Lid Thermometer

Couple guys on other forums have them in other grills. Glow in dark ones are really nice. Can't find pic now to post
 
Couple guys on other forums have them in other grills. Glow in dark ones are really nice. Can't find pic now to post
OK, thanks. It just doesn't seem right not having a lid thermometer. Would give you something to compare with all the other thermometers and get really confused. LOL
 
I have a calibrated aftermarket thermometer on my Weber gas grill. I also have I-grill. If I place an ambient prob front and back at grate (food) level the temp at the top of the hood will be consistently 100 + degrees hotter at the top of the hood. Look at where the tip of the factory installed probe is.. At food level. Installing one may look cool but it would have no practical value IMO.
 
I have a calibrated aftermarket thermometer on my Weber gas grill. I also have I-grill. If I place an ambient prob front and back at grate (food) level the temp at the top of the hood will be consistently 100 + degrees hotter at the top of the hood. Look at where the tip of the factory installed probe is.. At food level. Installing one may look cool but it would have no practical value IMO.
Yep, I hear ya. Looking at all the lid thermometers I noticed the stems run from 2.5" up to 6''. That 6" stem would hit the turkey!
 
Analog temp gauges can be off by 20 degrees get one that’s adjustable
and being u got a gauge on the left put it on the right side food level.
Ive seen Aaron Franklins and that’s where he put his gauge on his personal
grill
 
Even though I'm an old "Baby Boomer", I've adapted to using my phone or ipad as the primary grill temperature reader. I really struggle with the analog one on my BGE, I've re-calibrated it a couple of times a year (boiling water method), Guess its what you are comfortable with. I am having a love hate relationship with the included temp probes, but pretty sure that is a separate discussion group.....
 
If actual cooking temp is important to anyone then I have one question about the lid type. Are you going to duct tape your food to the underside of the lid for cooking? Snark aside, if you're going to choose to up your grilling/smoking game, a lid thermometer is close to the most useless accessory you could get/use. At best it's a relative measuring device that might show you temp swings, but not accurate values that would likely be of greater importance.
 
1st your Bull already had a T where the lid T would be.. 2nd you have set T actual T and 2 probe T's if you use them... The "NEW" lid T will add nothing to your "Art of Cooking" BUT you will have the sanctification of another piece of "gilt" on your cooker... and you do get to spend more $$ so buy the one for the most $$$$. IMHO
 
If actual cooking temp is important to anyone then I have one question about the lid type. Are you going to duct tape your food to the underside of the lid for cooking? Snark aside, if you're going to choose to up your grilling/smoking game, a lid thermometer is close to the most useless accessory you could get/use. At best it's a relative measuring device that might show you temp swings, but not accurate values that would likely be of greater importance.

I have a big green egg and I can tell you, its important and I check and calibrate it a couple times a year. On the bull, I put the 2 probes on the grate (after the ice calibration) about one third left and one third right from center Using some grate probe clips I have. The controller showed rock solid temps at 250 degrees for an hour and a half, +/- 2 degrees.

On the grate probes I was seeing swings of 8-11 degrees depending on the probe. So an analog dial may give you a more accurate real time reading but to be honest, its just BBQ, not rocket science. I challenge anyone in the BBQ World to hold 10 degrees throughout a long cook. Rec Tec does a little software trickery to keep the jumping around of the temp from driving people crazy. That’s what co-founder Mr Carns told me Anyway.
 
I have a big green egg and I can tell you, its important and I check and calibrate it a couple times a year. On the bull, I put the 2 probes on the grate (after the ice calibration) about one third left and one third right from center Using some grate probe clips I have. The controller showed rock solid temps at 250 degrees for an hour and a half, +/- 2 degrees.

On the grate probes I was seeing swings of 8-11 degrees depending on the probe. So an analog dial may give you a more accurate real time reading but to be honest, its just BBQ, not rocket science. I challenge anyone in the BBQ World to hold 10 degrees throughout a long cook. Rec Tec does a little software trickery to keep the jumping around of the temp from driving people crazy. That’s what co-founder Mr Carns told me Anyway.
I haven't decided if I am going to install a lid temp probe or not. I have too many other mods to perform on my new Stampede when she gets here tomorrow. I still kind of like the idea my damn self. I think it looks cool and there are a lot of other BBQ grills that have them. It will give something else to look at and cause more temp confusion. LOL. One thing I do think it could come in handy is if you get a grease fire. Lets say you have shut down your smoker and the control panel display is not showing anything and you see the lid temp is going crazy high because of a grease fire. But of course what can you do anyway because you need to keep the lid closed for a grease fire. I notice the aftermarket lid temp probes have different stem lengths. Anywhere from 2" up to 6" length. Wonder why that! I guess I would get a short stem length so it doesn't hit a big turkey.
 
I always wondered about doing something like this myself... It's nice to have the analog confirm the digital.. With my probes, I've seen swings when I touch the plug at the controller and it always made me feel uneasy about the accuracy...
 
At best it's a relative measuring device that might show you temp swings, but not accurate values that would likely be of greater importance.

I rarely disagree with you brother, and only partially with this one. I know we are on a rectec forum and completely agree with your previous statement in regards to any grill rectec offers and lid probes of any kinds. However as others have stated, with kamados specifically lid probes can be extremely accurate. The core reason is once the clay heats up it radiates heat pretty evenly across the entire cooking chamber. My kamado lid probe though lags a few minutes behind the grate probe, is always spot on. So much so on lower longer cooks i no longer use grate probes unless i need remote access to monitor temps.
 
Those that know me a little better know I don't shy away from playing with different ideas, equipment, and even mods, some of which lead nowhere. I also understand the placebo effect, so as far as I'm concern each person can hug whatever teddy bear gives them comfort. But once you understand that an analog dial thermometer that is so common on bbq equipment relies on a coil made up of two dissimilar metals that expand and contract at different rates over a temperature span to drive the needle movement you'll understand that they are a very crude measuring device, especially if compared against a higher quality digital unit (e.g. almost anything from Thermoworks as one example of a producer). In the world of analog dials there is pretty much only one respected supplier to the bbq world, TelTru. The others are often built down to a price rather than up to a standard. The ones that can be calibrated are slightly better because you can tweak them to make yourself feel better. But they are still crude. That's why I said in the post above that they are a "relative" measure of temp variations. If that kind of info makes you feel better, great.

Some have seen/done this and to some it may be a revelation. Get a loaf of cheap white bread, lay the slices individually across the grate surface and run the cooker. You'll get a nice visual of just how much variation in temp occurs across that surface. That same variation occurs throughout the volume/space of the interior. Wherever you locate that analog dial. if it's one of the more accurate units, will only tell you the nominal temp at that location............................thus my comment about where the food is relative to where the gauge probe is. Yes, the thermal mass of a ceramic kamodo evens that out, but you're still only getting a relative reading as the air movement still yields "hot spots" for want of a better way to say it. As stated a few posts up, it's not a huge deal because temp swings in a comparatively narrow range, say 20-30 degrees are pretty normal and not much of an issue in reality (your kitchen oven may swing more than that and if you don't know it, it doesn't bother you). There seems to be an overly large affinity for modifying equipment (not just here, but on most online discussion groups re; bbq) especially before even having cooked on a new to you device. Maybe one of the worst of the "I saw it on the internet...." memes. If I could emphasize one concept learned over many years of playing with this stuff it's: work on your cooking craft before seeking a device you think will make you better. If you do that, you might be amazed at just how many myths you'll recognize without wasting your time chasing them.
 

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