smoker temp.

[smokinsmoker23]

Hey everyone, Im new here and have a question. Now i know when u buy a smoker or bbq the coil guages are not accurate, mostly. I was wondering can i use a digital probe thermometer that is used on meats as u cook, can i use that as my temperature guage for my smoker instead of the coil original guage to get a true reading of my temp. inside my smoker?

 

[venture]

Many here use digital probes.

Or remote digital probes like the Maverick 732 or 733.

Stock therms on units can vary from fairly accurate to being junk plugging a hole that shouldn't have been there in the first place?

Good luck and good smoking.

 

[oldschoolbbq]

Simple answer . . .YES.

Have fun and. . .

 

[demosthenes9]

Yep yep, put the probe reasonably close to where the meat will be placed, but not too close as there will be a cold air bubble around the meat.

In other words, if your meat is going on the top shelf of a vertical smoker, put your probe on that shelf as well, just make sure it's about 2 or 3 inches away from the meat.   The reason for this is that there are often temperature variations within a smoke chamber.  One area might be 10 or 20 degrees off from another area.  And sometimes, the difference is much worse.

 

[smokinsmoker23]

Ok thats good to know, i usually use both top and bottom racks so i just want to get the closest temp reading for the entire inside of my smoker(s). I have a vertical and a round smoker and im sure that the original guages are not very accurate. So i guess i will have to get me a couple digital thermometers for each smoker.

 

[demosthenes9]

 
Ok thats good to know, i usually use both top and bottom racks so i just want to get the closest temp reading for the entire inside of my smoker(s). I have a vertical and a round smoker and im sure that the original guages are not very accurate. So i guess i will have to get me a couple digital thermometers for each smoker.

You can do that or get a couple of cheap oven thermometers from Wal Mart.

 

[smokinsmoker23]

Didnt think about oven thermometers, do they give a pretty good accurate reading or close to it, better than the original bbq/smoker guages that come with them when u buy em?

 

[venture]

On a budget, the oven therms work for about $2 or $3 each.

You still have to lift the lid to read them, and they can gunk up if not kept clean.

Somewhere down the road you will want a wired probe or a wired remote therm.

Among a lot of other things to spend your money on? 

 

Good luck and good smoking.

 

[demosthenes9]

 
Didnt think about oven thermometers, do they give a pretty good accurate reading or close to it, better than the original bbq/smoker guages that come with them when u buy em?

 
On a budget, the oven therms work for about $2 or $3 each.

You still have to lift the lid to read them, and they can gunk up if not kept clean.

Somewhere down the road you will want a wired probe or a wired remote therm.

Among a lot of other things to spend your money on? 

 

Good luck and good smoking.

Basically, the point of using the cheap oven therms is to try and cheaply establish how far off your built in therm is.    Built in's are usually off, but they are also consistent usually.   For example, the built in might read 250 while the oven therm says 225.   So, you crank the heat up and the built in says 290 and the oven therm says 265, which again, is a 25 degree difference.    Once you establish that differential, it's a matter of doing math in your head.   If you want to cook at 225, dial the temp up until your door therm says 250.  If you want to cook at 250, take the door therm up to 275.

Granted, a remote digital probe like a Maverick is preferred (I have 3 of them), but there's other ways to skin the cat without spending the $$$.

 

[venture]

Yes, at normal smoking temps I can mentally correct within the normal smoking range.

Mine does show an inconsistent differential at very high or very low temps. 

Within normal smoking temps it is quite consistent.

As said about the cat!

Good luck and good smoking.

 

[hickorybutt]

Yes - I recently did the same thing.  Wanted to measure temperature across my cooking chamber from end to end and in the middle, so I used my Mav grill thermometer on one end and used meat probes at two other points in the smoker.  Seemed to work just fine.  Just keep them elevated off the grate.  You can do this by cutting a small wood block and drilling a hole in it to put the probes in.

 

[smokinsmoker23]

Thanks for the input everyone. I found 2 digital thermometers for 48 for both on Ebay so got those. Theyre suppost to have 2 heat sensors on probe one for meat temp and one for inside cooking chamber temp. See what happens. Keep on smoking.