Quote:
Originally Posted by ZBQ
Just curious, how do you insulate the stem from the heat rising around the outer edge of the water bowl? It would seem that the heat rising up through that 1-1/2" gap would heat the stem and give false readings for grate temps.
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I don't insulate the stem, and just accept that there's gonna be disagreement between my dome thermo and the grate thermo. The big mental hurdle for me was "which thermometer do I trust?" Do I take an average? Do I give preference to one over the other?
I've come to accept with my WSM (it's beat up and leaky) is that there's lots of hot air currents convecting inside it, which causes the temp variance. That's not the case with my Komodo Kamado, and no doubt, your mileage may vary with your equipment. The grate and the dome thermometers on my WSM seldom ever agree except for the times when the vents are only cracked open a tiny bit, and there's very little airflow ripping around the inside the cooker.
Because of these inherent vagaries, I use The Force a little and weigh other, less tangible factors than the dial on the thermometer. How the fire is behaving, in other words, colors how I interpret the grate thermo. These are some of the factors I think about
:
1) How are the vents set, and how much airflow do I need to hold the cooker at my target temp given the weather / humidity?
2) How's the wind affecting my cooker?
3) How much meat is inside the cooker, and is it still chilled?
4) How much fuel / water do I have left in the WSM?
5) Is the meat sizzling like bacon?
6) How's the exhaust smoke smell?
and so on.
You may have been hoping for a simpler reply. Sorry it got all lengthy n' chit.
