Help: What temp do I trust

[beef_chief]

Currently smoking my first racks of pork spare ribs on my Weber performer kettle. It has a therm on the lid, and I’ve got two probes near the grate. My probes are reading 225, but the lid is reading 400. I figure I should just trust the probes but maybe the best thing is to average the two temps and go off that? Not sure. What would you guys do?

 

[BKING!]

I’d trust the probes and maybe invest in an adjustable dome thermometer and adjust it to read what your grate probes read. It would only have to be calibrated once a year maybe. Dome thermometers tend to be crap unless if you buy a good third party one. Only a few manufacturers have smokers that have quality adjustable ones that come that way.

 

[hebs]

If your defuser/deflector plate isn't inbetween the dome probe and the heat source, then it's just getting direct heat as opposed to your grid. Always trust the grid probe first.

Happens on BGE's because the plate setter doesn't extend all the way to the edges. If you don't line up one of the legs directly under the dome probe, it can read much differently than the grid probe.

 

[beef_chief]

I’d trust the probes and maybe invest in an adjustable dome thermometer and adjust it to read what your grate probes read. It would only have to be calibrated once a year maybe. Dome thermometers tend to be crap unless if you buy a good third party one. Only a few manufacturers have smokers that have quality adjustable ones that come that way.

Alright good to know because I’ve been following the probes. Just didn’t want to end up cooking these at 400 for 6 hours lol

 

[SmokinAl]

The factory gauges are always off, unless you get a real expensive one that can be mounted at the grate level.
I would definitely go by your probes near the meat, If you were cooking at 400, your ribs would be done in an hour or so.
I'm assuming you are cooking the ribs with indirect heat, i.e., coals on the sides & meat in the middle, or coals on one side & meat on the other. If your using the later, then rotate the ribs about halfway through the cook so both sides get exposed to the higher heat.
Good luck!
Al

 

[DanMcG]

Place your probes in boiling water and see if it reads 212°