a remote probe question and Brisket question

Fred

Are you using two independent remote thermometers or the ET-73 with dual probes that go to one transmitter and one receiver?

But either way, my guess is that the probe reading lower is either faulty or the probe tip went into a fat pocket or is touching bone.

Unfortunately, until you get home, you can't know. When you do get home, try switching the transmitters that the probes are plugged into, i.e., take the lower reading probe and plug it into the other transmitter.

Good luck.

Mike:

They are 2 separate units, each with transmitter and remote. Thanks for the suggestions. Right now my only input on what's going on at present is from my wife, who loves to eat the stuff but has no intention of being part of the cooking process.

Fred

Yeah, I hear you on that one, same thing goes here. LOL

Fred, Call and have the wife switch the probe leads around, and see what you get then. I've found with the Pyrex that they"ll read inconsistent if I set them on the top surface of my 008. Always put them on the horizotal ledge above the temp selection knob now. Don't know if a brisket plateau's. Maybe SmokinOkie will help us out with that one. Regards

Whalebone:

I'm finally home and switched the leads. Same result. I'll try moving them to the top ledge and see if that changes how they react.

Strange, the 2 briskets were crammed in to the center and top racks and it's the top rack that appears to be far "less cooked". I wonder if it's possible that the lower brisket actually blocked the heat. From what I've read in the posts this isn't supposed to happen but maybe it's the problem.

Maybe somebody has some input in that area.

thanks,

Fred

Fred

I don't think the heat was blocked by the lower brisket, after all heat rises.

Since you switched the leads as Whalebone and I suggested and got the same result, are you sure one probe was not in a fat pocket or touching bone? Both will result in erroneous temp readings.

Next time try putting both probes in the same piece of meat real close together. If the one probe again is reading significantly lower, then I think you got a faulty probe. If you read back through the forums, the probes are a weak link. With the Maverick, it is also possible some moisture got into the probe and that will also result in bad readings. Some in the forum have suggested that boiling the probe in peanut oil will resolve a moisture problem in the probe tip. I don't have any personal experience in doing that.

Might be easier to replace the probe or get a whole new unit.

Actually, depending on size, you can block the heat if the brisket in the middle is big enough. You'll know easily enough just by looking.

I only trust the probes so far. Your final guess will be that if the meat is ready when you probe it and the tenderness is what you want. Generally, but not always, will 2 large briskets cook the same amount of time.

"sounds" like a probe problem, but can't tell for sure.

I have a sm150 and I have seen the top shelf cook much slower if a large area of the shelf is covered with meat like 3 slabs of ribs or a large brisket. I needed to rotate the shelves to get them to cook thoughly. I am a novice however. I would trust the temp guages in this case. I put the ribs on a rack on their side to allow the heat to get up to the top shelf easier and I thinnk it was better. My 2 cents.

I'm guessing it's not the smoker, but that your two Mavericks' frequencies are interfering--and both remotes are reading a single transmitter (unless I read you wrong).

Just use a single Maverick to monitor each brisket. Use the smoker probe in one, meat probe in the other. Works great for me.

What if you try a digital read thermo, the cheap ones. Stick it in each brisket. You shouldn't have bone, I hope in the briskets. Simple and too easy. Then you can deal with the frequencies later.

This is a very interesting thread. Could the problem be that the two briskets came off two different critters? Perhaps one Angus and the other Jersey. Maybe one off a steer and the other off a bull? Just a thought. Cherrio

My question is why two units when the ET-73 has two probes? Just because one says 'Smoker' doesn't mean you can't stick it in meat--I do it all the time (though I use the pointed probe to poke the hole, then slide the blunt 'smoker' probe into the hole).

I would agree that one brisket can block some of the heat being radiated towards the second brisket. To prove this I would consider what happens when you place the shield into the unit to do cold smoking. this allows the smoke to occur but blocks a large majority of the heat. So that said, since heat is being radiated from all the sides of the smoking chamber, only some of it is making it's presence felt upon the blocked brisket.