Meat thermometor

[smokerfool]

I am curious if it is a good idea to put my meat therm in the brisket I am cooking and leave it in for the whole smoke?  Will it give me an accurate temp every time I check it or will read the smoker temp?  If it is ok to leave it in the meat, should I wait to put it in after I have started it or before I put the meat in the smoker?  Thanks for your response and guidance. 

 

[pineywoods]

Need more info but for now don't probe it.

What kind of thermometer are you using?

Did you inject or otherwise puncture the brisket up to now?

 

[smokerfool]

I have an instant read therm to test the IT.  I have not punctured the meat yet and it has been in the smoker for 90 mins.

 

[scarbelly]

Is the thermometer rated to be left in the smoker and exposed to the heat? Most are not. The majority of us use a dual temp system, one for the box temp and one for the meat. The probes are rated to 500*  and we don't probe the meat for the first hour or so 

 

[smokerfool]

Scarbelly, that is what I thought.  My next purchase will be a therm like that.  Thanks for the help!!!

 

[scarbelly]

If you contact Todd at  the link below. He is a member here and can hook you up with a good set up  
[h3]A-MAZE-N  Products, LLC[/h3]
www.amazenproducts.com/

 

[mballi3011]

Or you could go to your local bed bath & beyond or even wally world and pick one up today. Then test it. You do that by sticking the probe into some boiling water (not touching any metal) and it should read 212*.Then you are set to start smoking meat. Now I would however recommand buying 2 one for the meat and one for the smoker itself. You shoud never rely on the thermometer that came with your smoker. 

 

[smokerfool]

I now my smoker therm is off.  I have put an oven therm inside the smoker and I have a temp gun also and I have found my smoker therm is around 75 to 100 degrees off!

 

[smokerfool]

how long into a smoke do you all suggest to check the IT?  I have an 8 lb brisket.

 

[pineywoods]

With doing a brisket that size I won't usually put the probe into it until about 4 hours into the smoke since I know it won't be up to temp yet so around that time when I go to spritz/mop it I'll put the probe in. In the mean time if you didn't have a second thermo you could place the probe of the one you have through a potato so that it will read properly and place it on the grate to monitor the smoker temp with out having to open the door.