Question for you guys with circulation fans

[RonR]

  I noticed something yesterday. I had 2 7 pound butts on the same rack in the middle of my smoker.  The temp on the digital thermometer that was placed on the same rack as the meat read about 30 degrees higher than the door guage which was higher up in the smoker.  My question is,  With the circulation fan, would my temperatures be more even?  Or is there not enough room for the heat to pass around the meat even with a fan circulating?  I hope im being clear.  Just seems that with both butts on the same rack, it doesn't leave much room for air to move around in the smoker.  Anyones observations would be very welcome.   ???


Thanks

[Oldman]

As long as the fan is blowing back against the wall and the meat is not touching the walls your temp will more level.

[Habanero Smoker]

Thirty degrees variation is quite a bit. Other things to consider when monitoring temperature with two different devices are that the instruments themselves may be giving different readings for the same air temperature, where they are located in proximity of the food, and where they are located in the cabinet itself.

[Arcs_n_Sparks]

Thirty degrees variation is quite a bit.

This assumes everything is accurate, which may not be the case.....

Sparkler

[owrstrich]

i would take the dial thermo off and calibrate it...

my dial thermo is calibrated... i seldom look at it...

but if your digi crapped out... you would know the dial was right on...

you gotta eat...

owrstrich

[Arcs_n_Sparks]

The "o" always has good advice.... Plan 'A' plus plan 'B' should leave you in good shape.

A_n_S

[RonR]

Thanks for the replies.  Ill check them out.  However, on the previous 2 smokes they were pretty much the same.  Also, once I got some shrinkage in the meat, the temperatures became within 5 degrees or so.  Im thinking that the meat was trapping the heat under it until it shrunk up some.  Using that logic, I guess the fan wouldn't of done much if it couldn't move the heat around the meat anyway.  Do you guys usually put 2 on one rack? With a fan, I guess I could put 4 on diff racks and not really have to worry about rotating.   ???

Thanks

[Oldman]

Using that logic, I guess the fan wouldn't of done much if it couldn't move the heat around the meat anyway.

UH?

As long as the fan is blowing back against the wall and the meat is not touching the walls your temp will more level.

Sorry you must have missed my post as quoted above.

[RonR]

Oldman, do you typically put 2 pork butts on the same rack?  I guess I can if I pull them as far to the front of the smoker as possible.  Thanks for the advice.

[Habanero Smoker]

RonR;

When I do two butts, depending on their size depends determines whether I will put them on the same self. If they are the same size, I will put them on the same self if they fit without touching the side of the smoker. If the meat just barely touches the sides you can get away with it, because the meat will shrink. If one is much larger then the other, say 1 pound or more I will put them on different selves. But I can afford to do it this way, because I have never found an occasion that I would be doing more then 2 at a time.