Should have purchased a Brunswick bowling ball instead???

[Winger69]

I have had my PB Brunswick smoker for a few weeks now. Initially Ihad a great deal of trouble removing the clean out tray. When I sought helpI was told that it can be very difficult to remove ant that it was ok to force it open. Using a screw driver as a lever assist I was finally able to get it out. The tray was overflowing but I emptied it and subsequent clean out have been a little easier but still requiring a fair amount of strength.
After several more successful smokes, the smoker is now not getting up to temp even though the smoker shows the appropriate temp on the control panel. Latest example was a 5 lb chicken on for seventy minutes at 220 degrees was just slightly warm to the touch (I easily picked it up with my bare hands And ended up cooking it on my Weber).
today I turned it on and put the probe in the empty smoker on a piece of wood so it would not touch the grates and set the smoker to 220 degrees. The probe registered the internal temp at 190 while the smoker read 222.
Any thoughts on how to keep me off the bowling alley!
thanx in advance.

 

[Mike From R.I.]

I'd call Pit Boss Tech Support 877 303 3134 option 2 they are open 7 days a week. PB probes have been known to be off around 50 deg.
Did to check the temperature with another thermometer?

 

[Winger69]

Thanx - I will call Pit Boss. Checked using three other thermometers and they were all 30-50 degrees below temp. I just don’t know how well they work in air as opposed to being inserted to meet or other foods.
W

 

[Mike From R.I.]

Let us know how you made out.

 

[Dan-H]

Thanx - I will call Pit Boss. Checked using three other thermometers and they were all 30-50 degrees below temp. I just don’t know how well they work in air as opposed to being inserted to meet or other foods.
W

TL;DR -- Learn your grill, but don't trust the pitboss probes <edit> both meat and grill temp.

I bought a thermoworks smoke just after Christmas and I was shocked how far off my thermometers were.

note: plural thermometers...

My fairly new Kitchenaid double wall ovens were off 30 degrees upper, 20 degrees lower. both were low.
My BGE dome vs grate was 25 to 30 degrees off - grate lower than dome
- I attached a probe to the BGE dome thermometer and they were within 5 degrees, but my meat cooks on a grate not up in the dome.
my weber E330, read about 30 degrees high. I don't really care since I don't use it for "temp" cooking. Its a gas grill for direct heat.
my weber silver B was within 5 degrees which is good as I use it for rotiserrie.

now, on to my PB pro 820...
Last year I gave up on the PB meat probes as they were way off compared to measuring temps with a thermapen classic, and I'll be candid, I trust the temps on the thermapen as I've tested it in several times in different ways. It is dead on accurate..

However, I was shocked to find the dial gauge on the PB pro 820 lid was spot-on. I mean within a couple of degrees. Shocked because it never matched the digital temp on the PB 820 panel.

So, turns out the digital control was way off the mark. Usually too low, and often 30 to 40 degrees too low, meaning when the PB thinks it is at 200, it is really 230 or 240. So, I've given up on using the temp settings an only use the P-smoke settings. My grill has "P smoke" settings which are time based, meaning the auger turns for X seconds every Y seconds. I'd have to read the manual to remember.

I have two temp probes for the TW smoke, and I place one on the left and one on the right. heat the grill, get everything hot, then set it to P7, the lowest setting and open the lid.

I let it get down to 170 or so (using the TW smoke probes), then close the lid and try to get the temp to stabilize. Its been really hot lately so getting temps below 180 or 190 is tough, but once the temp settles in with the lid closed on P7, I notch it up to P6 or P5 until my thermoworks temp probes tell me I've reached my target temp.

The pitboss temps are never, I mean never right. Sometimes too high, sometimes too low, but usually too low which sucks as it leads to hotter cooks and less smoke.

So, my advice... get a better thermometer, calibrate it and trust it over the built-in stuff on anything.

 

[Mike From R.I.]

TL;DR -- Learn your grill, but don't trust the pitboss probes.

I bought a thermoworks smoke just after Christmas and I was shocked how far off my thermometers were.

note: plural thermometers...

My fairly new Kitchenaid double wall ovens were off 30 degrees upper, 20 degrees lower. both were low.
My BGE dome vs grate was 25 to 30 degrees off - grate lower than dome
- I attached a probe to the BGE dome thermometer and they were within 5 degrees, but my meat cooks on a grate not up in the dome.
my weber E330, read about 30 degrees high. I don't really care since I don't use it for "temp" cooking. Its a gas grill for direct heat.
my weber silver B was within 5 degrees which is good as I use it for rotiserrie.

now, on to my PB pro 820...
Last year I gave up on the PB meat probes as they were way off compared to measuring temps with a thermapen classic, and I'll be candid, I trust the temps on the thermapen as I've tested it in several times in different ways. It is dead on accurate..

However, I was shocked to find the dial gauge on the PB pro 820 lid was spot-on. I mean within a couple of degrees. Shocked because it never matched the digital temp on the PB 820 panel.

So, turns out the digital control was way off the mark. Usually too low, and often 30 to 40 degrees too low, meaning when the PB thinks it is at 200, it is really 230 or 240. So, I've given up on using the temp settings an only use the P-smoke settings. My grill has "P smoke" settings which are time based, meaning the auger turns for X seconds every Y seconds. I'd have to read the manual to remember.

I have two temp probes for the TW smoke, and I place one on the left and one on the right. heat the grill, get everything hot, then set it to P7, the lowest setting and open the lid.

I let it get down to 170 or so (using the TW smoke probes), then close the lid and try to get the temp to stabilize. Its been really hot lately so getting temps below 180 or 190 is tough, but once the temp settles in with the lid closed on P7, I notch it up to P6 or P5 until my thermoworks temp probes tell me I've reached my target temp.

The pitboss temps are never, I mean never right. Sometimes too high, sometimes too low, but usually too low which sucks as it leads to hotter cooks and less smoke.

So, my advice... get a better thermometer, calibrate it and trust it over the built-in stuff on anything.

I use a Thermopro 20 which is dead on and I double check it with my digital meat thermometer. PB probes are terrible.