As summer warms up it seems I’ve noticed a few posts between the Weber pages and various smoking pages with people having temperature issues when smoking. Specifically people who think they are smoking at a certain temp and can’t figure out why their food is cooking so slow.
It seemed like a good time for a reminder that grill lid thermometers are almost completely useless. Getting a digital thermometer that comes with a bracket to mount a probe to the grill grate is your best bet. I’ve found this particular lid thermometer is generally 50-100 degrees hotter than the temperature at the grate.
by HOSEandHALLIGANS
17 Comments
They’re basically decoration.
It is also going to depend highly where your heat is in relation to the gauge and probe.
On a side note, I really am not sure what the issue is with my Thermo Pros. On my first set the probes were reading abnormally after about 10 uses. It would drop about 100 degrees and then just throw and error.
I had them replace it and they sent me a whole new set. Worked fine for 2 sessions, than they started reading like 50 degrees below what the actual temperature was.
nope, they’re higher up on the lid which will always read hotter (dumb location IMHO). I got my own thermometer from a local BBQ shop, drilled a hole and mounted it down low, maybe 2-3 inches above the lid’s lower rim edge, directly below and in line with the lid vent.
The grill thermometer reads temp at top of grill, not at the grill surface, and none of them are correct.
I kinda take the position that the cooking temp doesn’t really matter as long as you know where you are in the cook and what you’re going for. I almost exclusively use the thermometer built into my WSM and if it’s sitting where I’m comfortable, it usually turns out fine, regardless of what the grate temp is.
I pick one and just go by it. The key for me is to not try to use both to make adjustments. The lid measures air temp are the top where it’s the hottest, the probe measures the air temp lower so it’s going to be cooler. I know about what temp I’m looking for on either.
https://preview.redd.it/u0xtbdn9j4af1.jpeg?width=4284&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=d2d59d332eb3c1d70ac52b30293127a62714cd9b
You get much better results when you DIY your own probe and pick a better location on the lid for it.
I don’t trust any just Q the way you feel it. I will temp the protein at the end
My spirit e330 always matches my thermometer within 5 degrees. My WSM is the one I can’t trust.
Why not?
Ignore the fact that my grills been off for 3 days.
https://preview.redd.it/pyf4r8iek4af1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=6f44fbbf9214569bb255d732b8595a5f7c2c25d5
It’s a reference point
Mine has the opposite problem — reads about 50 degrees too low. They really are useless.
Funny this comes up a lot. Of the 4 Weber grills/smokers I’ve had with one. 3/4 have been within 10 degrees of my digital probes. I always use them as reference and will place a clip on one at grate level anyways.
Thought that was a clock 😲
I didn’t think people did trust those. It just gives me in idea if I’m in the ballpark
Those are completely unreliable.
I got lucky mine is almost dead on