How to calibrate meat probes or thermometer

Mike

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A question I've seen being asked in the various groups a lot is how to calibrate your thermometer or meat probes. In this post I'm going to detail the two most popular methods on how to calibrate your thermometer and/or meat probes to ensure you're getting the most accurate reading.

This is also handy if you have the newer Rec Tec Wifi Controller as I've found the meat probes to typically be 10 +/- degrees off than what they are actually reading.

How to calibrate thermometer using Ice Water
  1. First fill a glass with ice cubes then fill with cold water.
  2. Stir the water and sit for 2-3 minutes.
  3. Next, stir again and then insert your thermometer / meat probe into the glass of ice water. (Make sure not to touch the sides of the glass)
  4. The temperature should read 32°F or 0°C.
  5. Record the difference and offset your thermometer or meat probe as needed.

How to calibrate your thermometer using Boiling Water
  1. First bring a pot of distilled water to a boil.
  2. Now, once the water has reaching a rolling boil, insert your thermometer into the water (Make sure not to touch the sides or bottom of the pot)
  3. The temperature on your thermometer should read 212°F or 100°C.
  4. Record the difference and offset your thermometer or meat probe as needed.

There you have it, two very quick and easy ways to calibrate your thermometer to get a more precise temperature measurement.

If you have other methods of calibrating your meat probes or thermometers, please share below!
 
Is there any way to take this information and then correct the built in probe for the Bull 700? I think mine is off about 10 degrees or more.

I feel like having to do the adjustment because the product is faulty is a bit of a pain in the butt. I'm going to call RecTec, but was just curious if it's fixable at my level or not.
 
It depends on the firmware installed on your controller. To know, you'll have to get into your settings and look for this:

Probe Calibration: 3 PrA - The screen will display PrA, the current probe temperature offset degree value will be displayed under. Turning the knob will increase and decrease the value by degree within -15 to 15 degrees.
Probe Calibration: 4 PrB - The screen will display PrB, the current probe temperature offset degree value will be displayed under. Turning the knob will increase and decrease the value by degree within -15 to 15 degrees. Values are degree based not percentage based.

Online Manual:
https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&sou...FjAAegQIARAB&usg=AOvVaw2YHOh5Vs4d_YcrTgoiF0Sv
 
I ran test on both probes and as it turns out they were dead on. My issue turned out to be the actual temperature of the grill rather than what it was set at/stating it was at.

I was able to adjust that using the app calibration and all is good now.
 
Hey @Mike ,

Is there a possibility that a probe could be off a certain amount when in cold and off a different amount when in hot? I have not tested this but just a thought. If so wouln't it be better to use the boiling method then to be as accurate as possible since we are always looking for a hot temp when probing?
 
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Hey @Mike ,

Is there a possibility that a probe could be off a certain amount when in cold and off a different amount when in hot? I have not tested this but just a thought. If so wouln't it be better to use the boiling method then to be as accurate as possible since we are always looking for a hot temp when probing?
Not Mike but in my experience dealing with temp controllers it is possible to be off differently from the cold end to the hot end. Usually this is compensated by using a custom plotted calibration curve. On to your other point, yes I believe it would be better testing the upper end since I won’t be cooking in cold temps.
 
Not Mike but in my experience dealing with temp controllers it is possible to be off differently from the cold end to the hot end. Usually this is compensated by using a custom plotted calibration curve. On to your other point, yes I believe it would be better testing the upper end since I won’t be cooking in cold temps.

Thank you @art425 for the input... it just seemed better to me since we really dont ever start looking at temps untill way over 100 deg so theoretically I don't care what it says at 32 I care about 170-220 range lol
 
I don’t own a Rec Tec (yet), but I’d like to share some info involving calibrating at high temperatures... The boiling point of water decreases by 1°/500’elevation above sea level. Someone living at 2000’ would need to realize that their water boils at 208°. I used to live in the mountains of NM (7500’), and my water boiled at 97° Elevation can make quite a difference if using boiling point of water for calibration.
Ref: https://www.fsis.usda.gov/shared/PDF/High_Altitude_Cooking_and_Food_Safety.pdf
 
I don’t own a Rec Tec (yet), but I’d like to share some info involving calibrating at high temperatures... The boiling point of water decreases by 1°/500’elevation above sea level. Someone living at 2000’ would need to realize that their water boils at 208°. I used to live in the mountains of NM (7500’), and my water boiled at 97° Elevation can make quite a difference if using boiling point of water for calibration.
Ref: https://www.fsis.usda.gov/shared/PDF/High_Altitude_Cooking_and_Food_Safety.pdf
Excellent point and great information to share and to keep in mind. Thank you for sharing it! Also welcome to the forum and hopefully you decide to take the plunge into a Rec Tec.

Me I live in florida....Exactly sea level.....only elevation here is the trash dump and I can promise you....I am not looking to climb it.o_O
 
I don’t own a Rec Tec (yet), but I’d like to share some info involving calibrating at high temperatures... The boiling point of water decreases by 1°/500’elevation above sea level. Someone living at 2000’ would need to realize that their water boils at 208°. I used to live in the mountains of NM (7500’), and my water boiled at 97° Elevation can make quite a difference if using boiling point of water for calibration.
Ref: https://www.fsis.usda.gov/shared/PDF/High_Altitude_Cooking_and_Food_Safety.pdf
It's to this point why the ice water method is a bit better method.

That said, neither is the most scientific approach but will get the job done. If you know your elevation and the boiling point for said elevation than doing both methods might give you a bit better results.

For my needs, I'm just cooking a slab of meat for my own consumption and not looking to win any competitions or solve the worlds problems. Using just the ice water method has worked just fine.
 
Hey guys I’m new to the smoker thing. I have a Rec Tec Rt700 for about 2 weeks and absolutely love it. I’ve smoked a pork butt and brisket (first smokes of my life). Neither one stalled and both finished much faster than they were suppose to finish (according to the timeframes online, etc.). Also when grilling some burgers on the sear kit it never got to 500 after about an hour (Illinois 85 degree day). So this topic sparked my interest.

My question is - is Probe A & B that comes with the Bull an ok temp guideline to set the Bull internal thermometer?? At the Bull 250 - both A&B would hover around 290. Seems logical that maybe for those last two cooks my Bull was hotter by 16% than I was thinking. I adjusted the Bull internal thermometer +16%. I had the probes in the middle of an empty Bull not touching anything. I guess the main question are those meat probes ok to measure the temperature in the smoker??

In a glass of ice water they measure about 41 degrees - they were both close to each other.

Any thoughts would be helpful. I just want to make sure I understand. BTW - with Rec Tec - both those first two cooks were a success!!

Thanks ahead of time!!
 
So alot of us have been messing with these probes and settings. Basically get it as close as you're comfortable with and have fun... If you have a 3rd and 4th probe it's always good to compare them all... In the settings I adjusted (by degrees) my meat probes (A&B) to read exactly 32° in the ice water. (Makes sense because...well, it's 32°)
After doing this, I set them in the middle of the smoker (RT700) in probe holders so they didn't touch the grates.
( As suggested by RecTec) I then had to adjust my internal probe by approx. 10% (you're correct that probe is in percent not degrees) to get it to match , or come very close to the meat probes readings.
I check everything with a third handheld probe I have, and everything is usually 5° or so within each other ...
When using the smoker I've noticed the probes (all 3) read alot differently at times than you'd think they would. But, after alot of observation (and to answer you in a long winded roundabout way) it's because the meat probes seem to be pretty accurate and even an inch can register 10° difference. And that can be in the meat or the chamber its self. So Yes. Yes is the answer in my opinion....
Remember the internal is some kind of multi position multi reading algorithm from RecTec. Makes syncing everything strange at times.
Goodluck sorry to confuse you more...hahaha
 
Thanks. I think I may roll with the 16% change for now. On the next long cook I may put a thermometer in there just to see over several hours. I don’t think I need it exact or whatever just close.
Remember the internal is some kind of multi position multi reading algorithm from RecTec. Makes syncing everything strange at times.

Hopefully my small adjustment won’t mess that algorithm up.

Thanks again.
 
A question I've seen being asked in the various groups a lot is how to calibrate your thermometer or meat probes. In this post I'm going to detail the two most popular methods on how to calibrate your thermometer and/or meat probes to ensure you're getting the most accurate reading.

This is also handy if you have the newer Rec Tec Wifi Controller as I've found the meat probes to typically be 10 +/- degrees off than what they are actually reading.

How to calibrate thermometer using Ice Water
  1. First fill a glass with ice cubes then fill with cold water.
  2. Stir the water and sit for 2-3 minutes.
  3. Next, stir again and then insert your thermometer / meat probe into the glass of ice water. (Make sure not to touch the sides of the glass)
  4. The temperature should read 32°F or 0°C.
  5. Record the difference and offset your thermometer or meat probe as needed.

How to calibrate your thermometer using Boiling Water
  1. First bring a pot of distilled water to a boil.
  2. Now, once the water has reaching a rolling boil, insert your thermometer into the water (Make sure not to touch the sides or bottom of the pot)
  3. The temperature on your thermometer should read 212°F or 100°C.
  4. Record the difference and offset your thermometer or meat probe as needed.

There you have it, two very quick and easy ways to calibrate your thermometer to get a more precise temperature measurement.

If you have other methods of calibrating your meat probes or thermometers, please share below!
ThermoWorks sells a great product to use the right amount of ice and cold water to get your probes spot on. I calibrate mine before every cook I use the probes on
 
I ran test on both probes and as it turns out they were dead on. My issue turned out to be the actual temperature of the grill rather than what it was set at/stating it was at.

I was able to adjust that using the app calibration and all is good now.
All three of my probes were dead on, and by that I mean within one degree after about ten minutes of reaching the setpoint and letting things settle in. I think this is an important step before proclaiming that there is a problem. Let your grill get up to temperature and give it time to even out before you get worried and start to make unnecessary adjustments .
 

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