Temperature probes - to clean or not to clean?

darkoozy

darkoozy

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So I was wondering what the rest of the bbq folks do with their temperature probes.

I use both Maverick and BBQ Guru pit probes for every cook. Before each cook, I carefully scrub (with the course side of the sponge) the probes with soap and water until they are shinny clean.

Is this a waste of time? Am I the only only one who goes through the effort, and does it make a difference in measuring temps?
 
When cleaning the probes it is best to avoid water in any manner. The dry sponge or slightly moistened sponge would work.

I find that using an alcohol towelette wipe when the probes are removed from the meat easily removes the food residue because it is still warm, and it sanitizes the probes as well before putting them away.
 
I take a paper towel and start at the jack end and wipe it toward the probe end. While doing this, I make sure there are no kinks or twists in the wire. On the probe I might use a steel wool pad to make it shinny again. A clean probe senses temp better and faster. Then I loosely loop the probes and put them in a zip lock bag with the power units. Never had a prob with original probes. Wipe with alcohol before next use.
 
Pretty much the same as IamMadMan. I use baby wipes (not moisturized) on mine. Haven't had babies in the house for many years, but my wife uses them for cleaning tons of stuff so there is always a box of them handy in the kitchen. I wipe the wires as well to keep from dragging grease and soot all over the kitchen when storing them.
 
For reference, my electronics are a first generation iGrill (maybe 2 years old?) and (more recently) Thermapen. I clean each after every cook. I just use a scotchbright & dish soap making sure to not submerge to probes or let water run down the wire into the probes, then hand dry. I also wipe them down with an alcohol wipe prior to each use. Never had a problem.
 
If you put some high temp rtf sealant over the area where the wire meets the metal probe, then water shouldn't be an issue. The alcohol wipes seem like the best solution if you have them readily available.
 
i like the swabs idea...will give that a shot to minimize water damage
 
I have a spray nozzle saved from an empty cleaning product attached to a bottle of rubbing alcohol. I spray a square of TP, then wipe off the probe to clean and sterilize it.
 
I've had my Maverick for 3 years. After each cook, I clean my probes. I am more concerned with getting the food probe clean and sanitary, but also clean the smoker probe to get an accurate reading. I always reclean them prior to cooking.
 
I use those alcohol wipes for your glasses. You can get a huge box of them at Sam's for less than the cost of a burger, and they work great. If you have any build up on the probes and/or your temp gauges, then you will get erroneous readings. I found this out with my turkey probe on my UDS. It suddenly got to reading weird readings, and upon inspection, I found some gunk had built up on the end of the probe. When I cleaned it off, it returned to correct readings. I now check it before each cook.

Blessings, :pray:
Omar
 
I always give the meat probe a scrubbing with an abrasive pad and some water. I only get the probe end wet. Not where the wire goes into it. Haven't had any problems.
 
I put a high temp heat shrink around where the probe and wire connect. I will put the probe in running water avoiding the sealed area and scrub it with a sos pad. have had the same probes for 5 years now
 
I always clean the T probe as well as I can. Once i had a distaster because the T probe read 40F less than the right T because it was dirty. About the meat probe obviously i have to clean it each time.
 
martyleach said:
I always give the meat probe a scrubbing with an abrasive pad and some water. I only get the probe end wet. Not where the wire goes into it. Haven't had any problems.
Click to expand...

x2. I was told by Maverick the probe is ok to clean, just do not get the end with the wires wet. I clean mine after every cook with a scrubbing pad and they have been fine for years. I have 3 Mavericks. :thumb:
 
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