Probe temps are WAY off.

[Seth40K]

So I have a Century 885 D2 and am having issues with the plug in probes. The temps are way off. I mean the meat is still cold to the touch but the probe is reading 120 degrees... I bought more probes thinking the probe I had is bad but all 3 of the probes are doing the same thing...

 

[traeger860]

Did you calibrate them?

 

[RayClem]

Welcome to the Traeger world. The probes are notorously inaccurate. Yes, you can calibrate them using an ice/water bath at 32 F/0C, but that data point is useless for cooking. What you really need is a probe that is accurate between 120-205F.

I used the internal meat probe on my Ironwood a couple of times, but have not plugged it in since. You can use it to monitor the cook, but get yourself a good instant read meat thermometer for monitoring the final temperature of your cook.

The most highly recommended meat thermometer is the ThermoWorks ThermaPen. It is widely used by professional chefs in restaurants. However, it sells for $109. If that is a little steep for your budget, there are other brands such as ThermoPro that are quite serviceable, but cost less and might not be appropriate for daily use in a professional kitchen. An instant read thermometer would make a great stocking stuffer for Christmas.

Two things to look for are accuracy of +/- 1 degree F and a read time of less than 3 seconds. If you get a probe that takes 10 seconds to read, you will get frustrated trying to probe multiple pieces of protein.

You can also get remote temperature probes that will allow you to monitor you cook from your cell phone.

 

[Shedd]

Yeah i haven’t had much luck with Traeger probes but they seem to be closer if you calibrate them before each cook. If you use smoke tubes keep them away from the side of the meat the probe is inserted as well as from the pit temp probe.