Maverick Question

[lath23]

Cooking my first Butts right now. I have my Maverick clipped on grid and probed into the Butt. The temp on the Maverick and the Egg thermometer were both around 210-220 degrees, if anything the Egg thermometer was a couple of degrees higher than the Maverick. About 3 hours into the cook the Maverick began climbing, reaching well over 375 while the Egg thermometer never moved, and the Egg did not seem to be any hotter. A few hours later, as the Butts reached 175, I bumped the Egg draft door open and now both thermometers read about 275-280. What gives? I clipped the Maverick on the grid, next to the Butts. Should I have suspended it above? How could there be a 150 degree difference at one point in the two meters and now they read the same?

 

[pops6927]

Could be where the probe was in the meat; if it hit a seam that could be reached by outside temp it would raise the "internal" temp much higher; as the butt cooks and the meat shrinks now it is actually inside the meat and giving a truer reading.  I've had it happen on butts before with BBB (buckboard bacon).

 

[scarbelly]

It sounds to me like you had the Maverick sampling the temp at the grid holding the meat. Not sure where the egg is sampling the temp. It is odd that the internal temp of the egg could vary that much from on place to another.  Have you tested both thermometers?  

 

[marylandsmoker]

I have heard that if the thermometer touches the bone it will not read the correct meat temp. Is this true or heard of by others?

 

[alblancher]

Yes you want the thermo in the middle of the muscle without touching bone.  The bone will throw your measurements off. 

 

[venture]

I have noticed this before when noting the difference between the Maverick pit probe and the stock therm.  At one temp they will be X degrees apart.  At other temps they might be X plus or minus so many degrees apart.  I go with the Maverick probe for pit temps.  Also, be sure to clean the Maverick pit probe carefully and regularly.  They can give weird temp readings if they get gunked up.(technical term there)

Good luck and good smoking.