Recording thermometers

[SmokingPat]

I purchased a new thermometer recently, and have been fascinated with the recording/logging feature.

Although my Weber Smokey Mountain is famous for maintaining temperature, I never investigated it, since it was work to record temperatures by hand. (I'm an engineer, and like seeing graphs.)

The first cook with the new thermometer was a pork shoulder. I used my regular charcoal method: dump hot coals in the bottom, and watch the temperature. When it was burning out, dump more charcoal on top.
The graph showed the fire barely got hot enough to reach the final cooking temperature, and all the times I opened the grill to add more charcoal.
Towards the end, you can see I dumped more coals than usual to increase the temperature in order to reach the final temperature.

For the second cook (pastrami) I decided to try the 'Minion method'. Although the temperature started to run away at the beginning, adjusting the vents brought it under control. I was amazed to see in one picture how well this charcoal method keeps a steady temperature!
Next I'll try the 'snake' method on the smoker.

The following cook was a pork loin in the oven. I pulled the meat from the oven at 145 degrees F, and set it aside to rest while fixing the sauce.
Reviewing the graph later reminded me of carry-over cooking: it looked like the meat rose almost 20 degrees F while sitting on the counter.

I can read about techniques all day long, but hands-on experience and pictures really make it sink in.

(I hope the pictures are in the right order. If not, my descriptions should guide you.)

[Smoker_Boy]

I'm like you, I want to see graphs.

Side note:
When I was first diagnosed with diabetes, I put my numbers in a spreadsheet and graphed all of my results.
I was very rpoud of this.

When I showed this to my diabetic educator, she said "You're an engineer, aren't you?"
I answered that I was and how did she know this.

Her reply:

"You people color-code everything".

[SmokingPat]

I have a somewhat similar story.
We decided to change the electrical service in a couple of rooms to 3-wire. A city permit was needed, along with an electrical drawing. I made a custom CAD template, found standard symbols used in house construction, etc.
The city permit person asked if I was the homeowner, and looked over the print. After a few minutes, they asked again if I was the homeowner. They said homeowners don't usually provide drawings like that.

[Smoker_Boy]

And, like you, I love my WSM.

[SheilaAnn]

Did I miss something? What brand of thermometer is it?

[jayjordan]

Teasing us by not telling what it is!

[SmokingPat]

No, you didn't miss anything - I deleted the name in editing. I didn't want this to sound like a review, when all I wanted to do was talk about graphs and learning. I'm sure there are other thermometers that provide a graph, too.

This is from a Typhur Sync Gold. So far, so good. Only complaint is their app graphs the x and y axis with an almost-impossible to read gray on a black background (just like the pictures show). Please, Typhur - kick it up to white!