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Thermometer accuracy

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edited November -1 in EggHead Forum
I am a BGE newbie and have a 7 lb. Boston Butt on right now. I have the digital BGE thermometer which has a meat probe and a smoker thermometer. The digital thermometer is reading almost 20 degrees lower than the dial on the green egg. Which should I go by? The dial is showing around 250 and the digital is just over 230. I'm shooting for 235 based on the Dr. BBQ Big time cookbook.

Thanks in advance.
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  • Celtic Wolf
    Celtic Wolf Posts: 9,773
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    Both if the dome is calibrated.

    There is a 20-30 difference between the dome and grate.
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  • stike
    stike Posts: 15,597
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    go by dome temp. there's always a difference between dome and grid temps. when we say "250 dome", it's easier than saying "250 dome or 225 at the grid"
    ed egli avea del cul fatto trombetta -Dante
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  • Unknown
    Unknown
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    The grate should be higher, right? But the digital downm near the grate is reading lower so I'm confused. But I never calibrated the dome.
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  • Unknown
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    So the dome temp is higher than the grid? I would have thought the opposite since the grid is closer to the heat.
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  • Woody69
    Woody69 Posts: 360
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    Heat rises..... :)
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  • Celtic Wolf
    Celtic Wolf Posts: 9,773
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    No the dome is higher
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  • Unknown
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    Good thing I wasn't a physics major. ;)
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  • stike
    stike Posts: 15,597
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    tjhose types of thermometers measure air temp (or temp of liquid, meat, etc.). they don't measure the radiant heat of the lump. like when the sun can bake your fac at a football game in the stands, but the thermometer says it's only 65 degrees out

    air rises, and the ceramic dome heats up from the layer of hot gasses flowing along it out the vent. the meat (when cold) also drags the temp down (the meat is a heat sink). the temps will even out toward the end of the cook.
    ed egli avea del cul fatto trombetta -Dante
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  • EggZona
    EggZona Posts: 108
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    A man with two watches never really knows what time it is. Thermometers are a pain!
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  • stike
    stike Posts: 15,597
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    a broken watch is the only watch that is correct twice a day.
    ed egli avea del cul fatto trombetta -Dante
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  • Grandpas Grub
    Grandpas Grub Posts: 14,226
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    cozy,

    With your egg you should have also received a piece of paper on how to calibrate the dome thermometer.

    It is a good idea to check the accurecy every once in a while.

    While you are checking also check your BGE ditigal. Don't let steam get inside the head of the digital. Use a plastic bag around the digital head if you need to.

    GG
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  • Celtic Wolf
    Celtic Wolf Posts: 9,773
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    If thermometers are a pain you are definitely sticking them in the wrong place.
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  • Jeffersonian
    Jeffersonian Posts: 4,244
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    I'd be much more inclined to trust the digital than the BGE for a number of reasons. I've been slapped around for saying this here, but the BGE thermometers are, IMO, of poor quality.

    Second, digital thermometers typically work off of thermocouple sensors which either work or don't work, with failed sensors being obvious by opening and registering a "HI" temperature on your readout or by shorting somewhere outside the high temperature zone and reading an obviously low temperature.

    Lastly, the "calibration" of the BGE isn't really a calibration but a zeroing...the only temperature you're really confident of it reading is 212*F, well out of range of a lot of cooks. The digital can be checked in ice water and boiling water, so you can verify the linearity of the instrument across a wide range and thus have some confidence that it's reading somewhat correctly at temperatures other than 212*.
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