# OKJ Longhorn Top Thermo Gauge vs Grate Level Temp?



## Jonathan Carlson (Jun 12, 2018)

Does anybody have an OKJ Longhorn? What's the temperature difference between the top thermo gauge and grate level temperature? I know there's quite a difference in most all smokers I was just curious about my model. I haven't made any mods to it yet or anything..


----------



## dcecil (Jun 12, 2018)

To be honest with you and seeing your enthusiasm about smoking you need to invest in a Therm.  My personal preference is the thermoworks smoke unit.  It has a meat probe and grate level probe.  This will be your best friend.  In my opinion it’s a must have.  Not only do you have hot spots in the cooking chamber but the temp gauge that came with the unit is not trust worthy for accuracy.  That is pretty much true across the board on smokers.  Some better than others but a good separate therm is the ticket to achieving great results


----------



## Jonathan Carlson (Jun 12, 2018)

dcecil said:


> To be honest with you and seeing your enthusiasm about smoking you need to invest in a Therm.  My personal preference is the thermoworks smoke unit.  It has a meat probe and grate level probe.  This will be your best friend.  In my opinion it’s a must have.  Not only do you have hot spots in the cooking chamber but the temp gauge that came with the unit is not trust worthy for accuracy.  That is pretty much true across the board on smokers.  Some better than others but a good separate therm is the ticket to achieving great results


That therm looks great, I foresee an upcoming birthday gift coming up ;)


----------



## RiversideSm0ker (Jun 12, 2018)

On my OKJ Highland I replaced the factory mounted temp gauge with a new set of gauges that I bought from Amazon. The factory one fogged up during the first rain. That did not bode well so I just went with a mid level set that was highly rated with hundreds of reviews. They have worked out very well and are accurate but I don't use them for cooking but as a quick guide to where my pit is at. Those hood mounted gauges are about 50 degrees hotter than the grate temps. The grate temps are monitored with a set of digital probes that are at grate level directly below the door mounted gauges. Those are the temps that I trust for cooking purposes. Doug is right that you need a good thermometer for both your meat and the grate to get really good results. Otherwise you are just guessing. My budget is not so big so at the moment I am just using the simple Walmart special Expert Grill branded probes. I have boil and freeze tested them to be within one degree of accuracy. That works well enough for me. Although I am planning on getting the ThermPro TP08 in the near future. There is a 20% discount code on one of the threads under the thermometer forum topic. For about 40 bucks I can get something with step up in features and function. If you just need something quick to start with though, then the generic unit from Walmart is something like $15. So it can get you started in the right direction. That just has one probe though. Hope this info helps.

George


----------

