This is an edited copy of a recent post where I mistakenly referred to grate level probes as external surface probes (was thinking external to mean not built-in to the unit, not actually outside the unit and thinking of surface as cooking surface or grate level). Lack of sleep got the best of me there and my post was very unclear/confusing. Anyway, I had to create a new post in order to change the title, so here is the updated version. Apologies for any comments from the old post that were lost.
Did an overnight brisket cook, a prime packer from Costco, Saturday into Sunday on my Daniel Boone. Outside temp was in the 20s. I got a GMG thermal blanket to help regulate temp and keep me from burning through pellets at a crazy rate. In order to keep the grate level temp below 250, I had to set the GMG temp to... 165! I had two Maverick XR-50 probes monitoring grate level temp, in front of and behind the brisket, that held pretty steady around 240 while the GMG was set to 165.
I never checked until after this cook, but the location of the built in temp sensor is below the grill on the side and is pretty close to the body of the grill (picture below is from the GMG website). If the thermal blanket (picture below is from the GMG website) covers that at all, it isn't by much. The freezing outside temperatures were clearly wreaking havoc on the sensor's reported temp. If I hadn't been using the additional probes, this could have been a total disaster and waste of a 15-pound prime packer.
Notes I took away from this cook:
- If cooking in cold temps on a GMG, monitoring grate level temps is an absolute must.
- Now I know how a overcooked and shriveled a few racks of ribs when using the grill without the grate level probes when I first got it. Since I don't use a meat probe when cooking ribs and cook based on time (3-2-1 method), they were so overdone that after two attempts I realized that the grill was cooking much hotter than the temp I had set it to.
- The thermal blanket had a very obvious impact on the amount of pellets I had to use. I thought $80 might be a little expensive for a this accessory, though it will definitely pay for itself in saved pellets during the life of this grill.
No pics, as I was more concerned with staying warm and getting sleep, but the brisket came out pretty tasty. Slightly overcooked, as I fell asleep and left it on a little longer than I had wanted, but still held together just enough to slice it without having it pull apart.
Did an overnight brisket cook, a prime packer from Costco, Saturday into Sunday on my Daniel Boone. Outside temp was in the 20s. I got a GMG thermal blanket to help regulate temp and keep me from burning through pellets at a crazy rate. In order to keep the grate level temp below 250, I had to set the GMG temp to... 165! I had two Maverick XR-50 probes monitoring grate level temp, in front of and behind the brisket, that held pretty steady around 240 while the GMG was set to 165.
I never checked until after this cook, but the location of the built in temp sensor is below the grill on the side and is pretty close to the body of the grill (picture below is from the GMG website). If the thermal blanket (picture below is from the GMG website) covers that at all, it isn't by much. The freezing outside temperatures were clearly wreaking havoc on the sensor's reported temp. If I hadn't been using the additional probes, this could have been a total disaster and waste of a 15-pound prime packer.
Notes I took away from this cook:
- If cooking in cold temps on a GMG, monitoring grate level temps is an absolute must.
- Now I know how a overcooked and shriveled a few racks of ribs when using the grill without the grate level probes when I first got it. Since I don't use a meat probe when cooking ribs and cook based on time (3-2-1 method), they were so overdone that after two attempts I realized that the grill was cooking much hotter than the temp I had set it to.
- The thermal blanket had a very obvious impact on the amount of pellets I had to use. I thought $80 might be a little expensive for a this accessory, though it will definitely pay for itself in saved pellets during the life of this grill.
No pics, as I was more concerned with staying warm and getting sleep, but the brisket came out pretty tasty. Slightly overcooked, as I fell asleep and left it on a little longer than I had wanted, but still held together just enough to slice it without having it pull apart.
Comment