temperature gages

[AustinMc]

good day all......just starting out in the world of smoking, and have a quick question as to which temp probe a person should use. I did some snack sticks the other day(which turned out good) but had a hard time getting internal temp correct(was shooting for 153f)...seemed the one I had was not to accurate. what is a good one to use, and do I leave it in the sausage/sticks the whole time it is cooking? thanks

 

[SmokinAl]

There are a lot of good therms out there, but I tend to prefer the Smoke, by Thermoworks.
They have a waterproof one that you can use to finish the sausage in a 165 degree pot of water.
So yes put the probe in & try to get the point into the middle, it's best to go in from one end, instead of the side.
Al

 

[AustinMc]

awesome.....thank you.....I will try to find one!!! Much appreciated...cheers

 

[SmokinAl]

Here is the site to buy one.
https://www.thermoworks.com/Smoke
Al

 

[AustinMc]

thank you again.....

 

[jimmyinsd]

while you are there... grab a thermopen or two or three...the purple is the fastest, but they are all lightning quick and you will find yourself using one all the time and as a result you will be cooking to temp and tenderness a lot more which will always lead to a better finished product than cooking to time. my wife thought that they were a little extravagant but I see she grabs them quite often now as she has seen the improvements in my cooks since I rely much more on temp :cool:

 

[AustinMc]

thank you for the help.....ordered them up

 

[archeryrob]

I might ask on the equipment forum, but anyone used any more multi probe units than two? My smokehouse can have heat zones at higher temps and the bottom gets hotter than the top, so I was looking for 1 heat and 3 meat sensors possibly.

I was looking at the Tappeque, which has 4 but been delaying on the $150 price tag, I'm cheap. :D

Inkbird has ones in 4 probe and 6 probe and its pretty cheap and got some great and some lack luster reviews.
the four probe one

We used an inkbird sensor ($18) for our deer cooler controls instead of the $300 Coolbot and it works great. Just had to add a $45 JCI freeze sensor to the air conditioner coils to make up for the lost feature on the cheaper controller.

 

[Dazed]

Try the fireboard. It’s a tad expensive but here’s a link to a review I did for them. I have had one for a year and track all my smokes and can share them.

Fireboard Review


Dear Fireboard,

I purchased my fireboard etreme BBQ edition in Early April 2017. I was going to be using it on a Chargriller 50/50 with the side fire box. Here is the first cook ever, all charcoal and wood fire. This was before any mods with Charcoal tray still in.

Channel 1 was right and Channel 2 was left side of grill. As you can see my temps were all over the place. But the fireboard probes stood up to the heat and to this day I stll am using the same probes I was using that day. Over the course of last summer and this summer I have done many upgrades/improvement to my smoker. One thing that has stayed the same and constant is the fireboard on the original probes.


Here is a more recent cook on propane now.

My temps have evened out more and the food keeps getting better. This cook was done this April 2018. If you look at the channel names you will see I monitor all 4 points in the smoker. I started this cook with the battery fully charged and when I finished the almost 17 hour cook it still had 25% battery remaining. The battery is a over a year old and has been used in freezing temps doing cooks all day. Never been a issue.

The fireboard has remanied tried and true. When it say's it's done, It's done. I have done close to 200 cooking sessions with the firebord since buying. I have used it on the Gas Grill, Gas Griddle, Deep Fryer, oven, and stove top. I leave my cooks going all day. When I walk away, I know exactly what is going on at all times. Since coverting to a gas smoker I have started to have even more free time while cooking. Just set the alerts and the app will do the rest. Couldn't be more please with the fireboard and probes. The app or the website both work flawlessly for my Iphone 5 and 8 that I have now. Saves all your cooks so you can look back and see what you did. It makes you a better cook.


On another note there customer service is awesome and only something bigger companies could dream of. I had just a question about the fireboard when I first got it. I emailed them while I was on nightshift 2 am in the morning. By 9 am that day I had a reply with the answer from Ted one of the owners I believe. I have talked to them several times since and they're always happy to help. All in all the best purchase I have made for my grill/hobby. Well worth the money.