I have been really enjoying my GMG Jim Bowie, but I have noticed a consistent difference in temp between my Maverick ET-732 and the grills own integral Temp probe (not the lid dial, the proper integrated probe) of approx 20degF.
Do I trust my dialled in Maverick, or the manufacturers own integral probe. I really want to be as precise as I can on my cooking temp. Right now I have the GMG set to 205F, with Maverick showing 226F.
This is actually a good idea to do with all your probes, once a year. On the ones that don't have an adjustment, take a marker and write on the back how much they are off, and then use them as if they were accurate but take into account the difference.
All the internal probes on my pellet grills read any where from 10 to 25 degrees cooler than a probe from my Smoke thermometer clipped to the grill grate. It has to do with where the probes are located, trust the probe at the grate as long as you know that thermometer is accurate.
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Well, you trust your Mav for the temp of the meat itself, right? I've read manufacturers say not to use leave-in thermometers because they will be different, and that's on purpose, since their built-in ones are designed to reflect the 'average' temp, or something like that. I struggle to wrap my mind around why not using a leave-in is the better option in these cases. I say use a probe where your meat sits and trust that. Your meat isn't everywhere on average, it sits where it sits.
Huskee is on it. Its about the average. The tempature across the grate varies wildly. Pirate Scott and I were doing some GMG DB temp test a few months ago. BTW thanks to Scott for helping me get a grip on the average thing. Here's a snapshot of a 4 probe test.
Blue is on the far right near the stack. Black is closest to the GMG RTD sensor.
So which on do I trust? I tust all of them.
Once I averaged all this out I know that the cooker averages 217° when the set temp is at 200°. I probe the meat and let it roll.
I did a test on my Rec Tec. The cooker probe is to the left opposite the stack. "UL" means upper left, "UC" means upper center, etc.
I've found for the most part that the grate level typically runs 5-15 degrees hotter. For my rig it obviously runs even hotter in the upper left portion of the grates. The cooker probe is in fact displaying the average cook temp. Anymore, I never cook without either my Maverick or Fireboard on the upper center of the grate.
I have the GMG Davy Crockett, the temp probe is not accurate on mine as well. The chamber sensor if off even more, I use an external thermometer for both, meat and grate.
Agree with all trust your grate probes not your grill probe. That being said, you might want to clean your grill probe end with a mild de-greaser like Simple Green or some detergent. They do get gunked up which can affect their performance.
Hi, my name is Darrell. I'm an OTR truck driver for over 25 years. During my off time I love doing backyard cooks. I have a 48" Lang Deluxe smoker, Rec-Tec pellet smoker,1 Weber Genesis 330, 1 Weber Performer (blue), 2 Weber kettles (1 black and 1 Copper), 1 26" Weber kettle, a WSM, 8 Maverick Redi Chek thermometers, a PartyQ, 2 SnS, Grill Grates, Cast Iron grates, 1 ThermoPop (orange) and 2 ThermoPens (pink and orange) and planning on adding more cooking accessories. Now I have an Anova sous vide, the Dragon blower and 2 Chef alarms from Thermoworks.
I think Jon Solberg has an excellent point, but I'll say it a slightly different way. If you set your cooker for a particular temp and you get the results you want, don't worry too much about what the actual number is. Tweak up or down as needed and know that the cooker will go up or down, but the actual temp in any given part of the grill may not be that temperature. Ultimately you are cooking to the temp of the meat, not the cooker, so the cooker temp really ends up being more a less like a dial position on a gas grill. How many of us have taken a sharpie and marked a spot on the gas grill dial? Pretty much the same thing with your GMG, if the number on the display works, then it works, and we can forget that it's supposed to be a temperature.
Well put JC I spent a lot of money on thermometers and a lot of time spent on this matter before I finally came to the same conclusion. if your getting the results you want then don't stress on it. It will drive you crazy ... at least it did me
I agree with all that has been said, and here is what I have been doing. I measured temps throughout the grill and figured out I was chasing a Ghost. The grill thermometers are accurate but there was really no consistency to anything. I clean my grill probe with a Scotchbrite pad before every cook, I put my Thermoworks Smoke probe next to what I am cooking and adjust my grill temp accordingly. If I am cooking multiple pieces I rotate them throughout the cook. On my Jim Bowie the left side is the closest to controller temp, the far right is always hotter, and the front of the grill is cooler than the back. I recently Purchased the second shelf and the upper temps are very stable, but obviously warmer. I have found the more load on the grill the more consistent it is. I am still experimenting with some of the firmware adjustments ( V6.7 Prototype) But have not really come to any conclusions. There is a setting in grill options that sets temp to real time instead of an average on the display. That will get it closer but it still won’t be exact.
Test the maverick thermometer probe with boiling water and ice water. Check GMG probe with ice water. Boiling water might be trickier. If maverick accurate on prior testing (boiling water and ice water) then could keep Maverick in boiling or as close to boiling as possible and check GMG probe temp and compare. Random thoughts. Good luck.
Who to trust?
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