Dial Gauge Permanent Thermometor Recommendation Please for my UDS

[bbqgeekess]

My new UDS needs a new dial gauge thermo or two. Right now I am borrowing my Weber Q thermo from my mini (which seems to work well but used to be $10, now $15 on Amazon--silly nuts if you ask me).

I want something affordable yet high quality -- the most bang for your buck if you will. Sometimes one can get really good stuff affordably; I don't buy into: "you get what you pay for"--e.g. sometimes you can pay a lot and get junk. But there is an exceptionally good one that costs a bit more I'm open to indulge , thanks :)

[martyleach]

This is as good as I can find:
http://www.amazon.com/Weber-9815-Rep...bq+thermometer

[Pyle's BBQ]

I have seen people use a turkey fryer thermometer. How long of stem do you want on your thermometer? People use the longer stem to get closer to the middle of their UDS. A shorter stem may give you a false reading due to the fact it is reading the heat coming up the side of the UDS. Another option is using a digital one with the probe stuck through a potato. You can put the digital unit in a ziplock bag to keep it dry. Using this method will give you a better idea of what the temp at the grate is than anything else.

[bbqgeekess]

Originally Posted by Pyle's BBQ

I have seen people use a turkey fryer thermometer. How long of stem do you want on your thermometer? People use the longer stem to get closer to the middle of their UDS. A shorter stem may give you a false reading due to the fact it is reading the heat coming up the side of the UDS. Another option is using a digital one with the probe stuck through a potato. You can put the digital unit in a ziplock bag to keep it dry. Using this method will give you a better idea of what the temp at the grate is than anything else.

I want one with a 3" stem or less. I don't want it too long otherwise I might break it with the fire basket or whatever. I can add the removable long stem one later. I also want to get a digital one later on (like the stoker device).. but that's much later. Thanks :)

[BluegrassSmoke]

Quite a few on eBay too...

[HTGGUY]

do not use one with a 3" stem, it will not give you good reading. use 12" and remember to pull it out when moving things

[Pyle's BBQ]

With your budget, this is the one I would get.

http://www.amazon.com/Taylor-Weekend...perature+gauge

I couldn't find this with the 3" stem. You can check on ebay also. The problem there is I don't know what brand those are. I know Taylor makes a good product.

Thermworks has their digital thermometers on sale. You can get 2 for about the price of one.

http://thermoworks.com/products/alar...emp_timer.html

[Disciple882542]

I've had success with my River Country thermometer. Here they are on Amazon for under $20:

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss...ry%2Caps%2C331

I use the one with the 2" stem and account for the 30 degree difference between the middle and sides of my UDS. That's just part of cooking for me.

God bless

[Bludawg]

I got mine at Academy Sports IIRC it was packaged as OLD COUNTRY about 9 bucs

[ButtBurner]

River Country here too

lots of configurations available on Amazon

I think they are a great deal and a very nice product

[N8man]

I recommend getting this one from Spicewine Ironworks, it can be calibrated and Spicewine is a brethren member

[J-Rod]

Originally Posted by Bludawg

I got mine at Academy Sports IIRC it was packaged as OLD COUNTRY about 9 bucs

I run these same thermos on all my cookers I built. You can find em on eBay pretty cheap in various sizes. Fwiw I still verify that they're accurate before running them, but I've not had one be off to date. I personally don't buy into the whole need for one with a 12" stem or whatever as thermos are only a frame of reference anyway. Once you use your cooker a bit and get used to the readings you'll know whats happening on the grate.

[ButtBurner]

pretty obvious a lot of these are made by the same company.