I posted yesterday asking about inaccurate probe temps, and as I had read across plenty of other posts, everyone said the Traeger probes are just inaccurate.
Today, while setting up a beef jerky smoke, I figured I'd put my own probe on both the main rack and upper rack and compare with the grill's built in probe temperature. What I found, as seen in the first photo, is that the Traeger probe is pretty dead accurate (and has been for the past hour or so) with the temperature of the upper rack (Probe #2). In the second photo, I think the black nub on the wall of the smoker is the built in Traeger probe, which would make sense based on the temperature being bang-on with my top rack probe. So the Traeger probe isn't wrong, it's just accurate for a different area in the smoker.
That being said, when setting temps, should I be going off the Traeger temperature reading or my own probe? For example, if my smoker is set to 225, but my main rack probe reads 260, should I lower the temp on the smoker until my own probe reads 225? Before I learned about all this, I smoked multiple meats based off the temperature readout of the Traeger built-in probe, and the timing was pretty spot on with what the recipes called for. I'm sure I'm over analyzing a bit here, but any feedback would be appreciated!
by 16Off
5 Comments
Hey! It looks like you posted an image!
If this is a photo of one of your cooks, maybe share the recipe and techniques
used, as it’s almost guaranteed one of the first questions you will be asked!
*What seasoning did you use?
*How long did you cook it, and at what temperature?
*Did you use any special tricks or techniques?
Traeger on!
*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/Traeger) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Bro. You’re overthinking it. Go by the internal food temps.. actual smoker temps vary widely. You’re never gonna get an exact consistent temp no matter what you do. What you’ve done already has given you enough of a base idea
I have found I need to set the temp on my 22 one setting above what I need. Don’t know why, but that seems to work best. Trial and error is your friend
My Traeger probe is consistently 15 degrees off.
I think you’re overthinking it, by a lot. I smoke on a charcoal grill and the top vs bottom rack is about 10 degrees difference and it ends up swinging around 15 degrees throughout the cook, sometimes I get spikes if I open the lid. Never had a complaint about my bbq. Just set the traeger temp and monitor like you are and if it’s close, leave it be. Also, I smoke everything at 275