Smoker temp

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Smoker temp

Postby BladeRunner » Mon Jul 04, 2016 8:15 pm

Quick question for the group-
I have a new old country Pecos and both holes for the thermometer isn't close enough to the meat for any usable information.
I have a cheapo meat probe thermometer... somethung KAM has posted pictures of a few times. It only has one probe, and I can't probe the cook chamber.

So- the question.
Can I get another meat probe from the store and just leave it on the grate?
Or should I jump into the igrill or Maverick set up?
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Re: Smoker temp

Postby CaptJack » Mon Jul 04, 2016 8:39 pm

one way to do it is fire up your smoker to a steady temp
use one of the simple dial type oven thermometers that sit on the grate
after awhile open the lid and see what it reads
and compare it to your thermometer in the lid
let's say it's 25° different
move it around to the different ends
and write down the differences from the one in the lid

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Re: Smoker temp

Postby bsooner75 » Mon Jul 04, 2016 10:40 pm

I use the maverick et 733 (I believe) and it works great on my OCP.

Wrap foil around where the door closes on the wire and where the wire connects to the probe. This advice came from Maverick Customer Service when I had them replace one under warranty.


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Re: Smoker temp

Postby BladeRunner » Mon Jul 04, 2016 11:08 pm

bsooner75 wrote:I use the maverick et 733 (I believe) and it works great on my OCP.

Wrap foil around where the door closes on the wire and where the wire connects to the probe. This advice came from Maverick Customer Service when I had them replace one under warranty.


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For the maverick-
Is it a special type of air temp probe or is it another meat probe that you leave out on the grate?
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Re: Smoker temp

Postby CaptJack » Tue Jul 05, 2016 3:56 pm

BR trust me
if you know the differences between the thermometer in your lid
and the different corners of your grill
it's all you need to know
once you map them out and write them down
you will know the temp at any place on your grill within 5°
and it will never change
you can watch the lid gauge and know exactly what you want to do next
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Re: Smoker temp

Postby bsooner75 » Tue Jul 05, 2016 4:18 pm

BladeRunner wrote:[quote="bsooner75"]I use the maverick et 733 (I believe) and it works great on my OCP.

Wrap foil around where the door closes on the wire and where the wire connects to the probe. This advice came from Maverick Customer Service when I had them replace one under warranty.


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For the maverick-
Is it a special type of air temp probe or is it another meat probe that you leave out on the grate?[/quote]

Two probes. Either can be used for meat or air temp. It comes with a clip to hold it in the rack for measuring air temp.


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Re: Smoker temp

Postby DATsBBQ » Tue Jul 05, 2016 6:52 pm

I have a Mav ET-73. I only use the probe for the meat, and rely on the dome temp gage on the primo. I've had too many false alarms when the lump fires up under the air temp probe causing undo panic. Just know that that the temp at the dome is 25 to 30 degrees higher than grate temp. In the end, it is the internal temp of the meat that counts. Hope this helps.
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Re: Smoker temp

Postby BladeRunner » Wed Jul 06, 2016 11:54 am

These are all very helpful.

It's a new pit and I'm trying to figure *how* to find what the differences are in different areas.

I guess the real question was- do I have to buy a new digital thermometer to map the ambient temp or can I use the meat probe I have?
And how- if I don't have a clip, do I just lay it on a patch of dry sponge or a piece of wood (to keep it off the grate).
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Re: Smoker temp

Postby DATsBBQ » Wed Jul 06, 2016 1:24 pm

BladeRunner wrote:These are all very helpful.

It's a new pit and I'm trying to figure *how* to find what the differences are in different areas.

I guess the real question was- do I have to buy a new digital thermometer to map the ambient temp or can I use the meat probe I have?
And how- if I don't have a clip, do I just lay it on a patch of dry sponge or a piece of wood (to keep it off the grate).


I would skewer through a potato, making sure the tip pierces through the spud.
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Re: Smoker temp

Postby BladeRunner » Wed Jul 06, 2016 4:07 pm

DATsBBQ wrote:
BladeRunner wrote:These are all very helpful.

It's a new pit and I'm trying to figure *how* to find what the differences are in different areas.

I guess the real question was- do I have to buy a new digital thermometer to map the ambient temp or can I use the meat probe I have?
And how- if I don't have a clip, do I just lay it on a patch of dry sponge or a piece of wood (to keep it off the grate).


I would skewer through a potato, making sure the tip pierces through the spud.


:salut:
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Re: Smoker temp

Postby Txdragon » Tue Jul 12, 2016 7:24 pm

BladeRunner wrote:Quick question for the group-
I have a new old country Pecos and both holes for the thermometer isn't close enough to the meat for any usable information.
I have a cheapo meat probe thermometer... somethung KAM has posted pictures of a few times. It only has one probe, and I can't probe the cook chamber.

So- the question.
Can I get another meat probe from the store and just leave it on the grate?
Or should I jump into the igrill or Maverick set up?


How close to where it isn't is it? I use my cruddy door thermometer just to ensure my temp is stable. Whether it reads dead on or 100 degrees off, it still lets me know if temp is going up or down. I use the hand test method to determine heat at grate level. Most smoker thermos are 3/8th and you can buy replacements near everywhere they sell any decent smokers. Lowe's, Home Depot, Academy, Basspro, etc.
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Re: Smoker temp

Postby BladeRunner » Tue Jul 12, 2016 9:21 pm

Txdragon wrote:
BladeRunner wrote:Quick question for the group-
I have a new old country Pecos and both holes for the thermometer isn't close enough to the meat for any usable information.
I have a cheapo meat probe thermometer... somethung KAM has posted pictures of a few times. It only has one probe, and I can't probe the cook chamber.

So- the question.
Can I get another meat probe from the store and just leave it on the grate?
Or should I jump into the igrill or Maverick set up?


How close to where it isn't is it? I use my cruddy door thermometer just to ensure my temp is stable. Whether it reads dead on or 100 degrees off, it still lets me know if temp is going up or down. I use the hand test method to determine heat at grate level. Most smoker thermos are 3/8th and you can buy replacements near everywhere they sell any decent smokers. Lowe's, Home Depot, Academy, Basspro, etc.


It's about 14-16 inches away

I get that- keeping an eye on the stability of the temp. To some degree (no pun intended) I need to actually know the temp at or near the meat so I can tell what I need the door temp to be. Right?

But I went with the last idea to put another cheapo meat probe through a potato and move it around.
Helped me figure out I'm about 40 degrees cooler at the meat.
So far this thread has saved me about 100 bucks.

I am still keen on the igrill. But I haven't investigated the Maverick to intensely.
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Re: Smoker temp

Postby Txdragon » Tue Jul 12, 2016 10:04 pm

BladeRunner wrote:
It's about 14-16 inches away

I get that- keeping an eye on the stability of the temp. To some degree (no pun intended) I need to actually know the temp at or near the meat so I can tell what I need the door temp to be. Right?

But I went with the last idea to put another cheapo meat probe through a potato and move it around.
Helped me figure out I'm about 40 degrees cooler at the meat.
So far this thread has saved me about 100 bucks.

I am still keen on the igrill. But I haven't investigated the Maverick to intensely.


That's what I meant by hand test. Before you throw on the dead pig, cow, chicken, whatever the meal is; use your hand to determine temp around the grate by how long you can hold it there. you're looking for about 5-8 seconds before you have to pull your hand away. It's crude for side-box smokers but works for me :D Also if you get a modest sizzle when you put your meat on the grate, you're in a good temp range. Imagine if you put bacon in a cold pan on the stove. When you hear it FIRST start sizzling, this is what you want to hear; not like dropping bacon on a hot pan. These are good indicators of "bbq" heat range. Now that being said, when you put your brisket on the grill and you got your light sizzle going, look at the thermometer and see where it's at. This will be your reference point moving forward.
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Re: Smoker temp

Postby BluDawg » Tue Jul 12, 2016 11:49 pm

Take $5 oven thermo and put it on your grate & note the temp on the door thermo, then you will know how to run the pit from the door thermo to get your desired cook temp.
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