KBQ temp help!

[carolts]

Greetings fellow KBQers!

For the first time I have iGrill2 probes in my pit as I cook a pair of Costco boneless butts. The probe on the rack reads 348. The one inserted into the fan box reads 194. Ambient is 46 with a good breeze. Dial on the fan box is set with 140 straight up.

Is this normal? Is the temp in the cooker really 348?

[smokinfatties]

That seems really odd to have a grate temp at 348 with the dial at 140. Although the dial is way off always, mine usually runs about 240 by the box fan with 188 straight up, so i'd be more inclined to think the 194 is where its at. Also with the convection fan I don't think there would be THAT much of a difference in grate temps from top to bottom, although the bottom is hotter that the top.

If your butts are done in 4 hours, then the 350 may be correct! LOL. I dont think 140 degree variance in temp in that little cookbox is possible

maybe try to stick probes through the grease outlets in the corner by the bottom to see. i would try swapping probes and cross checking with a thermapen or something else.

[Spinaker]

The grate temp should not be that high if the dial is at 140. I would contact Bill and see what he has to say. He's a great guy and very responsive. Issues like this are tough to diagnose on line.

[carolts]

Temp seems to be closer to the 350, as butts are close to done at about the four hour mark...at least the back one is. The front seems to be about 15 degrees behind it. I've swapped them around and will give them another hour or two to think about it.

I did swap the probes and the temp followed them. I fiddled with the fire and temp knob a bit and the two got within about 30 degrees. Very odd. I'm willing to believe I've messed this up somehow. As long as the food comes out right it's all good. It certainly looks good...

[Mr. Bones]

From th' sounds of it, I seriously doubt that ya' have messed up anything up, carolts

Sounds more like an anomaly in th' equipment, prolly only a calibration-related issue.

I don't have () a KBQ, (yet), so I will let others more qualified chip in here, an' give ya' somethin' that might actually answer yer question.

[Spinaker]

My Draft temp and the box temp are never the same, in my experience. I don't use a probe in the cook box, but I do in the corners. That is what I use as a guide. Even then, the probe goes up and down as the KBQ cycles on and off. But as long as I have an average that is in the acceptable range, then I know I am good to go. You just kinda have to get to know the KBQ. I don't know why the dial isn't more accurate. It should be. But now if it were my cooks would have to change, I don't read the numbers as a temp that I am setting it too. I read them as "Okay the 140 mark has to be at 10 'o'clock for 275 F " Thats how I do it.

[carolts]

Yeah, that's what I was thinking, although I can't explain why the two temps are so far off. That's what I get for trying to instrument this rather than just cooking like I usually do. I'll run them a few more times and see what comes of it. Once is an accident, twice is a coincidence, three times is a trend.

[Histrix]

I'd swap the probe ports and see if you end up with the same respective readings and to eliminate some sort of broken probe or port error.

[JGrana]

I agree with Histrix. I would swap probes. My KBQ runs around 190F when the dial is at 140. A summer project might be to find a white disc that covers the dial and put real temps on it ;-)

[carolts]

or just numbers 1 - 11, 'cause you gotta have an 11

[EdF]

This is Spinal Tap!