Smoke, fire, time and temperature. Essential ingredients of great barbecue. Once you have mastered the “how to” of smoke and fire management in your barbeque pit you need to understand temperature. Too high of a temperature and your food cooks too quickly. You’ll wind up not getting the fall apart tenderness that is a hallmark of great barbeque. Too low of a temperature and you’ll be in for an extended cooking time. So, how do you keep an eye on temperature? With a thermometer.
Thermometer Location is Critical
Most mass-produced barbeque pits locate their thermometers in the lid of the barbeque. This is a faulty design assumption for a number of reasons. First, the cooking grate is many inches below where the thermometer is located. So we don’t know the temperature the food is cooking. Second, heat rises so the temperature at the built-in thermometer will be hotter than the temperature at the cooking grate. This could cause you to build a smaller fire than needed and take longer to cook.
A Wireless Thermometer Adds Convenience
You can rely on thermometers attached to the barbeque pit or, hand held ones that you can use to check the temps. But, do you really want to be outside in the rain/cold/extreme heat babysitting your temps? Granted, some of the experience of barbeque is sitting outside with a cup of coffee in the early morning as the pit comes up to temp. As the sun rises and crests overhead you switch to a beer. And as the sun sets and you gather for dinner you switch to some whiskey. But, not every day is good for that. For those less than ideal days, a remote thermometer is a major help.
Minding Your Barbeque Temperature
To really know the operating temperature of your barbeque pit, measure it at the same level as the food. This would be at the cooking grate. In the picture above, I am using a different clip to attach my Thermopro TP-08 thermometer to the cooking grate. I couldn’t get the probe clip supplied by Thermopro in the box to attach to the grate. So, I switched to the BBQ Butler Meat Thermometer Probe Clip. The BBQ Butler probe clip sits in the opening between two cooking grate bars. The Thermopro TP-08 probe slides right into the BBQ Butler probe clip. No problem. Now, I’ll know the pit’s temperature wherever I may roam around my house.
A Backlight is a Major Plus Early Morning or Late Evening
Whether you are cooking in the early morning or, through a late evening, a remote thermometer with a backlight is an added plus. The red backlight of the Thermopro TP-08 Wireless Remote Dual Probe Thermometer is easy on the eyes in the dark and helps you maintain your vision in the dark. This was a nice feature of this thermometer. There is many an early morning or, overnight cook that I would want to know the temps and the red backlight helps me keep my “night eyes”.
Food Probe: Food Temperature is Critical
Another essential part of barbeque food management is the temperature of the food. The temperature of the food is how you know when your food is done. Without a food probe, you could over cook or, under cook your food.
What’s In the Box? Thermopro TP-08 Wireless Remote Dual Probe Thermometer
In the box of the Thermopro TP-08 Wireless Remote Dual Probe Thermometer are the following
- Transmitter unit
- Receiver unit
- Food temperature probe
- Barbeque temperature probe
- Probe clip
- Instructions
- Batteries
What I Liked About the Thermopro TP-08 Wireless Remote Dual Probe Thermometer
My previous wireless thermometers needed to be re-synched to each other every time I used them. With this Thermopro, you synch once and from then on whenever you apply power the base unit and receiver connect. This is was a welcomed change.
The Bottom Line? Buy or, Not?
After a few runs including pork butt, brisket, turkey, chicken and a rack of ribs, I would definitely recommend this wireless thermometer.
Alternatives to Using a Wireless Dual Probe Digital Thermometer for your Barbeque Grill
Of course, a dual probe digital thermometer isn’t the only way to go. You can also measure temperature using a combination of a handheld instant read digital thermometer like this one
and keep an eye the cooking chamber with this digital thermometer.
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