Smoker probe placement question

[woody1]

I have an MES 30" with window and digital controls.  I just got a dual probe Thermopro wireless thermometer, and I want to use one of the probes to measure the smoker temp..  I understand that there is likely a temperature difference between the left and right side of the boxes, so I'd like to know what the ideal location would be to put the smoker probe.  Which shelf should I use and should I put it on the right side or the left side?

 

[goldmine1965]

 
I have an MES 30" with window and digital controls.  I just got a dual probe Thermopro wireless thermometer, and I want to use one of the probes to measure the smoker temp..  I understand that there is likely a temperature difference between the left and right side of the boxes, so I'd like to know what the ideal location would be to put the smoker probe.  Which shelf should I use and should I put it on the right side or the left side?

I run my probe wires down the vent and let the probe hang through the same shelf that the food is on. That way the probe is just a few inches from the food and will be pretty close to the same temp as where the food is.

 

[woody1]

Sounds good.  I'll try it that way.

 

[johnmeyer]

I use the probe clip to fasten it on to the back of one of the shelves, preferably the shelf that is second from the top. My reasoning is that I think you want to avoid getting the probe too close to the heating element on the bottom right, and you don't want it at the top where heat might get trapped. As for right vs. left, my older MES has the chip loader and the vent both on the right side, creating somewhat of a chimney effect, where the heat and air travels straight up. I want to stay out of that column of moving air because it probably doesn't reflect the temp in the rest of the smoker. The far left may be a little stagnant.

All of what I just wrote may be poppycock, but I certainly have read a lot of posts where people have done mods to move the exhaust to the other side of the smoker, to avoid the problem I just described. Some do it by drilling a new hole, and others fabricate an air duct that collects the heat and smoke from the left and moves it to the original vent in the right rear of the MES smoking box.

 

[dr k]

I have an MES 30" with window and digital controls.  I just got a dual probe Thermopro wireless thermometer, and I want to use one of the probes to measure the smoker temp..  I understand that there is likely a temperature difference between the left and right side of the boxes, so I'd like to know what the ideal location would be to put the smoker probe.  Which shelf should I use and should I put it on the right side or the left side?

In this pic I hang mine from the rack above the food with pucks I made out of RTV silicone. Some use wooden clothes pins.

20170511_090214.jpg

• dr k
• Jun 5, 2017

Since I use the mailbox mod I took out the chip burner assemble in less than a minute and raised the water pan up a level. The open bottom allows air to rush in freely from the right over the heating element and collide into the left wall and mix up the air and rise evenly. This pic shows the water pan on the second level. I put the pan on the bottom rack ontop of my perforated stainless steel half circlefor a 22.5 kettle grill. With these two on the bottom rack and plenty of smokes I know both sides of the smoker across the middle two racks are identical.
-Kurt

 

[woody1]

I like the pucks!  I'm going to try something like that.

I'm just now finishing my first pulled pork in the smoker.  I used my Thermopro and found that the temps took a lot of management.  Early on, it took a long time for the smoker to get up to 225.  Also there was a big discrepancy between my probe on the left side of the smoker and the one on the right side.  After about 3 hours, the temps settled down, the grill got plenty hot enough, and after about 4 hours, the discrepancy between the two sides was down to about 6-7 degrees.  Also the temp on the smoker control got closer to the Thermpro temp.

Based on what I saw today, I think that I should probably preheat the grill for an hour or so to get it to a stable temp before I start grilling.  Do other people have the same experience?

 

[dr k]

I like the pucks!  I'm going to try something like that.

I'm just now finishing my first pulled pork in the smoker.  I used my Thermopro and found that the temps took a lot of management.  Early on, it took a long time for the smoker to get up to 225.  Also there was a big discrepancy between my probe on the left side of the smoker and the one on the right side.  After about 3 hours, the temps settled down, the grill got plenty hot enough, and after about 4 hours, the discrepancy between the two sides was down to about 6-7 degrees.  Also the temp on the smoker control got closer to the Thermpro temp.

Based on what I saw today, I think that I should probably preheat the grill for an hour or so to get it to a stable temp before I start grilling.  Do other people have the same experience?

I used the aluminum base of a tealight candle for a mould. A thin layer of oil in the mould before the rtv silicone may help as a release agent. It took two weeks at room temp for them to set up. Just push the probe through the middle of the puck and the weight of it keeps it up right with the tip of the probe pointing down through the rack.

CAM00483.jpg

• dr k
• Feb 15, 2017

The Gen 1 with the flat bottom oval water pan sits on the bottom rack to even out temps above it. It's easier to even out temps without the chip burner assembly. It seems air more easily gets to the left side of the smoker. I preheat the smoker 15 -20 minutes.
-Kurt