Pellet Smoker Temp Difference at Grate

[GoDuke]

Hi guys,

I became a member probably about a year ago because I wanted to support Amazing Ribs but haven't posted before. Up until now, I've used a 18" WSM for most of my cooking but with a little one in the house and another on the way, I realized I wouldn't have time to babysit a charcoal smoker as much. Plus, having the charcoal bowl right at toddler height seemed like a recipe for a trip to the ER, so I got a pellet smoker. I ordered a Rec Tec RT-700 based on the positive reviews here and elsewhere online. I debated a Yoder but by the time I added Shipping, it would ahve been another $500 or so and I figured I'd use that on pellets and meat!

I got my Rec Tec RT-700 last week and I was able to set it up this weekend and do some cooking on it. I expected that there would be some temp difference between the RT's probe and my Thermoworks Smoke just based on the size of the unit and the location of the Rec Tec's probe. After I ran it at 400 degrees to burn it in, I put my Smoke probe in there and it read 385-405 in three different spots. Pretty close, albeit not perfect (Nothing is!)

I then dialed the heat back to 225 and cooked Meathead's recipe for Cornell chicken. When i did that, the temps were off by almost 40 degrees. I'm wondering if that's because 1) there was so much latent heat in the barrel from being at 400 that the probe next to the barrel was getting thrown off and 2) the cold mass of chicken near the Thermoworks Smoke probe was cooling the area around the probe

The next day, I did 4 racks of ribs to see how that would go. Realizing there was going to be a temp difference, I set the cooker to about 255-265 and was seeing grate temps around 220-225. I thought perfect, right! After about 3 hours, I could tell my wife did not want to eat at 8:30, so I foiled the ribs and put them back on for another 1.25 hours. During this time, the Smoke probe and the RecTec temps converged so that the pit probe was reading within 10 degrees of the Rec Tec. I'm guessing the foil was a better reflector of the heat in the grill as opposed to cold meat. When I unfoiled the ribs, they had pulled back and were showing a fair amount of bone. They were also a bit chewy when I took them off (still at only 185-195 degrees internal). I'm wondering if they got cooked at too high a temperature.

I talked to Ben at Rec Tec today and he pointed out that you can calibrate the Rec Tec to match another thermometer but that their temp is better to go by because it's based on the median temp at 30 spots on the grill when they calibrate it. He said a probe at the grate would be thrown off by the meat and the temperature of the grate (via the clip holding it to the grate) rather than the hot air circulating in the cooker.

I guess my stupid question after a longwinded explanation is - if the cooker reads 250 and a grill reads 225, will it cook like 225 or like 250? I've always targeted my temps based on the temperature at the grate, but maybe that's wrong. I know that it's not just time and temperature and Q will be done when it decides to be, but I'd also like to cook at the right desired temp and would like some expert thoughts. Sorry for the long post!

[Jerod Broussard]

I put my Smoke probe on a middle grate and go by that. Even though heat rises I still feel I get a good bit of heat coming off of the grease pan since there is a big old flame underneath that thing. So when I fill that dude up I'm going to run the points fat cap down on the bottom grate, and run the flats fat cap up higher up.

[Nate]

Welcome from Indiana!

[Sweaty Paul]

Welcome from Hays, KS. Does Rec-Tec have a recommendation on how to do a temp test for their grill? Yoder has one. http://community.yodersmokers.com/do...ure%20Test.pdf

they have a whole series of forum questions on this topic on their forum.

[jgreen]

Welcome from Winnipeg. I usually use a thermometer in my pellet grill (a Grilla) and watch both the setting and the grill thermometer. With a pellet you are usually pretty close to where you set the temp although all the factors you mentioned can affect it.

[GoDuke]

Welcome from Hays, KS. Does Rec-Tec have a recommendation on how to do a temp test for their grill? Yoder has one. http://community.yodersmokers.com/do...ure%20Test.pdf

they have a whole series of forum questions on this topic on their forum.

Thanks for the warm welcome everybody! Hailing from Greenville, SC here but lived in Charlotte before that for about 10 years.

I think when I was googling this I saw at one point that Rec Tec had a temp test procedure, but I can't seem to find it now.

Somebody from Rec Tec Called me yesterday after my post (because they saw they had a missed call over the weekend). They were a bit more informative (honestly, it seemed like Ben (the manager) was just blowing me off and irritated that I had any quesitons at all). Anyway, Connor from Rec Tec's explanation seemed to make more sense - that the Controller is calibrated to calculate what the average temperature of the circulating air in the cooker. I think I read (I've been googling this a fair amount and confusing the heck out of myself) that is how the Roanoke controller generally works in other grills too.

I guess Rec Tec's recommendation to go by the controller temp rather than the Thermoworks temp makes some sense if one thinks of a pellet grill as an oven. When you calibrate an oven, you do it empty not at the grate temp with food next to it, and an oven doesn't have a probe that sits on the grate, it presumably measures circulating airflow.

I don't know if that's the right way to think about it though, but maybe it is. Up until now, I had used my WSM with a probe at the grate. Maybe Pellet grills are just different beasts.

Thanks again for the warm welcome everybody!

[EdF]

I think Ben and Connor both gave you the same answer, and it was right - global pit temp. The question is whether what you're cooking is being cooked at grate temp (which it often is). In that case, I'd go by the Thermoworks, but also make sure the probe is not in the "meat shadow": ~2" next to the meat. On the other hand, if it's something large you're roasting, general pit temp is your guy.

[Troutman]

Welcome to the Pit. My advice is to work the pellet grill and get to know it. On mine I get the same temperature differences from a grate probe to the cooker's probe. You're left with a couple of decisions. Either you learn to cook at the temperature the pellet grill is telling you that you are at, or you change the setting to match the grill grate temp. If the machine says 225*, for example, and the grate temp reads 245*, I don't think you will see too much difference in the outcome of your cook. But if that were to bother you, just dial back the controller to a lessor temperature in that case.

Bottom line just experiment with the cooking process and the desired result, then you will know how to set the temp. Good luck with your cooks !!!!

[EdF]

Yeah, my comment was just general reasoning. What Troutman is recommending will get you all of the way!

[Pirate Scott]

I use my Thermoworks Smoke Probe. Seems to work out for me.

[GoDuke]

So I did a brisket last night for about 15 hours. This time at 225 the pit and Rec Tec temperatures were near-identical. I didn't have as much food on the grill this time so perhaps it was the "meat shadow" effect last time...

[Redwng]

I have had a Rec-Tec for four years and this it what I have learned about the inside temp. Outside temp will affect the inside temp. Keep the grate probe 2-4 inches away from what you are cooking. Keep the burn pot clean and use decent pellets. I like the CookinPellets Perfect Mix, they burn very clean. The ones from Traeger and the B&B brand at Academy leave a lot of residue in the burn pot and that will affect the temp. That said, my grate temp is always 5-10 degrees below the set temp and the interior temp will vary. I have tried to adjust the auger speed with the controller (only when it is 90+ outside) but find I go back to the factory setting most often. For most things I smoke a variation in temp doesn't hurt anything, what matters is the internal temp of the food. Hope this helps.