Got my smoker reading all wrong at a comp in Memphis last month

I set up my offset at a competition in Memphis last month and trusted my dome thermometer like always. Turns out it was off by 40 degrees the whole time, so my brisket came out way undercooked. A pitmaster from the next stall over lent me a probe thermometer and showed me how to check it near the grate. Now I'm wondering if I should just buy a wireless setup or stick with a wired one. Has anyone else had a dome thermometer mess up their cook like this?

3 comments

3 Comments

faith68412d ago

Did you have a chance to check the grate temp with a probe before the cook? My dome thermometer was off by 30 degrees once and it ruined my first comp brisket. I switched to a wired probe system after that and honestly it saved my sanity. You just stick the probe near the meat and you get a real reading of what's happening around the food. The wireless ones are nice but I like being able to see the temp on the unit without having to pair my phone every time. Plus wired ones are cheaper and you don't have to worry about batteries dying mid-cook. What kind of offset are you running?

the_matthew12d ago

...and that's exactly what happened to my buddy Tom at his first comp last spring. He had this fancy offset he'd saved up for months to buy, and he was so proud of it. Day of the cook, he checks the dome thermometer like a good boy, sees it holding steady at 250, and throws his brisket on. Six hours later he pulls it and the thing is tough as shoe leather. He was about to scrap the whole hobby when someone at the next tent over asked if he'd checked his grate temp. Tom didn't even know that was a thing, you know? He ran out and bought a wired probe that same afternoon, and after that his cooks got way better. He still jokes about that first brisket - calls it his "expensive lesson" when really it was just a cheap thermometer lying to him.

dylanmurray12d ago

Yeah, totally agree on checking the grate temp with a probe first, @faith684. That dome thermometer lie is real, lol. I had a similar wake up call when my brisket came out dry and I realized the dome was reading 275 but the grate was barely 240. Switched to a wired setup too, like you said, and it's way more reliable. I run a Lang 84 and those things can have wild temp swings if you don't keep an eye on the actual cooking surface. I still use the dome for a rough idea but I don't trust it for anything important.