Remote thermometers

[fdn1]

I recently cooked the Thanksgiving turkey in my Pompeii oven and it turned out extremely well. Darting out to check the temperature of the turkey over the five hour cooking period, however, was unpleasant due to considerable heavy rain and high winds.

I am contemplating purchasing a ?remote thermometer" -the temperature probe is placed inside the object, e.g. a turkey while it is cooking in the oven and the temperature reading from the probe is broadcasted wirelessly to a digital display at a distant location?

I was wondering if anyone would be willing to share their experience with such devices. What brand did you purchase? How well did it work? How accurate was it? Does it continue to function properly after a decent amount of time? Do you think it was worth the expense?
Thanks

[tommy5]

my mother bought me that one that talks from brookstone, it works great, it costs 75 dollars so i would not have paid that on my own.

[Marcel]

Does a remote thermometer show a high enough Temp.?

(M) Hi, Fred,

Long time no postings from you.

(M) I have zero experience with remote thermometers so I can only posit a question: How high a temperature does a remote show?

(M) If it only shows the cooking range of a standard oven, e.g. to about 550F., will that be useful enough for you for making pizza? On the other hand, if cooking pizza in a brick oven is done at 700+ degrees F., and that in less than 2 Min., perhaps you wouldn't even have time to walk back to the house to check your digital.

Chow,

(M)

[jengineer]

Marcel

I think Fred is going to use the remote for Roasting rather than a 90 second pizza. The complaint is having to walk out into the elements to check the temperature of a 20 pound Prime Rib or a 15 pound Turkey. The type of thermometer is one that you jamb into the the middle of the meat. When it hits say 220 F you know it is done. Back in the day the turkeys came with a plastic thermometer of sorts. When the bird was done a plastic deelie-whopper (technical term) would pop up signifying that it was cooked.

Ther other solution would be to build a covered walkway with removable side walls for the summer months.

[dmun]

When the bird was done a plastic deelie-whopper (technical term) would pop up.

Those pop ups are calibrated by the supermarket liability lawyers. If you actually cook one until it pops up, the turkey will resemble an exhibit in the natural history museum.

On a related question, can you judge how done a roast is with an infrared thermometer, aimed at the outside of the roast?

[maver]

star wars

On a related question, can you judge how done a roast is with an infrared thermometer, aimed at the outside of the roast?

Infrared thermometers take a surface temperature. If you want to measure the relevant core temperature you need one with an attached laser (these are usually higher end models) that can bore a hole to the core where the infrared thermometer then reads the temperature - hold it in exactly the same place for a few minutes to allow the searing of the laser to reach the same temperature as the rest of the core.

Ok, seriously, I would expect the outside temperature of your roast may have some correlation with the inside temperature, but unless you are roasting at constant uniform temperature with exactly the same size/shape homogenous roast you really need a temperature probe in the meat. I have seen a remote probe in use (successfully) once, and I cannot comment on brand (I don't recall which).

I have not done much roasting in my brick oven, but I am planning a turkey for Christmas (we're never home for Thanksgiving). I'm planning on roasting the turkey with a low fire or coals to maintain the temperature - my first/last attempt at poultry in the oven was with no coals or fire in an oven that was not fully cured - the chicken did not brown. I'll use a remote thermometer but will be placing wood in the oven periodically anyhow. When roasting you can estimate done time by graphing on a time/temp graph if you are not near the oven all the time. I bought a couple $6 electric thermometers with a roughly 3' wire probe when I was at Ikea last week, hopefully they work ok.

[fdn1]

Roasting a turkey in a Pompeii oven

Dmun
If you are planning on roasting a turkey for Christmas in your Pompeii oven I would recommend finding the postings in the archeives on the subject. The one by Jim (Hatch I beleive) on the subject is especially helpful. Look for the posting entitled Thanksgiving turkey 03-21-2005, 07:15 AM.

I followed the approach outlined by Jim and it worked very well. I fired the oven for about 2 hours prior to placing the 20 pound turkey inside of it to store a sufficient amount of heat in the masonary. It took about 5 hours before the internal temperature between the breast and leg reached the desired temperature.

My turkey did brown slightly but that probably was because I put the turkey in when the oven was too hot. The end product was still exceptionally moist.

I have been commissioned to repeat the process for Christmas. I posted the query on the remote thermometer in case the weather is nasty once again.

[CanuckJim]

Thermometers

Guys,

I have use a "Original Super-Fast Thermapen 5 Thermometer" that reads from -58 to 572F. Super fast is just what it is. It'll read the internal temp of a bread from an ambient temperature of 70F to 205F in about three seconds. I use it for everything, including meats. True, it's not remote, but it sure works. Got it from the Baker's Catalogue at King Arthur Flour. I think joengineer took a pic or two of it in use when he was here.

Jim

[arevalo53anos]

Cheapest solution?

Fdn1:

Just to try answering your original question, I did a ?Google? search by ?remote thermometers?
There are a lot of these, including an inexpensive ($50) two channel BBQ one, that shows the temperature indication in a 100 ft remote unit.
In our work we use professional equipment with high sample rate and telemetry signal transmitters. However I am supposing that the above one is the best practical solution.
By the other way, if you have an installed thermocouple in your oven with a local indicator (many of us do), a different solution could be to use an IP camera, sending this signal from the router to your computer.
Long distance from technical solution, could be a binocular the cheapest solution?
Just thinking around?

Luis

[jengineer]

Quick Response ThermoMeter

I have reposted the three photos in the photo gallery (jengineer)

http://www.fornobravo.com/forum/phot...index.php?n=82

http://www.fornobravo.com/forum/phot...index.php?n=81

[fdn1]

Fdn1:

Just to try answering your original question, I did a ?Google? search by ?remote thermometers?
There are a lot of these, including an inexpensive ($50) two channel BBQ one, that shows the temperature indication in a 100 ft remote unit.
In our work we use professional equipment with high sample rate and telemetry signal transmitters. However I am supposing that the above one is the best practical solution.
By the other way, if you have an installed thermocouple in your oven with a local indicator (many of us do), a different solution could be to use an IP camera, sending this signal from the router to your computer.
Long distance from technical solution, could be a binocular the cheapest solution?
Just thinking around?

Luis

Luis
Thank you for your effort. I probably was not clear enough in my original request for information. I had conducted a successful search for remote thermometers to check the internal temperature of meat while it is cooking in the oven prior to posting. (I do not think thermocouples embedded in the masonary would provide an accurate indication of the internal temperature of meat while it is coking in the oven.) I was soliciting input from forum members on their experience in using them in terms of their accuracy, durability, etc.. I assume from the responses that not many members have used remote thermometers for cooking purposes.

[christo]

remote thermometer

Hi Fred!

I love my remote oven/BBQ thermometer.

It has a readout box with stainless steel braided wire leading to a probe. Lenght of cable is about 3 feet.

The remote box reads the temp about 50 feet away. Never tried it further.

Nice thing about mine, is that you can set the temperature and it will alarm.

I cooked my turkey late this year and put the remote on the bedstand and it woke me up when the turkey hit the temp I desired!!!

I used it later on the wet bread to get internal temp as Jim suggested. The alarm makes it nice to do other things while cooking.

Linens 'n Things - Redi-Check? Roast Alert Electronic Timer/Thermometer

That one is very similar to the one I own.

I've been really happy.

Good luck! Chris!

[fdn1]

Hi Fred!

I love my remote oven/BBQ thermometer.

It has a readout box with stainless steel braided wire leading to a probe. Lenght of cable is about 3 feet.

The remote box reads the temp about 50 feet away. Never tried it further.

Nice thing about mine, is that you can set the temperature and it will alarm.

I cooked my turkey late this year and put the remote on the bedstand and it woke me up when the turkey hit the temp I desired!!!

I used it later on the wet bread to get internal temp as Jim suggested. The alarm makes it nice to do other things while cooking.

Linens 'n Things - Redi-Check? Roast Alert Electronic Timer/Thermometer

That one is very similar to the one I own.

I've been really happy.

Good luck! Chris!

Chris
Thanks for the information. Did you do anything special inorder to pass the wire connecting the temperature probe and the transmitter through your oven door?

I have been examing one sold for $50 by Williams Sonoma that has a steel braided wire (42 inches long) connecting the probe and transmitter that is heat tolerant to about 570 degrees F.
Fred

[christo]

Sounds much like mine - I measured today - 42 inches and rated to 550 degrees - not enuf for Pizza but fine for roasting and baking.

My pizza oven is hardly started, but in my normal oven I just close the wire in the door. The gasket seems to form around it enough to make a decent seal.

I have been cutting bricks today!!!!