Maverick ET-732 Temp Differences

Bagger722 · March 2011

So, I've decided to give the Maverick a shot today during the Butt cook. I used it once before and didn't take the time to ready on how to work the damn thing. My question for all of you that own one is do you notice a temp difference between the probe at grid level and the BGE thermometer in the dome??

From what I have read from other posts of people using them is that the dome temp is usually greater than the grid them. I set mine all up and put the grid probe on near the meat but not to close to affect the reading. Had my XL dialed in for dome temp of 240˚ and the ET-732 was reading BBQ temp of 264˚. I found it odd to be warmed by the grid than the dome as I have read this in the past.

Anyone with some insight to this please post. I have had plenty of great cooks doing it the old fashion way with setting my dome temp and them using a quick read thermometer. I want to have faith in the Maverick but hasn't sold me yet.

Thank you all.

fishlessman · March 2011

check the dome therm and 732 in boiling water, if they are the same your readings on that cook were probably correct. if the dome gage is close to the meat it will read low as well, lots of little variables with setup, meat size, meat being really cold.

boston_stoker · March 2011

If the grid temp probe is protected by the plate setter, there should be a dome grid temp difference around 30 degrees or so. I would calibrate the maverick with a pot of boiling water. Also with two butts, you want to make sure there is a 1" gap between them so they don't cook like one giant hunk of meat ( take longer ). It will take anywhere between 1 to 2 hours per lbs.

Bagger722 · March 2011

Yes, I have a plate setter with this cook and the grid probe is over the plate setter out of the way of direct heat. I'm guessing I will have to play around more once this cook is done.

fishlessman · March 2011

go boil some water, then pull the probes and check them both, only takes a minute. i wouldnt do a cook like that without checking the gages. if they are clos to temp in boiling water then you know its not the gages. when you add all that meat there is a tendency to open the ventds to get it back up to cooking temps quickly, avoid that and let it come back slowly over the next few hours, what happens is opening the vent makes for too big a fire andf the meat temps are fooling your gages. ive chased on a big cook before and backed way down when i saw that the fire was a searing fire and the gages were still reading below 200, test your gages and wait it out

Bagger722 · March 2011

Yeah, i've been using both Egg's long enough and get them dialed in really good. I did not touch the Egg once I put the meat on. Had the XL dialed in to dome temp of 250˚ and let sit for about 40 mins to make sure it was all warmed up and ready to go before I did anything. Like I said, I've been using dome temp and quick read thermo for a while now and everything has been great. Just thought I would give the Maverick a shot.

I will continue my cook with the Maverick there but will use the method that I have been. Then I will try boiling water tonight when all is done and test both thermometers.

rah · March 2011

I had something simular happen with my 732. I shut both units off, waited several minutes, turned them back on and it worked fine. Read on this post where someone pulled the batteries put back in and it worked. By the way I was testing with boiling water when the temps were giving me trouble.

transversalInactive · March 2011

Boston, I didn't think you could calibrate a Maverick...if so, how?

transversalInactive · March 2011

That's not a bad idea....I guess it has the effect of "resetting" the maverick. But I, too, have gotten strange reads with the Maverick gird probe that don't look like's its in the same county as the meat probe, much less inside the Egg dome. I have gotten to the point that I use the Maverick primarily to monitor meat temp, and use its grid probe just to alarm me in the event the coals go out or run away during an all niter.

Grandpas Grub · March 2011

The dome temperature is going to be different than the grid temperature.

All this dynamics is going to depend on the lump level grid level and distance from lump to dome thermometer and or distance from grid or where there the pit probe is placed to the dome thermometer.

There have been charts posted on the forum that record as much as and 80° delta between the grid and dome thermometer. I have found as the cook goes on the delta becomes less and less and have seen as little of a delta as 15° with my cooking/testing.

Here is a L&S brisket cook with the Stoker. Probed at the dome and at the food level.

Here is the probe placement - the dome probe was connected just above the 'ridge' of the point on the dome thermometer stem - as close the the stem end as I could get without connecting over the stem read point. The pit probe was at mid to upper meat level.
One food probe in the point and the other in the flat. The vertical lines on the bottom are a call to turn on the blower.

Here is the chart. In the beginning of the cook green and red lines. I am not sure why the cross over I don't recall, but I am guessing I opened the dome.

A 50° delta in for the first 1.5 hours, the crossover and then at the 5 hr. mark almost a 100° delta. At about 9 hrs the delta was about 20° to 30°. The pit probe was pushed through the meat and about 2 to 3 inches out from the meat farthest side of the meat. The probes are supposed to read at the probe end and I am not sure if the cool meat conducted temperature down the probe and affected the read. I would think putting a probe through a potato would give the somewhat same effect. At some point I am going to build or buy a probe tree.

I have noticed the same delta traits on other recorded cooks and have seen the large delta on other folks post that have posted charts.

GG

Dondgc · March 2011

sophie wrote:

Boston, I didn't think you could calibrate a Maverick...if so, how?

As far as I can read in the instructions you can't calibrate it, you can only check the accuracy. As I mentioned in a previous post, both of my probes were within 2 degrees of dead on.

The reason I tested was because I was surprised at my grid temps. I suspect those of us who are only used to tracking temps at the dome need to get used to the variations that take place at grid level.

Maverick ET-732 Temp Differences

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