Who do you trust?

[jjowsey69]

Morning! It's Labor Day Brisket Day!!!!!

Question regarding thermometers and temperatures, specifically with an MES. Who do you trust? The temp Spike is off about 50° from the internal thermometer as far as ambient. I know I've asked about swings before depending upon positioning within the smoker, but that's a pretty big difference. Should I trust my internal thermometer to gauge ambient or is the temp Spike generally more accurate? I'd love to know opinions.

Thanks,
Jim

 

[912smoker]

Are you talking about the one that came with the MES vs Temp Spike?
I would still trust the TS and set the MES accordingly. I always use a wired ThermoPro to monitor everything.

Keith

 

[bmudd14474]

I haven't had one thermometers that was built in/came with the unit that I have trusted as they are always off when I test with a control unit.

 

[voyager 663rd]

Test with boiling water. AS it should be 212 (depending on your location):

if it reads low or high, just add/substract it from your unit and you're good to go. ANY mechanical ones I've used are only off a few degrees so it really didn't matter

 

[thirdeye]

Test with boiling water. AS it should be 212 (depending on your location):

A friend of mine learned about elevation and cooking when he catered a wedding using his BBQ trailer this summer. We live at 5,400' elevation and water boils at 203°. The wedding was on the nearby mountain at around 8,000' where water boils at 197°. The time and internal temps on pork butts and brisket were wacky. Everything turned out okay, but he was holding his breath for the last few hours.

 

[sandyut]

I would only trust an internal thermometer if I tested with a calibrated one to know for sure it was accurate.