I may have posted this on the old forum,but it is always worth reposting for the new folks.Just if you wonder what life was like ,before Smokin' and I,and most of the cooking community had ever heard of a wired thermometer.
Courtesy Shingleman,a fine comp cook that has helped many of us,although Polders are now pretty much forgotten.It works with all my $5 Taylors that are decades old.
Posted by Shingleman on May 13, 2001 at 08:13:58:
POLDER PROBE CURING:
Shake noticed that after deep-frying turkeys, the probe that was used in the hot oil always stayed accurate. Hot oil seemed to protect the sensors in the tip from corrosion.
The probes that he used strictly for meat smoking would eventually become erroneous due to the wash water wicking into the probe where the braided wire connects to the probe.
It has now been determined that we need to cure our new Polder probes in hot oil or lard, for fifteen minutes or so, deep enough for the oil or lard to penetrate and seep down into the braided wire joint at the rear of the probe.
Keep the sensor tip pointed down, so that air in the probe can be displaced by the oil or lard and bubble up and out at the braided joint.
During a long cook, some of the protective oil will seep back out of the braided joint allowing moisture, during cleaning, to wick back into the sensors located inside the tip of the probe.
Before you clean your probes, you may want to re-cure so that moisture has a lesser chance of reaching the sensor area of the tip.
Moisture that wicks into the probe seems to be the corrosive factor that we want to deter.
Tom Hoefer a.k.a. Shingleman
Try it,you'll like it and has sure saved our butts at many comps.
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