Stick burners. Do you monitor grate temps?

[morningwoodbbq]

You won't be able to tell the difference between ribs cooked at 275° and 267.0045683°.

Except at the lower temp, you'll have to wait 3 minutes longer to eat them. :biggrin1:

 

[BillN]

My offset came with a Tel-Tru in the lid and that is all I have ever used, I only use it as a gauge to let me know I am in the ballpark of where I want to cook at.

 

[Joe Black]

I have 4 dial gauges, one each on either end of the lower grate and one at the center of each door at the upper grate. These are always within 5* from low to high overall. I also use a maverick et-732. It’s also within the ranges of the mounted gauges. I feel really good about how these line up. The second probe of maverick is inserted in the smallest piece of meat that is being cooked. When it gets to the done range, I double check it with a portable probe until it gets pulled. I move the maverick to the next largest piece and continue until everything is finished. This may seem like a nit-picket way of doing things, but it’s not too hard when you get used to it.

I never have temp problems and I’m always quite comfortable.

 

[busmania]

Thanks y’all. Sounds like I’m heading in the direction of most of you. Next cook I’m just going to clip a probe to each stock thermometer just to see how accurate they are (I did boil In water when I first got the smoker and they were accurate then. My fire is almost always clean and I think I worry about clean fire moreso than temps.

 

[Cook]

Exactly....I gave up a longtime ago worrying about all those temp swings! After learning to keep the smoker in a certain range, it made smoking much more enjoyable.

I made a similar observation on a Facebook forum just yesterday. My point was that remote thermocouples (meat or air) has made smoking so unenjoyable for so many people. They want to monitor temps, especially meat temps, every few minutes. Smoking is about knowing your equipment and the cut of meat under the lid.

Of course, I was lambasted by those saying you have to embrace technology and respect science...they completely missed my point.