Temperature Gauge on Gas Grill

[CCgriller]

Hi everyone. I don't know how many of you have gas grills, but I am having trouble figuring out this temperature gauge on my new grill. It's a Char-Griller 4000. I really love this grill, but when I do an indirect cooking method (two left burners on low, two right off) I am getting a reading of 360 with lid closed. It is taking way to long to get the meat up to temp. There is no way it is 360 on the meat side.

Also, what method would be best for getting smoke on the hot side. On my old grill, I just put chunks on the bottom. On this bad boy, it is so deep and far away from the burners, they never have a chance to really smoke. I put a brick to raise the wood, but not really happy with that either.

Thanks for any help, I am learning a lot reading your posts. Some really good info and nice people.

CCgriller
Corpus Christi, Tx

[OSD]

First thing I would do is get 3 or 4 oven thermos and place them at different places on the cooking grate to see what temps it is running at those places on the grate. The thermo in the lid is not going to give you an accurate temp reading as to the temp at the cooking grate.
You say it's taking too long for meat to get to temp, but what type of meat and how long is it taking?
If you are doing indirect or smoking the temp should be lower and take longer to cook.
Sometimes, on mine, I turn the left and right outside burners on low and leave the middle 2 off and put the meat in the center of the grill.
As for as smoke, make a foil pouch filled with chips and with a couple holes in the top of it and lay it on the burner shield. it should fill the whole grill with smoke.

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[Southern Pride BBQ]

When I do a first cook on a new cooker I put an electric thermometer right beside my meat, so at least you know what the temp is on the grill, it doesnt matter what it is on the door. Once you get the basic temp on the grill then you can look at the guage and see the temp difference, for instance my big pit the temp on the grill is 250, but on the door its 310. so i know after cookin on it for a while its about a 60 difference from grill to door. Hope this helps.

[JamesB]

When I do a first cook on a new cooker I put an electric thermometer right beside my meat, so at least you know what the temp is on the grill, it doesnt matter what it is on the door.

What he said!