Thermometer accuracy?

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redstripe101

Newbie
Original poster
Jan 11, 2014
18
10
I have a ME pro, model number 20070612. I have numerous other thermometers but my smoking gadget is a char griller, I float one on the rack my meat is on and another in the meat itself. This has a second wireless set I carry around the house to view BBQ and meat temps.
I've never relied on grill temps but can't believe how off the 2 are. Right now my thermometer says 234, while the built in one says 170. Makes me 2nd guess my store bought one.

What gives?
 
Last edited:
Hey, what smoker ya have ? We'll get stuff figured out for ya !

So what smoker & therm ya using ?
 
Ok, I looked up your smoker.... I haven't had any experience with your particular smoker but I do have a MES 30 which is kinda comparable ! First thing is the stock therms in these units are NOT even close to being accurate. If you have a wireless therm set & have done a boiling water test with the probes & they are accurate.,, that is the therm ya will wanna count on. Do not count on the stock therm.... My MES 30 temps can be off by as much as 30+ degrees. I have a Maverick ET-732 therm as well as an igrill2 that I keep track of the temp with, both smoker temp as well as meat IT !
 
Ok, good to know. I've never compared the two until tonight. I did the oven test with my others and they are good to go. Maybe I should just put tape over it so it doesn't make me guess myself. I appreciate the help.
 
Yes, factory thermometer tend to be off. My MES 30 tends to read 10-15* higher than my maverick 733. So I set the smoker to 235-240 to maintain a 220-25* temp.
 
Woke up this morning, pork seems fine. It's sitting at 160, and the smoker held a 130-140 temp. I think I'm at the "Texas crutch" for pork, buy it's early.

How do I add pictures? I tried but it doesn't actually embed it.
 
If your smoker temp is down in the 130-140* range, you'll wanna get the temp up.... That's not a safe temp to smoke at. Did you mean 230-240* ?

As far as pics, I have iPad & iPhone.... I click on the little mountain icon up above, then click upload, choose the pics I want to post & hit submit !
 
I'm sorry, I meant 230-240, dang. Trying to type on phone and uploading pictures. Sorry about that
 
No prob man, I can't type well on my phone... I use the iPad 99.9% of the time for that exact reason.... So completely understand !

Lookin forward to seeing your smoke, what kind of phone ya have ?
 
I have Galaxy Note 4. Tried the upload thing and it says 'embedding image' but nothing shows up when I post. Might jump on the pc after a while.
 
Yea I saw that, not much help on phone. I'll jump on the pc later, just trying to get slaw done and trying new sauce recipes. Thanks anyway.
 
No prob, last thing I can suggest is in another thread a guy was having the same problem & someone suggested to him to use Tapatalk... He did not respond as to whether it worked or not, but I know a bunch of folks on here use it.... May have to with them phones, not sure.... But here's the link if ya wanna give it a try !

https://tapatalk.com/
 
Nah, I tried that app and don't like the permissions it requires.

On a side note, do you ever have issues with temp spikes with your ME? It's been holding at 230 plus or minus 8 and then issues noticed it at 256, so issues cut the dial down and it still rose, cut it down more and it's finally back to 239. Internal is at 176 so issues it something to do with moisture and can I expect it on long smokes?
 
Pork looks excellent although the process to get it there might have been a bit stressful. I own a MES 30 Gen 1 and, yes, I get temp swings all the time with it. My contention is that it all averages out to my chosen set point anyway. For tracking ambient temp and IT of the meat I use the Maverick ET-733 but it's a love/hate relationship. It's a great and accurate therm but they made it over complicated to program. So, programming's a hassle but after it's set up it's really easy to use. However, it doesn't have to be programmed to use it; you can just turn on both units, put the probes where you want them, and it will display the temps. You can track the smoke that way. Choosing a BBQ mode as to the type of meat and the target IT to be notified when it's been reached is a personal choice, just as it is with setting alarm notifications when the smoker temp hits either the lowest or highest preset temps.
 
This is the first time I put something on to smoke and went to bed. The char grilled thermometer I got is simple, I can set low and high temp alarms for the smoker and meat. I put it in around midnight and slept in to about 930 and saw I still had a 234 temp, so I was happy. The biggest change this smoke was no peeking or spritz. I guess that's why I noticed the temperature since I couldn't look at the meat lol. I pulled it at 195 and wrapped it in foil and placed in cooler, then an hour away from eating in pulled from cooler and set in tray in pulled it in. I think next time I'll try going to 200 only to see difference. Other than that the sauce I made was the best batch yet and I'll definitely be using only apple wood for now. Great bark and great taste.
 
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