Skip to main content

9 replies

Wild Thermometer Swings--Help

FM Former Member
First pork butt smoke on the new 50 unit. Two 7lbers went in at 10:30PM pacific last night (Friday night). I have a Maverick ET-72 remote thermometer in one butt, a Polder Dual-Sensor Thermometer in the other.

Over the course of the smoke so far, I have seen wide swings in the temperatures from these thermometers. I have some pretty good experiences using thermometers and probes for roasting although not with the new CS.

When butts first went in, one showed temp of 37F, the other 42F. I have since seen readings that look legitimate, others wildly high (ie. one right now shows 250F which should be impossible given the butts have been on at 225 for only 6 hours with me having to open the door a couple of times already trying to re-position the probes. The one now showing 250 only 20 minutes ago was showing 155F after I had re-positioned it. Is there a magical way/place for the probe to be in the pork butts? What am I doing wrong?

Any help and insights greatly appreciated...Thanks, IBSPY
Original Post

Replies sorted oldest to newest

R ribdogMember
You need to make sure the probe is not touching the bone. That can throw temps off. For the 250, I can't say. Was that the Maverick or the Polder? I find I have had more problems with Polders than Mavericks.

Also, I never put a probe in until a few hours before the butts are done. Plus I tend to use the bone as a test more so than the temp. If the bone can wiggled free in the butt, then it is done to the pulling point.

John
FM Former Member
Thanks for the reply RibDog. The 250 degree reading came from the Maverick. The Polder's been totally worthless thus far. At 8:00 AM pacific (smoke time now at 9.5 hours), my Polder instant read thermometer is showing just under 155 for the larger butt.

Since I am continuing to have problems with both probe thermometers, unfortunately I'm going to have to open the door from time to time and use the regular Polder digital. Don't know what I'm doing wrong with the probe thermometers. Trying to stay away from bone and trying to get to the center of the butt (thickest area). Thanks again John.
A arkansasqerMember
You can find several posts regarding temp swings during the smoke, but most refer to the modest peaks and valleys inherent in the CS cooking cycle. For your probe to say 250 that quickly would seem to indicate that it�s either defective, touching bone or maybe fat. And I�m not 100% sure what effect touching fat would have on the accuracy of your reading, maybe we can get someone more experienced to expound on that.
FM Former Member
Got everything figured out regarding the thermometers. One error I had made was running the probe wires out through the side of the cs door too near the locks. The probe wires were being crimped affecting the readouts. I then ran the probe wires up and out at the top of the cs door and everything worked great from there. Both butts out at 195 degrees, held and pulled fantastic....Everybody very pleased! Ribdog and ArkansasQer....Thanks for the help and advice.
IBSPY

Add Reply

Post

Membership Required

We're sorry. You must be signed in to continue. Sign In or Register
×
Are you sure you want to remove from your Block List?
×
Loading...
×
When you block a person, they can no longer invite you to a private message or post to your profile wall. Replies and comments they make will be collapsed/hidden by default. Finally, you'll never receive email notifications about content they create or likes they designate for your content.
Note: if you proceed, you will no longer be following .
×
Link copied to your clipboard.
×