Spent 8 hours chasing a phantom temperature swing on my offset

I was trying to hold 250 degrees and my temp gauge kept bouncing from 225 to 300 for no reason. Turns out a tiny piece of bark was wedged in my probe port the whole time. Has anyone else had a dumb little thing ruin their whole cook?

2 comments

2 Comments

lily_ramirez41d agoMost Upvoted

Eight hours is a bit dramatic for a bark chip in the probe port though. Just means you weren't paying attention to your actual fire management and relied too much on a digital crutch. My first offset had no probe holes at all, just cracked the lid to check temp by hand. Cooked plenty of good brisket that way without chasing some gauge. Might be time to trust your eyes and nose over the electronics once in a while.

lilyfisher1d ago

Gatekeeping barbecue techniques now? People have been using probe ports for years without this being a big deal. Sometimes stuff happens, it's not that deep.