Against good advice....I bought a Weber Kettle grill.

Inside at the moment is a pile of beef and pork ribs.

Coals banked up on one side....hickory chunks on coals...top vent over the meat.


Factory dial thermo is over the coals....reads 425.....digital probe over the meat reads 235.

Could this be right?

Is my digital off? Its not in the meat...just hung in space above the meat.

Thanks.

I'll think you will win the day Big Jim. Good luck!

Thats possible depending how close the probe is to the meat, how long the meats been on and if probe fully blocked from the coals by the meat.

Congrats on the purchase BTW. No more versatile BBQ/grill for the price. I have baskets to hold the coals on the side of the grill.

You're cooking indirect. If your therms are on the money then yes everything is GTG

Yea buddy.......I can't remember being without a Weber of one size or another since I've been grown.

Nowdays I get by with a 14" Weber and a Lodge Hibachi.



Can"t help you with the thermometers Jim......i don't use em very often.

Who would bitch a Weber Kettle?

Throw your digital probe in the trash.

Turn the lid so the temp gauge is over the meat.

Schit...the tv experts said to put the vent over the meat....temp over the fire.

Maximize smokiness they said.

Sure as hell did that.....

Did you not view the youtubes video I posted for you?

Crap. I think I musta missed it.

Here you go I found it for you

No bimetal thermometer can be trusted. No matter who makes it.

Try this.

https://www.thermoworks.com/Smoke?gclid=EAIaIQobChMIppfh1M_e4gIVkK_sCh1W7QJ9EAAYASAAEgLhxvD_BwE

They go on sale all the time.

I think that only goes on sale around Mother's Day.

The only dome topped cooker that has better temp control than a Weber kettle is a BGE or comparable ceramic kamado cooker. It should be a bbq rule that you have to learn to cook on a Weber before advancing on to any other cooker IMO.

Your right. More useful for smoking. For the Kettle, it's more of a gut feel. It's not rocket science.

A MK4 is nice while your training your gut.

…..and after.

Or nothing at all works.

wth is a 'bimetal' therm

Just what we need......more rules and regulations.

Maybe not a "rule" but it's a darn good idea.

Laminate together two strips of different metals. The metals will have different coefficients of thermal expansion. When the bimetal strip heats up, one side will want to lengthen more than the other so the strip will become curved. The thermometer uses this deflection to generate a temperature reading.

A thermocouple (example: J type, K type) is also a bimetal temperature measure device/method. The junction of two dissimilar metals creates a voltage potential that is well defined for metallic pairs at optimal temperature ranges. Certainly a widely used method...thermoworks thermapen for example since we’re talking bbq. A step up from a RTD for sure.

and to think the oldtimers did it by feel

Low & slow............

= good ribs........

Thats how I am learning.

By the time I am an old timer I will have it figured

whatever

Look up 3-2-1 method ribs.

Jim,

You really should be past the butt-sniffing stage of this operation.

Chop-chop buddy.

ThermoWorks has the "Smoke" on sale right now. 20% off.

I love mine for smoking.

I usually use my very old clay BGE for low and slow but at times I still use the Weber. For the indirect method on the Weber I put coals on two sides and the meat in the middle. Top vent in line between the coals. Turn lid every hour just to check temp variation. shouldn't be more than 20 degrees either way and that makes no difference in how the meat turns out.

I have never used a thermometer in any of my BBQ-ing. I haven’t a clue as to what is official.

Reckon I’m older than I thought. Like I said in other post, I wouldn’t have a clue about a thermometer and whats official.

i know this is an old thread but over the years i have found that the best way to do bbq on the weber kettle is using the Minion Method. its googleable but basically means you put an unlit bed of charcoal on one side of the kettle and then light about 10 briquets in a starter and put them on top of the unlit pile. in my kettle this regulates it to about 250.