Say I cook something on indirect method. I have charcoal on the left, food on the right, lid with thermometer on the left over charcoal, vent on the right over the food. thermometer shows 350-400, even if I add charcoal, I play with the vent, temperature does not go much over 400.

I finish cooking, I remove the food, put the lid back, same position, thermometer over charcoal. go inside and eat, then 30 min later when I go out to the empty grill the temperature is 450+. Same happens with direct cooking, but you could argue that in the case of direct cooking, the meat is directly over the hot charcoal and thus it prevents the heat from reaching the thermometer. OK, that would be one easy explanation. But what about indirect method mentioned above? why does the temperature increase by 50+ degree after I remove the food?

Without knowing some of the other details, I'll take a guess that it's just a matter of having the coals fully up to temperature.

The fire will be at it's hottest when looks like white ash over glowing coals. This is usually a little bit after the flames die down.

If you still see black on the coals at all, the fire is not at it's hottest yet.

If you are looking for a hotter fire, try hardwood charcoal instead of briquettes.

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How do you usually start your fire?

I have good success using a chimney starter and letting it work for about 20+minutes before dumping into place in the grill. It gets ALL of the lumps nicely involved and ashed over.

[www.weber.com]

yes, chimney, gas flame below, but I guess you are right, I should wait more. 10 min may not be enough.

If it's worth the cost of a portion of charcoal, set your phone to do a time lapse and see when it reaches the highest temp.

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The cold meat sucks up the heat.

Propane.

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Saint Cloud, Minnesota, where the weather is wonderful even when it isn't.

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Umm.. what!?

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Speedy
Propane.

= outdoor stove!!

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San Antonio, TX (in the old city)

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Filliam H. Muffman

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Start here: [en.wikipedia.org]

Umm.. what!?

Okay, try this: [www.huffingtonpost.com]

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Filliam H. Muffman

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Article Accelerator
Start here: [en.wikipedia.org]

Umm.. what!?

Okay, try this: [www.huffingtonpost.com]

Still totally unrelated to the OP. It seems like you could be going at one subject indirectly, like how some people think smoking/BBQ in a propane or natural gas grill is a travesty.

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Filliam H. Muffman

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Article Accelerator

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Filliam H. Muffman

Quote
Article Accelerator
Start here: [en.wikipedia.org]

Umm.. what!?

Okay, try this: [www.huffingtonpost.com]

Still totally unrelated to the OP. It seems like you could be going at one subject indirectly, like how some people think smoking/BBQ in a propane or natural gas grill is a travesty.

It's a shame you didn't read the referenced article…

The OP wrote:

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…thermometer shows 350-400, even if I add charcoal, I play with the vent, temperature does not go much over 400…I remove the food, put the lid back, same position, thermometer over charcoal…30 min later when I go out to the empty grill the temperature is 450+…why does the temperature increase by 50+ degree after I remove the food?

The article I cited directly addresses and explains the reason this phenomenon occurs.

Q: …why does the temperature increase by 50+ degree after I remove the food?

A: “The stall is evaporative cooling.”

It’s that simple. The meat is sweating, and the moisture evaporates and cools the meat just like sweat cools you after cutting the lawn. Here’s how he proved it.


Seems completely on point. I'm not going to do my own testing to see if the science is correct.

I don't BBQ and have no fork in this feed, but on a visit to Costco, I stopped at a demo of a Traeger grill and it seemed to be a really good grill with great features. You do have to keep a supply of pellets, and they recommend theirs over typical wood stove pellets. Not surprising, but I think he said they burn cleaner, dunno. But they seem like a great product.

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Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/16/2018 05:17AM by RAMd®d.

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space-time
Say I cook something on indirect method. I have charcoal on the left, food on the right, lid with thermometer on the left over charcoal, vent on the right over the food. thermometer shows 350-400, ...

Overall
Ignore the lid thermometer unless it's only to glance to learn of charcoal = hot or charcoal = dead. Taking temperature over the coals is always a waste of time and reveals nothing of value regarding the cook.

Locating the lid thermometer directly opposite the lid vent is something Weber did for only a few years, and then moved the thermometer midway but it's still wrong.

In the best scenario of the thermometer located over food, there will be about 50 degree temp difference between the temp up there vs. the lower (and actual) grill grate temperature, aka "pit temp," or oven temp. This is regarding the common 22.5" kettle size. A $6 oven thermometer placed on the grill grate near food will let you know your temp.

You were cooking at 300-350 degrees actual. Probably lower than even that if your thermometer was over the heat.

And then as the lid thermometer ages, it eventually stops reading correctly (often reads too low, so yes there's a strange moment where it's actually "accurate" for the cook while reading inaccurately.

Did I mention that good digital probe thermometers are a good idea? [www.thermoworks.com] < FYI The Thermapen (gray) is also currently 25% off. It's the best instant-read thermometer money can buy.

Yes, keep the top lid positioned over the food and sacrifice optimal lid thermometer location. Or drill a hole and add another thermometer (Tel-Tru is best) close to the lid vent.

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space-time
... even if I add charcoal, I play with the vent, temperature does not go much over 400.

Each lid vent adjustment or intake adjustment (i.e. the lower vent ...) requires 15-20 minutes to see the change. More time is required when adding unlit charcoal, even if it's lump. It's always easier to start with the target temp and maintain that, than it is to start with a really hot grill and "turn down" the heat without killing the coals.

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space-time
I finish cooking, I remove the food, put the lid back, same position, thermometer over charcoal. go inside and eat, then 30 min later when I go out to the empty grill the temperature is 450+. Same happens with direct cooking, but you could argue that in the case of direct cooking, the meat is directly over the hot charcoal and thus it prevents the heat from reaching the thermometer. OK, that would be one easy explanation. But what about indirect method mentioned above? why does the temperature increase by 50+ degree after I remove the food?

If a working thermometer shows a substantial similar reading 30 minutes after you're done using the grill, you either have not closed all the vents or the grill has air leaks. That being said, yes this could instead be because you simply had your thermo over the heat, you took the "heat blocker" (meat) away from it.

Any time you open the lid, especially if you leave the lid off for a minute or two, you provide the coals with a rush of air. Minutes later, they will be hotter even if the lid was then closed.

The only charcoal grill I'm aware of that can extinguish its charcoal in 30 minutes might be Weber's high end Summit models, but you're not describing that.

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space-time
yes, chimney, gas flame below, but I guess you are right, I should wait more. 10 min may not be enough.

Is this a Weber Performer? Many of those have gas-assist. On mine, I only run the gas a few minutes. The chimney will do the rest on its own. White ash = charcoal is ready. 10 minutes is not enough to reach that unless it's summer time. After dumping the chimney, position vents and charcoal and WAIT for the kettle to stabilize before adding food.

[weberkettleclub.com]

The stall occurs on larger hunks of meat only. You're not ever going to see that phenomenon when cooking pork chops, hamburgers, chicken breasts because the high heat of the grill takes care of any evaporative loss coming from the meat. It easily overcomes it.

And it's only relevant to low-and-slow cooks, where you're cooking past the "done" temperature to effect tenderness, such as when taking a Boston butt or beef brisket to an internal temp of close to 200 degrees.

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Article Accelerator

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Filliam H. Muffman

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Article Accelerator

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Filliam H. Muffman

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Article Accelerator
Start here: [en.wikipedia.org]

Umm.. what!?

Okay, try this: [www.huffingtonpost.com]

Still totally unrelated to the OP. It seems like you could be going at one subject indirectly, like how some people think smoking/BBQ in a propane or natural gas grill is a travesty.

It's a shame you didn't read the referenced article…

The OP wrote:

Quote

…thermometer shows 350-400, even if I add charcoal, I play with the vent, temperature does not go much over 400…I remove the food, put the lid back, same position, thermometer over charcoal…30 min later when I go out to the empty grill the temperature is 450+…why does the temperature increase by 50+ degree after I remove the food?

The article I cited directly addresses and explains the reason this phenomenon occurs.

That's an overly obtuse way of saying "the moisture evaporating from the meat might be what kept the grill cooler," and it's not confirmed that the OP let the coals heat up completely.

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Thanks folks. More food for thought that I ever wished for.