New smoker (the machine, not me)

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thekingprawn

Newbie
Original poster
Jul 16, 2011
3
10
I finally broke down and bought a vertical smoker (Brinkmann propane) after my trusty horizontal finally succumbed to Washington State's ability to deteriorate everything. Today I'm doing my first smoke in it, a 7 pound pork shoulder. Here's my problem. Like an idiot I relied on the built in thermometer. It read about 230 with the burner on high, which caused a little concern since people have reported these smokers running hot. I attributed the problem to the drizzle and 60 degree air temp. After about 5 hours the meat thermo was reading 180. I didn't think there was any way to get that much meat that hot that fast at 230, so I dug out a different thermo to check the smoker temp. Turns out that the built in is at least 40 degrees off. So, essentially, I'm roasting a pork shoulder today. On the plus side, I don't have wait as long for dinner. Are all bimetal thermometers this bad or did I just get lucky? Is there a suitable replacement or should I just keep hanging the other digital in the smoker?
 
You just have to have a good Thermo that reads both Smoker and IT if you are going to turn out good smokes...Good Luck but its really not any LUCK involved.
 
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Not horrible for the first smoke.
 
Turns out that the built in is at least 40 degrees off. So, essentially, I'm roasting a pork shoulder today. On the plus side, I don't have wait as long for dinner. Are all bimetal thermometers this bad or did I just get lucky? Is there a suitable replacement or should I just keep hanging the other digital in the smoker?


YES!  These thermos are not very accurate

Some of them are adjustable.  There should be a nut on the backside.  Put a wrench on it and turn the thermo to set it at an approximately accurate setting.  You should invest in a decent digital thermo, before you ruin something!

Your shoulder looks great, considering the thermo malfunction.

Todd
 
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