Quote:
Originally Posted by TurboDog
I've got at least a dozen or more cooks done on my UDS , most of the food that has come off of it has been wonderful. I have read the ENTIRE UDS thread , but I still have a couple of questions for the "pros".
1. My UDS has extreme hot and cold spots , varying as much as 50 degrees over different points on my grates , my charcoal basket is wide and low and I tend to spread my lit coals around on top of my unlit coals. So my question is , will a diffuser of some sort help with this , and will it create any "new" issues od it's own if I did use one.
2. I sprayed down the inside of my drum with PAM before my first cook , and have cooked several fatties , so for the most part the inside of the drum is pretty greasy , but it's still starting to rust on certain spots , is there a need to "re-season" every once in a while , or is this normal?
3. I need suggestions for a thermometer , I started out with one of those turkey fry thermometers , it lasted about 3 cooks. Lately I have been using my digital probe through a block of wood sitting on one of the grates but would prefer a side mounted solution. What would be a good thermometer to use? I don't mind paying a little more for a good one , or two.
4. Where should I be reading temps at? between my two grates? Or should I have one just below each grate? I find that if I get my digital too close to the meat it messes with the reading , so I'd appreciate some suggestions here.
|
If you are getting some rust inside, just spray with some more Pam and cook on.
I use a turkey thermo that I bought from Wally World for about $5 and have been using it for about 15 months. It is within about 20 degrees of my Maverick.
I also have a cheap side mounted guage that will be very close to my maverick after my uds has been up and running for 2 or 3 hours.
After you have some experience with your gauges verses the maverick you can pretty much know what your smoker is doing. I would just buy another turkey thermo as they are cheap. I used and depended on mine until l bought my Maverick.
One thing about the turkey thermo is that sometimes while cooking, it will get a build-up of crust on it near the tip and will give low readings. I just pull it out and clean it off and put it back in and it comes right back up to the correct temp.
