I've been meaning to do this for awhile and since I had a little time, I figured I'd give it a go.
Many of the smokers sold come with a thermo that is notoriously inaccurate. At least one company, Brinkmann, sells smokers with a dial thermo that doesn't even have numbers, just the words, WARM, IDEAL, and HOT.
When I first got my smoker, thanks to advice from many of the folks here, I purchased a couple of digitals and mounted some dial thermos at grate level. I don't even pay attention to the stock thermo. It just covers the hole that they cut into a perfectly good lid.
But I have often wondered . . . what would it take to get it to read IDEAL. Well, today I had a little time, so I set out to find out.
The Setup
For this test, I used my Brinkmann Smoke N Pit.
This smoker has been slightly modified with a baffle, tuning plates, a sand pan on the stack end, chimney extension to grate level and two dial thermos at grate level.
For heat, I will be using a propane Afterburner because it's easier to take the temp up and down and responds faster than charcoal.
I will be measuring temps at the grate level with two Taylor 1470 Digital Thermometers.
The Test
All righty, then. The first thing I did is lit the Afterburner and let the smoker come up and stabilize to a reasonably common smoking temp. Here it is sitting at 243° firebox end and 232° stack end.
Not too uncommon to be running the smoker in this range, depending on what your cooking. It's pretty close to the middle of the 225° to 250° range that we talk about. A lttle low for some things maybe but for purposes of demonstration, a good starting point.
Let's see what the dial says.
Hmm. Toward the upper end of WARM, but not in the IDEAL range yet.
Let's see what the temps are as we move up the dial thermo scale. Here it is a little higher.
As you can see, we're getting into the IDEAL range . . . according to the POS dial. What grate temp does that correlate to.
YIKES!! That's a little warm for pork or beef, but we are getting into the chicken range.
Let's go a bit higher . . .
Getting closer to the middle and what temp is that?
Whoa, we're good for chicken if you like crispy skin, but way too hot for most smoking.
By now, I am having to crank up the Afterburner and it sounds like a blast furnace. I am starting to wonder if I am getting close to burning the paint off of my firebox lid. But I am curious what the temp is in the middle of the IDEAL range, so I crank it up a bit more and wait.
Finally, the POS dial gets to the middle of the IDEAL range . . .
And the grate temp is . . . .
So there you have it . . . IDEAL on a Smoke N Pit thermo is around 365°. The Taylors only go to 400° and the way the Afterburner was rumbling I was afraid to try to get it to the high IDEAL range.
All the more reason to buy some good digitals or at least a better dial for your smoker.
Now I know why I had such a hard time seasoning it according to the manufacturer's instructions . . . and why the fire grate warped from the heat of the charcoal I was using.
Dave
Many of the smokers sold come with a thermo that is notoriously inaccurate. At least one company, Brinkmann, sells smokers with a dial thermo that doesn't even have numbers, just the words, WARM, IDEAL, and HOT.
When I first got my smoker, thanks to advice from many of the folks here, I purchased a couple of digitals and mounted some dial thermos at grate level. I don't even pay attention to the stock thermo. It just covers the hole that they cut into a perfectly good lid.
But I have often wondered . . . what would it take to get it to read IDEAL. Well, today I had a little time, so I set out to find out.
The Setup
For this test, I used my Brinkmann Smoke N Pit.
This smoker has been slightly modified with a baffle, tuning plates, a sand pan on the stack end, chimney extension to grate level and two dial thermos at grate level.
For heat, I will be using a propane Afterburner because it's easier to take the temp up and down and responds faster than charcoal.
I will be measuring temps at the grate level with two Taylor 1470 Digital Thermometers.
The Test
All righty, then. The first thing I did is lit the Afterburner and let the smoker come up and stabilize to a reasonably common smoking temp. Here it is sitting at 243° firebox end and 232° stack end.
Not too uncommon to be running the smoker in this range, depending on what your cooking. It's pretty close to the middle of the 225° to 250° range that we talk about. A lttle low for some things maybe but for purposes of demonstration, a good starting point.
Let's see what the dial says.
Hmm. Toward the upper end of WARM, but not in the IDEAL range yet.
Let's see what the temps are as we move up the dial thermo scale. Here it is a little higher.
As you can see, we're getting into the IDEAL range . . . according to the POS dial. What grate temp does that correlate to.
YIKES!! That's a little warm for pork or beef, but we are getting into the chicken range.
Let's go a bit higher . . .
Getting closer to the middle and what temp is that?
Whoa, we're good for chicken if you like crispy skin, but way too hot for most smoking.
By now, I am having to crank up the Afterburner and it sounds like a blast furnace. I am starting to wonder if I am getting close to burning the paint off of my firebox lid. But I am curious what the temp is in the middle of the IDEAL range, so I crank it up a bit more and wait.
Finally, the POS dial gets to the middle of the IDEAL range . . .
And the grate temp is . . . .
So there you have it . . . IDEAL on a Smoke N Pit thermo is around 365°. The Taylors only go to 400° and the way the Afterburner was rumbling I was afraid to try to get it to the high IDEAL range.
All the more reason to buy some good digitals or at least a better dial for your smoker.
Now I know why I had such a hard time seasoning it according to the manufacturer's instructions . . . and why the fire grate warped from the heat of the charcoal I was using.
Dave
