Need some help with temperature readings

[hamrhead1971]

I did my third smoke on my Cajun injector electric yesterday. My first two were ribs that came out great and a meatloaf that was worth doing again. So for my third smoke, I decided to try a boston butt following Bear's step by step. I was also using my amnps for the first time while cooking. I had tried the amnps in my smoker already just to make sure it would burn good enough to not do a mailbox mod.
Four hours in I inserted my mea therm prob, 118 degrees. Bumped temp up to 240. An hour later, IT at 121. To make a long story shorter, I finally removed the probe stuck it through a piece of tater and set it on the rack next to the butt. Injector readout was 240, acurite readout was 215. I did the boil test, 211 boil temp.
So today I cleaned the smoker, put the probe back in on the second rack and turned the temp to 275.
Smoker readout. Acurite readout
115. 116
151. 154
181. 188
210. 211
241. 239
261. 259
275. 270

I hadn't cleaned the smoker before I used it yesterday. Could the factory temp probe being dirty affected the temp reading? This morning I also thought about the amnps. It sits against the left side of the cabinet while the cabinet probe is in the top left corner. Could the smoke and heat off the amnps have risen up the cabinet wall and affected the readout?

Any help and ideas are appreciated.

 

[themule69]

Yes to both questions. It is also probable that you have different temps at different locations on a rack. I would say that you differences are fine for smoking.

Happy smoken.

David

 

[hamrhead1971]

Thanks David. Later on, I need to check the Temps on all four rack levels and maybe each side of the racks. I guess maybe test each while doing a short burn with the amnps also. A 25° difference seems pretty dramatic to me especially in a 30" cabinet.
I had started pricing MES 40 Gen 1 after reading stories about cajun injectors customer service. May still go that route since I found the Gen 1 40" with window for $299.

 

[gary s]

Temp gauges are funny, I check mine pretty regular, a few degrees one way or the other won't make  difference, now it you are talking 10 - 15 or more  that does make a difference. Most smokers have hot spots, (which I like) just figure out these and use it to your advantage

Gary

 

[hamrhead1971]

Yeah, I have read many posts about factory temp readings. And I am still figuring out the ins and outs of my smoker.