Temp Control for the BGE

toneloceasyegg

I'm new to the BGE.  Although I have cooked steaks (very good), pizza (fair), cedar plank fish (ok), chicken (below fair).  So, I'm learning.  I have purchased a good temp gage for measuring internal and grill temps. I've calibrated all gages and the gage on the dome.  The grill temps differ from the dome temp about 25degs or so.  Which temp should I use?  For example, if a recipe for the BGE calls for 400 degs, is this the dome temp or grill temp? Thanks

stompbox

Most all recipes are dome temp.

I only use grate temps on low and slow.

lousubcap

As above, the general practice is that unless specified, the temp is dome as that is the one thermo all BGE's have.  And I would just pick one temp and learn how your BGE cooks behave with that.  You can get into too much temperature information.  FWIW-

Foghorn

First and foremost - Welcome aboard. 

Where are you located?

Secondly, recognize that you goal in every cook is a particular food temp and that you should treat time and temp directions ("cook at 400 for 40 minutes") as just estimates on most recipes.   Your end point is the food temp.

rmr62

All good advice above.  Best investment I made was my thermapen.  Some of my cooks finish "early", some late.  As stated, cook to temp.  And to answer original question, most mean dome temp unless otherwise specified

bhedges1987

yeah most everyone is calling for dome temp in recipes.

jtcBoynton

Welcome.  You can use either.  But try to pick one.  The differences you see between dome and grid will vary from cook to cook and even during a cook.  Standard convention around here is dome temp, unless specified otherwise.

You might try changing out the dial thermometer on the dome with the probe from your digital.  Some, but not all, probes are the same diameter as the dial thermometer and will fit into the dome.

Eggzellent

It's too bad that we (apparently) don't have anybody up here who can give us more definitive information on various temperature differences within each size kamodo, the ceramic composition difference between ceramic grills as related to thermo dynamics or where food is placed within each size and type as related to temperature or air flow.

The beauty of these things is the simplicity..period (especially with flame-free tools such as the GrillGrate). Yet the minutia of how say my XL cooks vs my MM when I use these various accessories/materials/cooking heights has been of interest to me since the scaled down MM made cooks more interesting (for me). To say that they all cook the same just seems ridiculous, even when I receive outstanding results.

Webass

What lousubcap  said about learning what temp is best on your 'grilling' cooks.

On low and slow I've found the grate and dome temps equalize after a little time into the cook. 

buzd504

I use dome temp exclusively.  I don't care at all about grid temp.

Dondgc

You can drive yourself batty comparing dome and grill temps.  They sometimes seem to defy logic, but usually they eventually come into some sort of alignment.

4Runner

Grid temp is the only temp that matters as that is where the meat is. We just learn to adjust based on dome temp for other cooks.