Temp Spike

Seems like when I get to the 7/8hr. range in smoking the temp will spike way up. I'll be cruisin along in the 240/250 range (grill level) using a Remote Check then the temp will climb into the 270/80 even 90s. I've shut the bottom vents,wrapped foil insulation around the charcoal bowl/cooking chamber. All to no avail. The temp remains up,the last time it stayed in the 290s and over the period of an hour dropped to 266. I took the probe out of the WSM and washed the coating of smoke off and stuck it back in the smoker. After a few minutes the temp was holding steady at 226. Anybody have a similar experience? Is it normal to have to clean the probe during a smoke? BTW I always wash the probe, not where the cable goes into it, after every smoke.

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Good Smokin
Dan

Dan
As the cook goes on the meat temp is up and the water level can drop and these two things
can causing the condition your talking about.
I'm not sure what the effect of washing
off the thermo probe and temp drop have with each other. Is this a Polder you are using?
Jim

Dan,

Sometimes I don't trust the Polder.

This week-end towards the end of my session, I stuck it into the brisket. It stayed at 183 for nearly two hours.

I removed it and stuck it in some other spots in the flat and the cap and it continued to measure 183.This can't be!

Frustrated , I removed and reinserted the battery. After doing this, it read varying temps from 188-192. Perfect.

The brisket was my best ever ( 12 hours of TLC ) , but the Polder sure was screwy. I'm glad I did what I did or it may have been overdone.

Just my experience. I'm going to watch it more closely from here on in.

The bottom line , I guess , is that removing and reinserting the battery really speeds up the cooking process ( I thought I'd say it before someone else did).

Steve

This was using a Remote Check termometer. The probe was registering temp at the grill not internal temp of the meat. As the smoking process continues a build up of dark brown residue covers the probe. I'm sure this happens to all probes. When I washed it off the temp registered 40 degress lower. My ques. is can this buildup result in false readings? Have you had this happen to you? Or am I seriously Q challenged?

Good Smokin'
Dan

Dan,

It has not happened to me yet. I wash mine after every cooking session.

I suppose a build up of smoke by products could affect it. With the exception noted above, mine has been pretty consistant.

You may want to check it via the test that Chris has posted on the main page.

Good Luck,

Steve