Temp inside grill is off.

Sasksmoker75 · Jun 4, 2023

Hey guys, so I smoked a pork loin yesterday and noticed that the inside of my 1150 pro series 2 is off about 40 degrees from what the controller says to what my thermoworks smoke temp says. Set it to 250 thermoworks says it’s 207 to 210. When controller was set to 230 it was about 190 according to my thermoworks. Is there something wrong with my controller? Could explain why my 6lb brisket took like 18th to cook. Lol. Also I did take out the diffuser plate this smoke so not sure if that’s the culprit or not.

ANT0407 · Jun 4, 2023

My 1600 os off around 30 degrees normally. I just compensate for that when I set the temp on the control panel. I would say that's normal for you as well.

Ol' Smokey · Jun 4, 2023

My 700 isn't very accurate with temps. I now lay a temp probe on the grate and monitor temps that way. Has a bit too much swing, but that's just the nature of the beast. My weber charcoal kettle is much easier to keep steady temps, but like I said, keep much better real world track of temps with a probe......

Sasksmoker75 · Jun 4, 2023

ANT0407 said:
My 1600 os off around 30 degrees normally. I just compensate for that when I set the temp on the control panel. I would say that's normal for you as well.

That’s fine but does that not affect the smoke? I mean if I have to set my controller at 260 to get 220 inside the barrel is that not going to affect how smoke the controller puts out?

ANT0407 · Jun 4, 2023

Sasksmoker75 said:
That’s fine but does that not affect the smoke? I mean if I have to set my controller at 260 to get 220 inside the barrel is that not going to affect how smoke the controller puts out?

I've never noticed a lack of smoke flavor really but I always use a smoke tube as well.

Jimsmokes · Jun 4, 2023

That's about same temp my top grate runs on my 1150. I just turn the temp on grill to get whatever grate temp I want.
Noticed your probe is laying on the grate. That can affect temp reading. If you dont have a clip to hold it up put it in a small potato to hold it.

Sasksmoker75 · Jun 4, 2023

Jimsmokes said:
That's about same temp my top grate runs on my 1150. I just turn the temp on grill to get whatever grate temp I want.
Noticed your probe is laying on the grate. That can affect temp reading. If you dont have a clip to hold it up put it in a small potato to hold it.

Ya that’s the probe I ended up using in my loin. If you look directly beneath on the main grate you can see my thermoworks probe in its holder.

Sasksmoker75 · Jun 4, 2023

ANT0407 said:
I've never noticed a lack of smoke flavor really but I always use a smoke tube as well.

Ya I used a tube for the first time on this loin. I think it made a difference in smoke flavour.

ANT0407 · Jun 4, 2023

Sasksmoker75 said:
Ya I used a tube for the first time on this loin. I think it made a difference in smoke flavour.

It absolutely does

Freedbyjc · Jun 10, 2023

Sasksmoker75 said:
Hey guys, so I smoked a pork loin yesterday and noticed that the inside of my 1150 pro series 2 is off about 40 degrees from what the controller says to what my thermoworks smoke temp says. Set it to 250 thermoworks says it’s 207 to 210. When controller was set to 230 it was about 190 according to my thermoworks. Is there something wrong with my controller? Could explain why my 6lb brisket took like 18th to cook. Lol. Also I did take out the diffuser plate this smoke so not sure if that’s the culprit or not.

Absolutely normal … your Pitboss’s and aftermarket thermometers ... if you’ve tested them and KNOW they’re correct ... their readings are all accurate ... for each of the thermometers is in a widely different position in the smoker and will almost never match the others.

The digital temperature showing is NOT the grate temperature. It is not designed to be. It is the reading of the temperature probe on the left side of your barrel or the back side of your cabinet. It constantly sends that temperature to the controller, whose algorithm constantly runs your auger to feed the pellets to maintain your dial set temperature.

Your digital temperature probes readings, feed the PitBoss auger algorithm built into your controller to run the auger that feeds pellets to the burn pot to maintain your dial set temperature. That algorithm is designed to maintain temperatures throughout the barrel/cabinet that approximate your dial set temperature.

The most important temperature is your meats Internal temperature. Get a good wireless thermometer to monitor your meats internal temperature. Test it with an ice bath and a boiling water test regularly.

The “lid liar” is directly over the firepot and will almost always be different. And have you noticed that PitBoss no longer puts them in their smoker’s? https://blog.thermoworks.com/thermometer/dont-trust-dome-thermometer/

If you’re interested in the actual grate temperatures, you should get a secondary grate probe (squared tip) specifically designed to measure that. Meat thermometer probes (pointed) are not designed to measure air temperatures but can if grate clips are used.

DougW · Jun 11, 2023

Same here. About 25 - 30 degrees. I am going to seal the gap around the flame deflector and see if that helps. In the mean time, I set it 25 degree higher is seems to cook about right.