Explain this heat loss...

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Dakaty

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Yesterday while I was cooking it rained HARD a few times. This cooled the pit significantly for a short period.

During one thunderstorm, my pit temp went from 235 degrees to 205 (according to my Maverick). The internal of my brisket fell from 170 to 167.

How did that happen??
 
Maybe some of the heat from the cooker is conducted from the exposed portion of the probe down to the tip where the temp is registered, giving a reading that's higher than the actual temp of the meat. Once the cooker cooled, such conduction would be reduced and you'd be looking more accurately at the cooler temp of the meat. Just a SWAG, but I've been thinking about this possibility for a little while now.
 
That is a possibility.

Next cook, I'll check the Mav internal temp reading by testing with a Taylor "instant read" traditional thermo.
 
I've had brisket temps "back up" during an intentional pit temp reduction (getting done too soon mod) before. Never thought about why, I have seen it happen though.
 
I believe the rain cooler down your pit due to conduction. Ive had that happen to me at a contest one time. Rain water sucks the heat outta the pit. Glad it didnt cool down your meats too much.
 
Dakaty said:
Yesterday while I was cooking it rained HARD a few times. This cooled the pit significantly for a short period.

During one thunderstorm, my pit temp went from 235 degrees to 205 (according to my Maverick). The internal of my brisket fell from 170 to 167.

How did that happen??
Click to expand...

My best guess is heat was absorped because of the high moisture content of the air during the rain. It takes alot of energy converting water to steam.
 
I understand how the pit temperature dropped.

What I don't understand is why the internal temp of the meat dropped below 170 when the pit temp was always at 205 or better.
 
kcquer said:
I've had brisket temps "back up" during an intentional pit temp reduction (getting done too soon mod) before. Never thought about why, I have seen it happen though.
Click to expand...

I can't explain it for you, but I have seen it happen. It might be simple thermal stuff that the pit temp has to be so much higher than the meat temp to keep it climbing.

I've reduced pit temps in an attempt to keep a brisket in the "collagen breakdown zone" before and the internal always goes down, even when it's below the pit temp. I just call it FM.
 
Or it could be explained by astrophysics and basic science. It goes back to the Big Bang Theory. Ever since the Big Bang, the universe has been rapidly expanding. And if you ever used a fire extinguisher to chill a beer, you know that rapid expansion is a cooling process.

Suppose that the rate of rapid expansion of the universe is not precisely constant. We on Earth may sense this as temperature fluctuations.

So maybe the Big Bang momentarily accelerated a little bit during the rain storm.
 
Now that you mention it, it did sense something unusual during the rain storm. I just passed it off as a quick deja vu or a slight time warp.

What you have said makes so much more sense.
 
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