Rant: my reverse sear on a 2 bone rib roast went sideways at hour 4, do I blame the thermometer or me?

Shane Bell · 2026-10-10T15:05:04.504571+00:00

So last Saturday I had a 6 pound rib roast on the smoker for a family thing at my place in Akron, running apple wood at 225 and I figured I had it locked in. Around the 4 hour mark the probe read 118 internal and I pulled it to rest before the hot sear, but when I sliced it the middle was gray all the way through, no pink anywhere. I checked my instant read against boiling water afterward and it was reading 9 degrees low, so either the probe drifted or I never calibrated it since I bought it last fall. Now here is where I want you all to weigh in, is this on cheap gear that drifts, or is it on me for trusting one reading and not doing the ice bath test first? My brother in law says real pitmasters can read doneness by feel and I lean on gadgets too much, but I think a bad probe would fool anybody. Half the guys I know say toss the probe and go back to temp and time charts, the other half say a good dual probe setup is non negotiable. What do you all run, and did a thermometer ever wreck a cook on you?

Vivisector

Loading…

Rant: my reverse sear on a 2 bone rib roast went sideways at hour 4, do I blame the thermometer or me? | BBQ Pitmasters - Vivisector