New to SMF and looking for a little guidance

[JDUB713]

Newbie here, and Good Morning from Houston Texas,

I have had a Big Green Egg (Lg) for the last 4 or 5 years and while I have had great luck with BBQ and smoking various meats. I have recently purchased a Yoder Wichita offset smoker in hopes to smoke more meats at one time. Last weekend after cleaning and my initial “burn-in” and seasoning of my smoker, I got up early on Super Bowl Sunday to begin my first cook of Pork Shoulder. It all began well although after 3 or 4 hours into my cook I felt as if my shoulder butt wasn’t progressing as quick as I thought it should. My smoker has two thermometers with one nearest the firebox and the other nearest the smoke stack. Obviously the two indicated temps were significantly different with the smoke box temp indicating at about 300deg. and the chimney temp indicated at about 225deg. With curiosity getting the better of me I placed a temp probe in the middle of the bottom shelf just to the left (firebox side). I discovered I was cooking my shoulder way lower than I thought I was indicating on my probe about 200deg.


My question is…would I be better served to go off the temp indicated on the temp probe I placed, even though the smoker thermometers indicate a significant temp difference? Also…It should be noted that I was running a 8x9’ish tin water pan nearest my smoke box during my whole cook.


Any assistance in the matter would be greatly appreciated, I look forward to leaning and developing my cooking skills and sharing with SMF.


Thanks in advance.

 

[gmc2003]

I'm not sure about Yoder's probes, but most manufacturer's probes aren't very reliable. If you have a good external probe put it about an inch away from your meat. For an accurate grate temp.

Chris

 

[oldsmokerdude]

I would go by a probe placed close to your meat and at about grate level. The Yoder smokers (I believe) have the thermometers mounted high in the cooking chamber. This will give you artificially high readings (as you discovered).

 

[BoilerBBQ]

As the others said, built in thermometers are inaccurate and/or poorly placed. Your best bet is to get one that will monitor your grate temp and food temp. A quick search will give you lots of info on different models. I use a Thermopro TP-08. 2 probes, wireless, alarms, and won't break the bank.

 

[HalfSmoked]

You asked and you are getting the opinions and I have to agree most units install in the smokers by the manufacture are not correct. A good sensor placed in the right space is much more accurate.

Warren

 

[SecondHandSmoker]

Bimetallic dial thermometers can be off by as much as 50 degrees.
Most dial thermometers that are used in BBQ grill hoods and smokers are cheap and cannot be calibrated.
As everyone above has said, use a probe at grate level and one for measuring IT of the meat.

 

[noboundaries]

I looked at Yoder's website. The therms are mounted near the top of the smoker. Because heat rises, seeking the path of least resistance to an exhaust point, the top of a smoker can run up to 100F hotter than the grate level. The heat flow will also cool as it progresses because the smoker's metal shell will absorb heat and radiate it into the atmosphere.

A couple options are to either add heat diffuser plates in the smoker, or extend the exhaust tube inside the smoker down a little closer to the grate to allow greater air mixing and heat distribution.

 

[JDUB713]

I'm not sure about Yoder's probes, but most manufacturer's probes aren't very reliable. If you have a good external probe put it about an inch away from your meat. For an accurate grate temp.

Chris

Thank you

 

[flatbroke]

Newbie here, and Good Morning from Houston Texas,

I have had a Big Green Egg (Lg) for the last 4 or 5 years and while I have had great luck with BBQ and smoking various meats. I have recently purchased a Yoder Wichita offset smoker in hopes to smoke more meats at one time. Last weekend after cleaning and my initial “burn-in” and seasoning of my smoker, I got up early on Super Bowl Sunday to begin my first cook of Pork Shoulder. It all began well although after 3 or 4 hours into my cook I felt as if my shoulder butt wasn’t progressing as quick as I thought it should. My smoker has two thermometers with one nearest the firebox and the other nearest the smoke stack. Obviously the two indicated temps were significantly different with the smoke box temp indicating at about 300deg. and the chimney temp indicated at about 225deg. With curiosity getting the better of me I placed a temp probe in the middle of the bottom shelf just to the left (firebox side). I discovered I was cooking my shoulder way lower than I thought I was indicating on my probe about 200deg.


My question is…would I be better served to go off the temp indicated on the temp probe I placed, even though the smoker thermometers indicate a significant temp difference? Also…It should be noted that I was running a 8x9’ish tin water pan nearest my smoke box during my whole cook.


Any assistance in the matter would be greatly appreciated, I look forward to leaning and developing my cooking skills and sharing with SMF.


Thanks in advance.

although i am not familiar with your particular smoker my opinion is. your offset will have different temps at different spots on the smoker. mine is hotter by the fire box then the nose at grate level and hotter at the nose on the top rack then it is at the smoke stack end (reverse flow). neither gauge front or rear depict accurately what the grate temps are. once you have tested each spot out front to back and side to side you will get a better understanding of the grate temps during cooks based on the gauges reading, provided they are of decent quality. if the smoker gauges unbolt you can test them for accuracy in boiling water too.

welcome to the forum.

 

[gmc2003]

JDub, again I'm sorry on how this thread turned out. Believe me it's not the norm. I also just noticed this is basically your first post, and I want to give you a big welcome from the SMF family. I'm happy you decided to join and hope you keep on asking questions. Not all thread go south.

Chris

 

[GATOR240]

JDUB713 This is the first time that I have seen anything like this on the forum. As Chris said,THIS IS NOT THE NORM! Welcome and enjoy the site and don't be afraid to ask questions
!

 

[weedeater]

JDUB713, I too apologize for your thread going sideways. Back to the original point of most of the responses that the thermos most smokers are either junk and inaccurate or they may be a decent therm that is poorly placed usually too high in the chamber. On my reverse flow my therm is accurate for where it is but differs from grate level where the food is by 15 to 20 degrees. For me that means if I want to cook at say 225 then my therm on the unit needs to read 210 or so.

Play with it some. Is it consistently off from grate level by roughly the same number? If so then you can learn to make that adjustment. Welcome to SMF!

Weedeater

 

[pineywoods]

JDUB713 welcome to SMF and I'm sorry your thread took such a downward spiral before I was able to correct it. As was said this is not the norm for SMF.
For the other posters on this thread I'm sorry I deleted some of your posts it had nothing to do with you it was that the post didn't fit once the BAD INFO from a now nonmember was deleted.
In the future if you see threads going downhill as this one did please flag it and staff will see it faster and handle it quicker

 

[gmc2003]

Sorry that I got carried away Piney. I'll flag it in the future.

Chris

 

[JDUB713]

A big thank you to all those who posted a reply with advice and assistance. I appreciate the help and look forward to posting up great pics of some really great food and learning form all of those that have the knowledge and expectance and those who enjoy sharing with beginners!

 

[SecondHandSmoker]

A big thank you to all those who posted a reply with advice and assistance. I appreciate the help and look forward to posting up great pics of some really great food and learning form all of those that have the knowledge and expectance and those who enjoy sharing with beginners!

JDUB,
That is what we are here for... to help each other out and learn from each other.
As you can see, when bad advice is given, other members here are on the look out.

Welcome aboard and have fun.

 

[chef jimmyj]

Wow! That was interesting. The down side of offset stick burners is a long learning curve with lots of moving a therm at the grate around to see what the COOKING Temp is. A therm mounted in the cover with a 3 inch stem is only going to see hot air moving from the firebox to the exhaust, pretty useless. Knowing the grate temp let's you control the cook. Now the upside of the offset smoker. You can cook multiple foods without messing with the fire to get different smoker temps. You already have a hot side, medium middle and low oven going. Place food accordingly or move around as needed...JJ

 

[HalfSmoked]

JDUB713 Thanks for the like it is greatly appreciated.

And a belated welcome to the SMF.

Warren