Question about my smoker temp gauge being way off

I been running my food truck for about a year now and always wondered why my brisket came out dry half the time. Last weekend I finally bought a second probe thermometer from Amazon for 15 bucks. Stuck it in the smoker next to the built in gauge and realized the built one was reading 40 degrees too low the whole time. All those 12 hour overnight cooks at '225' were actually running at like 185. Feels like I wasted a ton of meat and money on bad temps. How many of you have double checked your equipment after getting used to it?

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2 Comments

rayc894mo ago

Your mileage may vary with anything that comes pre-installed, whether it's a smoker gauge, a car's tire pressure monitor, or even the thermometer in your oven. It's wild how often we just trust the factory settings without questioning them, assuming they're accurate. Once you've caught one thing being off, you start wondering what else is quietly throwing everything out of whack.

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jennifer_west524mo ago

Honestly I used to be one of those people who just assumed factory settings were good enough. Like why would they sell you something that’s not calibrated right, you know? But then I got a cheap meat thermometer and it was off by like 15 degrees, and that made me start second guessing everything. Now I realize how much stuff probably gets set at the bare minimum to just pass a test at the factory. Tbh it kind of makes you feel silly for never checking before.

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