Model #2 and Auber PID temp probe

[PapaZebu]

Hello from Nebraska. I was trying to locate a good location for the long Auber PID temp probe that would be in a consistant location and yet be easy to clean as well. Contemplating this over a bottle of Nebraska brewed wine, when my wife said how about the wine cork? I drilled a hole in the cork and drilled two small holes into the top rack flange. One on the top lip of the flange and one high on the back side that touches the smoker wall.  The hole location is more at the back of the smoker than the middle depth of the smoker. Then I just slid a wire through the two holes in the rack and tied the cork to the top of the rack. I put the probe through the cork and then sliped the rack back in place and adjusted the tip of the probe to be in the middle depth of the smoker. This keeps the probe tip away from the wall and the rack and also out of the way of my food. The cork will also insilate itself from the wall and the rack and not transfer unwanted heat temps to the probe.  I'm hoping to auto tune the PID controller and know it will always be in the same place and easy to remove and clean when nessisary. Because of where I drilled the two holes, the grate still has plenty of room to slide in and out of the rack. Don't know if anyone has ever tried this, but it seems it would work like a permanent probe but be easily removeable for cleaning. 

• Tweet
• 

[SuperDave]

Just curious what happens to cork at sustained temps of 250 degrees and more. 

[PapaZebu]

That is what she asked me as well. I am a fish carver by hobby and my burner for scales glows red hot and the cork is not effected. It just gets harder over time. I'm thinking this is only 250F so I'm also thinking wine bottle cork is tight cork that must hold liquid under pressure and should be able to take both temp and vapor without breaking down. Did a medium temp run as high as 225F over night for 6 hours and it looked untouched. Tonight I will auto tune and then I will run up to 250F and see how it reacts over a couple of hours. I'll update how it holds up. If it works, it could be an easy way to lay my other wirless probes on grates without them touching the hot grates or walls.

[SuperDave]

Probe also appears to get shielded by that rack guide lip.  Run a Maverick probe more in the field of the box and see what kind of differences you get. 

[PapaZebu]

Thanks for the advice!
My new Maverick just showed up today so I will test it out for temp consistency and if they differ greatly from each other I will modify the cork hole to be offset so that the probe tip floats more towards unrestricted open air. My main concern are reasonable steady temp swings.  I produce a consistent amount of summer sausage, German sausage and polish sausage and I really want to avoid high temp swings. My old smoker -  I could feel it out most times because I had it over 5 years, but this one I don’t mind getting some help from modern PID technology.  Smokin-it really looks like a quality smoker.
 

[DivotMaker]

Glad to have you with us, James!  Not to sound closed to new ideas, but why try to reinvent the wheel?  Wouldn't getting a wall-mount probe, already insulated properly and tuned for the unit, be an easier solution?  I have wall mounts in 2 smokers, and never remove them for cleaning - just give them a quick wipe with a wet rag, and you're done.  I believe the nylon base, on the wall mounts, is important (won't break down over time), and that the shape/style of the probe is significantly different than the drop in.  I believe this is done for a reason.  This may work fine, but I would recommend calling Auber directly, and running the idea by them.  Suyi is a good guy, and will shoot you straight.

[PapaZebu]

I may at some time end up with a fixed probe. At this point I want to make sure the Auber is a fit for me. I did find that affixing the probe to the rail did seem to block some of the rising temps and in doing so the temps ran a bit lower than my other probes. Moved the cork to the grates and I had very constant reactions to temp control as verified by my other probes. Did notice that my Auber came to me with two meat probes and so Steve is sending me the short cab probe. No worries. He backs his sales. Placed my stainless steel beer canister used for chicken on top of the burner box and had nice vapor in the smoker that ran steady during a six hour run. Kept my feather bones wet and I like using the same canister so that I can know exactly how much water is being vaporized during a run. Did not get enough heat to it with it sitting on the floor but on the box it did work well and it has a very small footprint, so It shouldn't block any rising temps coming from the box. Placed the small stainless steel chicken drip pan inside my main drip pan and it kept me from having to clean the larger drip box, but has plenty of room for overflow if needed. It has a low profile as well so it shouldn't effect the air drafting up the drain hole. No wrong way to smoke as long as you stick with what you like so your results are predictable. I am having fun learning this new smoker and how it reacts. This forum is a great place to read about everyones results and suggestions.

[DivotMaker]

Sounds like you have it about figured-out, James!  You are definitely right!  No "right way/wrong way." just your way!

[Big Red Home Smoker]

Hey James,

Was trolling around the forums and came across your post.  I have a model 3 so we have pretty comparable units.  I also used a cork from a bottle but I ground down a cork from a champagne bottle - (must be a Nebraska thing).  I seem to recall that the wine bottle cork was too small to fit securely between the grate wires on the smoker rack.  I did it just a little differently than you did.  I might have seen this technique in some post last year....can't remember.

I drilled one hole through the cork (roughly the same size as the Auber internal temp probe), and shoved the probe through the cork about 3/4 of the way.

When using the probe, I run the probe wire up the inside of the smoker and out through the vent hole at the top of the smoker to plug it into the Auber.  The cork and probe remain inside the smoker.  I then push the cork straight down through the top grate (between two of the grate wires).  It holds there very nice and the cork has not been impacted yet by the heat of the smoker.  I might someday do the fixed probe but so far this has worked out pretty good.

I tested last year vs. my Maverick and found it to be very accurate.  Nice to meet you!

[PapaZebu]

Nice to meet you as well. Yes must be a Nebraska thing. A corn Cobb would work as well but hey lets not waist a good Cobb when you can grind them down into feed and put the cow in the smoker instead!
Couldn't sleep last night so I put two turkey legs in at 4am and woke up to a dead on steady temp on the Auber, just as I asked it to do. Turnkey legs were a little over temped so infused BBQ sauce with a pressure cooker (1inch of water) for 7 minutes and the meat fell off the bone. My dog enjoyed the smoked skin and I enjoyed smoked turkey and eggs. For those that just fell off their chair at the mention of a pressure cooker, yes there are times when it works to break down turkey or chicken without destroying the meat. I do a lot of canning so yea – probably a check mark in the box for weird things Nebraskan’s do to their food.

[DivotMaker]

Great idea, James!  Turkey legs are so tough, I bet it really helps!