What's new
THE BBQ BRETHREN FORUMS

Welcome to The BBQ Brethren Community. Register a free account today to become a member and see all our content. Once signed in, you'll be able to participate on this site by adding your own topics and posts, as well as connect with other members through your own private inbox!

Can a Thermapen be accurate in an ice bath but off at other temps?

TTNuge

TTNuge

Full Fledged Farker
Joined
Nov 22, 2011
Location
Waconia, MN
I tested both in the same ice bath and temps were within a degree of each other for the most part. Seemed like the newer TP was a little more sluggish than the other. Sorry no pics. Haven't done a test in boiling water either which will obviously be needed.

But no matter where I probed my breasts I was always getting a higher temp with the new one. I would switch places with the TP's and try and go in the same holes but the newer TP would always be higher.

IMG_4227-vi.jpg


Other than a boiling water test and maybe another ice bath test with pictures is there anything else I should try before contacting Thermoworks?

BTW, I love my Thermapen(s), not looking to bash but looking for the best way to determine what is wrong and perhaps which one is wrong.
 
Test them again. If it's still consistently off from where you think it should be Thermoworks will recalibrate it for you.
 
They're begging to be tested in boiling water. If what you post is accurate, I would expect a fail. However, agreeing at freezing and boiling still does not mean it is accurate in between. One could have a nonlinear response. It is entirely possible for them to be calibrated at 0 and 212 perfectly and still be wrong everywhere else. That could indicate a more serious flaw.

You can get big temperature differences in foods, but there are reasons (bones, fat deposits, etc.). If your chicken has rested, temps stabilize. The point you make of switching positions and getting similar discrepancies, but from the different holes (same therms) tells me 99% that one is farked up. What I find amazing is that one of the therms appears to be a good 15 degrees off, but you still love your thermopens. If my therm was off 15 degrees and I ended up with a well done steak instead of medium rare, I'd probably take a hammer to it. :becky:
 
A Thermopen is a scientific instrument and is very accurate when testing a homogenous substance. Unfortunately meat is not homogenous. Because meat is cellular material which has areas of different water content it is very easy to get different readings in different areas of meat. This is especially so when measuring a steak or chicken breast which is not uniform in thickness. For this reason when measuring a steak I always use the highest reading when probed at different areas. Using the highest reading on a steak insures me of not over cooking the steak. For chicken I probe until all areas are over 155* and at times the breast will be 175-180 in the thinner portions. Good Luck. Remember BBQ is heavy on Art while Baking is heavy on Science. Also remember all meat will go through a "stall". It just happens quicker with thinner cuts of meat.
 
Gore said:
What I find amazing is that one of the therms appears to be a good 15 degrees off, but you still love your thermopens. If my therm was off 15 degrees and I ended up with a well done steak instead of medium rare, I'd probably take a hammer to it. :becky:
Click to expand...

Even the best of the best can have issues. It's how the company responds and handles an issue once brought to their attention that makes the difference. I didn't want this thread to turn into another bashfest or lovefest. I just want some honest opinions and information on how to best test things and determine if there is a problem. At this point I don't know if one is reading 15 degrees high or the other 15 degrees low or none of the above.
 
A simple experiment would be to test water as you slowly heat it to a boil. Idealy if you could set up a rig where you could suspend both TP's in the water and monitor the temps as water heated.
 
If you're looking to test in a linear fashion you could set them both in a ice bath in a pot on the stove. Then turn on the heat and bring the bath up to a boil. See where along the line they start to differentiate.
 
The two thermapens are not in the same place in the meat. Stick them in the same hole in the meat or just set them next to each other and read the air temp.
 
bigabyte said:
Is that CD's Thermapen?
Click to expand...

What? Who? Me? No, I didn't. Honest... I ran out of gas. I... I had a flat tire. I didn't have enough money for cab fare. My tux didn't come back from the cleaners. An old friend came in from out of town. Someone stole my car. There was an earthquake. A terrible flood. Locusts! IT WASN'T MY FAULT, I SWEAR TO GOD!

CD
 
Gore said:
They're begging to be tested in boiling water. If what you post is accurate, I would expect a fail. However, agreeing at freezing and boiling still does not mean it is accurate in between. One could have a nonlinear response. It is entirely possible for them to be calibrated at 0 and 212 perfectly and still be wrong everywhere else. That could indicate a more serious flaw.

You can get big temperature differences in foods, but there are reasons (bones, fat deposits, etc.). If your chicken has rested, temps stabilize. The point you make of switching positions and getting similar discrepancies, but from the different holes (same therms) tells me 99% that one is farked up. What I find amazing is that one of the therms appears to be a good 15 degrees off, but you still love your thermopens. If my therm was off 15 degrees and I ended up with a well done steak instead of medium rare, I'd probably take a hammer to it. :becky:
Click to expand...

I have been told by someone I trust that the newer Thermapen was tested in both an ice bath and boiling water, and was pretty accurate in both tests.

CD
 
NorthwestBBQ said:
The two thermapens are not in the same place in the meat. Stick them in the same hole in the meat or just set them next to each other and read the air temp.
Click to expand...

I believe he probed various parts of the chicken with both, and the 15 degree variance was pretty consistent. It seems like they should switch back in forth if meat temperature variations were the issue.

CD
 
caseydog said:
What? Who? Me? No, I didn't. Honest... I ran out of gas. I... I had a flat tire. I didn't have enough money for cab fare. My tux didn't come back from the cleaners. An old friend came in from out of town. Someone stole my car. There was an earthquake. A terrible flood. Locusts! IT WASN'T MY FAULT, I SWEAR TO GOD!

CD
Click to expand...

Bailiff! WHACK HIS PEE PEE!
 
caseydog said:
What? Who? Me? No, I didn't. Honest... I ran out of gas. I... I had a flat tire. I didn't have enough money for cab fare. My tux didn't come back from the cleaners. An old friend came in from out of town. Someone stole my car. There was an earthquake. A terrible flood. Locusts! IT WASN'T MY FAULT, I SWEAR TO GOD!

CD
Click to expand...

Has Thermapen jumped the shark? :p
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

P
Can my ET732 be off by 14 degrees at 212 ?
2
Replies
32
Views
3K
5-0 BBQ
5-0 BBQ
Back
Top