The Lid Thermometer on the Weber Kettle is Bad: Fixing an Intrinsic Problem

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If you’re someone who only grills on the Weber kettle and you use a one-zone fire to grill hamburgers and hot dogs, you don’t have to worry about the lid thermometer; It’s accurate and does the job of measuring the temperature inside the kettle.

However, the problem becomes apparent if you smoke meat.

The Lid thermometer is on the wrong side.

When smoking meat on a charcoal grill, you want to place the meat on the opposite side of your fire, below the exhaust damper.

This way you’re smoking with indirect heat and the smoke is pulled over the meat.

Since the lid thermometer is on the opposite side of your meat, it reads the temperature above your fire – which is much hotter than the heat in the indirect zone.

This problem can be rectified by installing another thermometer.

Installing the New Thermometer on the Lid

To install a new lid thermometer, you will need:

• A Tel-tru thermometer – You can buy the one I used here.
• A drill
• A Milwaukee step drill bit – You can buy the one I used here.
• A mallet/hammer
• A pin punch
• A marker

The first thing I did was decided where I wanted the thermometer.

I opted to install it below the exhaust damper, near grate-level. This way when smoking I have a better idea of the temperature where the food will be placed.

I then removed the locking nut and colored in the circle with a marker.

I then took my mallet and pin punch and tapped in the center of the circle to make a hole for the drill bit.

Note: You don’t need to hit the pin punch hard.

Also don’t fret if you crack the porcelain; This happened to me and it was drilled out.

With the step drill bit and my drill I then started drilling out the outline I drew. As I started to approach the size, I started testing the thermometer to see if I could thread it.

Eventually, I was able to thread the thermometer through.

I turned the thermometer until it was both threaded and had the temperature gauge upright.

Here’s the thermometer fully threaded:

Once threaded, I then turned the lid over and fastened the locking nut.

That’s all there is to it.

Other Thermometer Options

So while the above is the best way to fix the problem with the lid thermometer, some folks may find it intimidating to do so – which I don’t blame you.

For a really long time, I didn’t even have a lid thermometer on my Weber Kettle.

Whenever I opted to smoke on the weber Kettle, I would simply take my wireless meat probe (the Thermopro TP20) and dangle it inside the exhaust damper.

This way we’re measuring the heat above the meat.

OR you could opt to use a grate-level thermometer instead.

OR know that 400F measured with the lid thermometer (above the charcoal) in a 2-zone fire setup is roughly 250F in the indirect zone.