Caring for Your Smoke

Caring for your Smoke dual-channel thermometer

The Smoke^TM dual-channel probe thermometer was designed for competition BBQ teams and culinary professionals, so it should have no problem giving the home cook years of use. Follow this guide of do’s and don’t-s to keep your Smoke in good shape!

Follow the instructions

Take a look at your included user manual to learn how to use and handle your Smoke. Not only can it help you learn to become a Smoke master, but it also includes a convenient meat-and-other-food- temperature chart, which will help you achieve pro-level results every time you cook. (You can download printer-friendly copies of the Smoke and Receiver user’s manuals.)

When to use your Smoke

The Smoke is meant for tracking temp over time in moderate-heat environments. It is not meant to replace an instant-read thermometer, and is not meant for very-high-heat cooking (like broiling or grilling).
The smoke excels at tasks that include:

• Barbecue smoking
• Baking/oven roasting
• Sous vide cooking
• Deep frying
• Homebrewing

 To keep your Smoke in top working order:

X DON’T

• …attach the probes directly to the rack. Use a clip to avoid damage to the probe, transition and cable.
• …put the probe (or the Smoke!) in the dishwasher or submerge the entire probe. Water can leak in and damage the probe.
• …attach the thermometer body directly to the grill’s lid. The magnets make it seem convenient, but the heat can ruin the electronics and even melt the body.
• …pinch the cable between two hot surfaces (like a cast-metal hood on your grill). If there’s no notch in your grill lid for a cable, use some kind of insulation to keep it safe.
• …ever put the thermometer unit in the oven or smoker. The cables, probes, and transitions—when used correctly in food—are made for that heat, but the electronics are not.

✔︎ DO

• …use a Pro Series^® Grate Clip to keep your air probe properly suspended above the grate.
• …clean the probes with a damp cloth and kitchen cleaner after each use to avoid cross-contamination.
• …keep the LCD display on the Smoke and the Receiver out of direct sunlight, which can cause it long-term damage.
• …store your Pro-Series probes kink-free, either wrapped and coiled neatly or hung loosely. Don’t wrap and pull them tight.

Thermal range and your Smoke

Though the names for them are used interchangeably by many, barbecuing and grilling are different. Barbecuing is a low-heat, long-time cooking method usually hovering in the 225°-300°F(107°-149°C) range, but grilling is a high-heat, short-time method with temperatures often in the 500°F(260°C) range, with temperature spikes up to 3000°F(1649°C). The probes and housings can’t take those kinds of temperatures:

Storage

Once you try it out, you will probably want to use your ChefAlarm for almost everything you make, but if you do ever have to put it away, be sure to clean it properly first. This extends your thermometer’s life and will prevent cross-contamination through the spread of bacteria.

Store the Pro-Series probes loosely, with no kinks in the cables. Don’t wrap it around the Smoke housing, as it often pulls the cable tight and stresses it, leading to damage. Coil them carefully and put it somewhere safe (we recommend the Zippered Storage Case). 

Probe choice

Smoke comes with a 6” Pro-Series High Temp Cooking Probe and a Pro-Series High Temp Air Probe & Grate Clip, which combine to make a perfect barbecuing system: a probe for the meat to tell when it’s done and a probe for the air to tell when to add more wood or adjust your vents. But it can do so much more than just barbecue! And with our wide variety of Pro-Series probes, you can explore new uses for temperature control beyond the smoker.

➤Air Probe with Grate Clip
Use this in the home to verify your oven’s accuracy.

➤High Temp 12-inch Probe
Use the Pro-Series^® High Temp Probe for big cuts of meat, like a prime rib roast, for tracking oil temp when deep frying, or for keeping track of your wort pots when home brewing.

➤Waterproof Needle Probe
The Pro-Series^® Waterproof Needle Probe is great for doing sous vide cooking, since it can be submerged in water. But it’s also great for thawing a turkey at Thanksgiving!

➤Customer Care and Tech Support
Sometimes bad things happen to good thermometers. That’s why we offer excellent Customer Care and Tech Support. Give us a call or an email and we’ll connect you directly with a knowledgeable staff member who will be happy to help you with your problem. Our Tech Support crew is highly skilled and can repair almost any problem with the Smoke.

In Conclusion,

The Smoke is an amazing tool for many kitchen and home uses, but it is not for every use. Use it as a leave-in probe, not an instant-read thermometer. Take care of those probes by not kinking or straining the cables. Clean and store your Smoke properly and you will get years of high-accuracy, versatile use out of it!

➤P.S. Don’t forget to check out the Wi-Fi bridge for Smoke: Gateway. It lets you monitor your cook from anywhere with your smartphone or device and the free app!