Dome vs Surface

Less dense air rises ...hot air expands and becomes less dense 

If you quit worrying about grate temp, it makes everything much easier. 

You are experiencing information overload.  We’ve all done it till it drives us crazy.  I threw away the wires and run all natural and enjoy the egg so much more now.  I chose the dome thermo as my source of info. 

bhugg said:

buzd504 said:

If you quit worrying about grate temp, it makes everything much easier. 

Will you please explain?

The subsequent replies explained it very well, but to expand - at any given moment you could take temps at 20 spots in your egg and get 20 different readings. The egg generates convection so the air is moving and temps are fluctuating. The dome temp is the reference that everyone has and whether or not it matches the grate (or any other) temp, it gives a consistent representation of what is happening in your egg. Once you see how your cooks preform against that reference, it becomes reliable. 

bhugg said:

I mean, the egg was basically shut off. The surface temp was sky rocketing and the meat was cooling. It just doesn’t make any sense. 

What do you mean by surface temperature, you mean the grate temperature, or the dome temperature.

When the bbq is cooking normally, dome will always be somewhat hotter than grate. Your meat is on the grate and sucking up all the energy. Hot are rises to the dome, then curls back to feed that energy sink (meat).

If you mean the grate temperature rose fast after you closed the vent, well, sure, that can happen because you basically kill the convection action (no air flow), and so everything initially gets hotter, then eventually cools over time.

stlcharcoal said:

Mark_B_Good said:

bhugg said:

I mean, the egg was basically shut off. The surface temp was sky rocketing and the meat was cooling. It just doesn’t make any sense. 

What do you mean by surface temperature, you mean the grate temperature, or the dome temperature.

When the bbq is cooking normally, dome will always be somewhat hotter than grate. Your meat is on the grate and sucking up all the energy. Hot are rises to the dome, then curls back to feed that energy sink (meat).

If you mean the grate temperature rose fast after you closed the vent, well, sure, that can happen because you basically kill the convection action (no air flow), and so everything initially gets hotter, then eventually cools over time.

Other way around (in a kamado at least)......dome thermo sits about a big piece of meat sucking up the heat and with liquid evaporating dropping the ambient temp above it as it exhausts.  Unless there is a pit probe sitting right next to the meat, the grate temp should usually be higher as it's closer to the fire, and no evaporation around it.  If it was a reverse flow, or didn't exhaust out the top, then it could work like that.

But as someone else said, there could be a million different temps, especially in a XL.  Commercial bakery ovens even vary quite a bit.  I used the rotate the grate 180 back in the day, but with the fire moving around in the firebox, it's going to take it's course anyway.

I'm talking indirect, and just above plate setter is always measured a good 30F to 50F lower than the dome, where the temperature gauge is.  Heat rises up the side of the bbq, where the gaps in the plate setter are, up to the dome, then curls back downwards and hits the meat, with a portion being bled off via the vent. This is the convective action of the green egg.

If you're talking direct ... then for sure, grate is going to be hotter than dome, as long as you're measuring away from the heat sink (meat).

Carolina Q said:

As is often the case on here, overthinking temp is rampant. The egg comes with one thermometer. Use it.

One the advantages of Kamado's is that there is multiple sources of heat for cooking your food.  Measuring anyone of these misrepresents whats going on.

The primary heat sources you use every day are:
1) Conduction (ie. steak on cast iron).  Heat is transferred surface to surface
2) Convection (hot air passing by)
3) Radiant heat.  This one is important and why I like to heat soak my ceramics before putting on my meat.  Like how you get a sunburn in the sun, this is heat radiating from the hot ceramics

Calibrate your dome spring and fall and don't get two worked up about it, i recommend dome since its there every cook... unless you are going to use an electronic probe every cook, in the same spot it makes understanding whats going on more difficult