow the recipes since they were done using the same equiptment you probably have. [p]The temps in the Egg vary a lot - seems like more heat rolls up the sides but that is all taken into account in the recipes. It's another reason why recipes done in metal cookers, Brinkman's, offsets etc are different in time to cook sometimes. [p]Tim

Unknown · January 2001

Spin, others -- Thanks for the illuminating answers. I'm glad to know it's not something I'm doing wrong (or wrong with my mind). -- km

temperature / thermometer mystery

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